45 minutes ago, Nibs said:

Hope the media don't carry on flogging a dead horse. Already getting fed up with the "we should be so proud - it's been a wonderful journey" etc etc..............

Sure, we did okay - a LOT better than recent history. But although there have no doubt been improvements and I do like what Southgate is doing, we are still far from great. Let's face it, we got lucky with the draw and that luck carried on meaning we avoided all of the big teams but still come unstuck when we faced a side who had a bit more about them. Don't think you can expect to win a tournament if you don't have at least one really creative player and we are clearly lacking in that department. IF some players had been on top form last night it might have been a different story but it was disappointing from Ali, Kane and Lingard (who struggles to get in the Utd team on a regular basis). Looks like Kane will pick up the golden boot and yet I thought for the large part he was disappointing other than taking a good penalty.

 

 

I can't believe people in this country are happy to come second or third. Southgate bottled it tbh. If he wants to turn England into a successful side, he needs to stop the negative sh*t when we should be going for the win. 

It will be interesting to see the strongest England team vs the strongest Belgium side. We didn't get to see this last time round.

6 minutes ago, enigma said:

It will be interesting to see the strongest England team vs the strongest Belgium side. We didn't get to see this last time round.

We won't get to see it this time around either. Expect to see Phil Jones busting his gut in central defence. This is not a game either squad wants to play. I imagine Eden, KdB and Lukaku will have a day off.

1 minute ago, Backbiter said:

We won't get to see it this time around either. Expect to see Phil Jones busting his gut in central defence. This is not a game either squad wants to play. I imagine Eden, KdB and Lukaku will have a day off.

I agree and expect we will see Welbeck, Cahill and RLC.

Can we go back to admitting we don't like Spurs players again now? 

This is bias, but Southgate should have taken Mason Mount. It's actually disappointing how players playing in leagues like Holland are dismissed. Mount scored 14 goals and registered 9 assists. Who else on the England bench had done that? You can't just keep focusing on English players in the PL, you should take notice in all leagues. 

10 hours ago, just said:

Not really. Moments where he switches off? Yeah OK. But he is still progressing. I can show you video clips of JT when he was 24/25 and he was the same.

Maguire > Luiz..... by miles...... Already!

@just you are letting the fact that Luiz spurned your man-love advances cloud your judgement of his footballing ability.

10 hours ago, just said:

It's not coming home and it never was. And I am glad I don't have my car parked in Stevenage High Street tonight.

We played two good teams, very good teams in the tournament and lost to both. But I do think the English national team might have turned a corner. The people are back behind the team. They are playing with a system they understand. That is a good thing. Roll on the Euro Championship.

Perisic was the difference in the 2nd half. We couldn't control him.

We have to buy Harry Maguire. He is not the finished article but soon will be.

I liked the your main thrust, but can't agree about Maguire.  He is at least as inconsistent as Luiz in a back four.  A couple of good games against the World Cup whipping boys doesn't make him anything other than a mid-table quality defender.

So Harry Kane scored 5 against Tunisia and Panama, 1 penalty against Columbia, then completely went missing against Croatia, hardly world class striker stuff. I was surprised how fatigued the English players looked, they had an easy 90 minutes while Croatia went 120 and penalty against Russia. Once the early onslaught ended after about 20 minutes, Croatia had it pretty much under control, should have won it in 90s. Still, all credits to  Southgate, best thing Big Sam ever done was got himself sacked

I hope France beat Croatia, no particular fondness for the French yet thought Lovren should have walked. 

From footy365

Dejan Lovren was the lucky man. His bodycheck on Kane in the first half was worthy of a booking because he stopped a dangerous counter attack. Lovren then kicked out at Sterling after the England forward had beaten him with pace and quick feet. Again no yellow card.

In the second half, Lovren barged into Kane in England’s half to stop another counter from building. Surprise, surprise: he avoided a yellow card again. This isn’t leniency, it’s failing to apply the rules of the game.

3 minutes ago, Strider6003 said:

I hope France beat Croatia, no particular fondness for the French yet thought Lovren should have walked. 

From footy365

Dejan Lovren was the lucky man. His bodycheck on Kane in the first half was worthy of a booking because he stopped a dangerous counter attack. Lovren then kicked out at Sterling after the England forward had beaten him with pace and quick feet. Again no yellow card.

In the second half, Lovren barged into Kane in England’s half to stop another counter from building. Surprise, surprise: he avoided a yellow card again. This isn’t leniency, it’s failing to apply the rules of the game.

As a neutral I do think Lovren and Rebic were lucky to not get early yellows, but I felt the ref was quite lenient in general in the game, which made for a better match. Not much solace to be taken there by England fans I know, but in my mind England just weren't good enough on the day, your best players, Alli and Kane, went missing (showing their true Tottenham bottling abilities)

I thought England were pretty average taking the whole tournement into account. 
Got incredibly lucky with the draw, and didn't manage to beat Colombia in regular playing time, and got knocked out by a Croatian side that have also been a little dissapointing this WC.

Of course you can only beat what's in front of you, so credit to England for coming this far, but on the whole I can't say I was impressed.

I struggle to see the love in for Kane as well, how many goals from open play did he get? I can only recall RLC's shot that accidentally hit him and went in. 
Also have to credit the set pieces, there was almost no creativity in the side at all, so for Southgate to focus on scoring goals from set pieces was a smart thing to do. And it almost paid off in the end. 

2 hours ago, ForeverCarefree said:

Can we go back to admitting we don't like Spurs players again now? 

What you mean you actually liked them for three weeks ? You scab !

30 minutes ago, RMCM said:

As a neutral I do think Lovren and Rebic were lucky to not get early yellows, but I felt the ref was quite lenient in general in the game, which made for a better match. Not much solace to be taken there by England fans I know, but in my mind England just weren't good enough on the day, your best players, Alli and Kane, went missing (showing their true Tottenham bottling abilities)

Credit for pointing out Rebic I did recognise he was on the verge yet the Lovren thing was blatant and then England picked up a challenge for stopping a Croation break.

I think the choice of a Turkish referee when we are playing Croatia was unfortunate also, potential subconscious bias. 

12 hours ago, Scott Harris said:

But Maguire can play. For a big guy, he is actually pretty good with the ball at his feet. He plays out from the back really well from what i can see. 

Don't be fooled by the fact he mad a few good passes and bursting runs, strip it down and watch his ball playing skills, they aren't there, he is a good defender in the old fashion mould, and a better defender than Stones, bit i wouldn't want either at Chelsea tbh. 

Yeah, I'm in that camp.

He certainly has a presence about him so I can see why he's being likened to JT and Tony Adams. Is good in the air and will return a few goals each season but at times he does look awkward and he really isn't that good with a ball at his feet, especially when being pressed.

A big club might take a punt on him but IMO, Leicester is exactly his level.

 

 

2 hours ago, ForeverCarefree said:

Can we go back to admitting we don't like Spurs players again now? 

Spuds outfield players are not the ones to get you through a must-win game. I thought everyone knew that. Remember Chiellini after Juve beat them?

Quote

"It's the history of Tottenham," he told BT Sport. "They always created many chances to score so much, but at the end they miss always something to arrive at the end.

"We believe in the history.

Was it seven Spuds players on the losing side in the semis?

3 hours ago, enigma said:

It will be interesting to see the strongest England team vs the strongest Belgium side. We didn't get to see this last time round.

14 hours ago, carrickblue said:

looks like Kane will still win the Golden Boot - Griezmann needs 4 to beat him, Lukaku needs 3  

That's possible.

Don't expect any big named players in the 3rd 4th play off. Think about it, were already into the new season preps. The transfer market is going to go ballistic with loads of movement at the top clubs, managers and hugely priced players moving from club to club country to country. The World cup is over for Belgium and England, if the likes of Hazard, Kane, Lukaku, Sterling, Ali, KDB, and others don't get rest or worse pick up an injury, thier clubs will not be impressed. Tradtionally the 3rd 4th play off heavily involves the players who have had plenty of rest time. No winners in this game.

Not this time, Moderator!

3rd and 4th place play offs should be contested y celebrities of the countries, not the players. We can have those plebs who appear in the charity games all the time, Olly murs, Robbie williams and the like. Belgium can have erm....Poirot and the pissing kid.

1 hour ago, coco said:

What you mean you actually liked them for three weeks ? You scab !

It all felt a bit taboo to be honest that you thought Dele Alli was a slimey little weasel. Harry Kane was largely pants except for taking penalties, Eric Dier was a crap version of John Obi Mikel bought on to see games out but not any good at it, Kieran Trippier was good but has a terrible haircut. Danny Rose didn't deserve to be there. 

Bunch of bottlers, the lot of 'em. 

Booooooo!

6 minutes ago, dkw said:

3rd and 4th place play offs should be contested y celebrities of the countries, not the players. We can have those plebs who appear in the charity games all the time, Olly murs, Robbie williams and the like. Belgium can have erm....Poirot and the pissing kid.

  

3 minutes ago, dkw said:

3rd and 4th place play offs should be contested y celebrities of the countries, not the players. We can have those plebs who appear in the charity games all the time, Olly murs, Robbie williams and the like. Belgium can have erm....Poirot and the pissing kid.

Captain Haddock strikes me as a no nonsense midfield enforcer who looks for the first opportunity to kick lumps out of your shins. 

I don't think the lad from One Direction stands a chance against him personally. 

  

 

He has a pissing kid trauma!