General World Cup Thread

****ety **** ****.

 

And that was goalkeeping/defending 0001.

 

Vardy's on - final nail in the coffin.

 

Well, was fun while it lasted.

 

Same old England. Real football starts August 11th.

 

I thought we were poor from the beginning of the second half, Croatia deserved it. Kane went missing, Rashford did sod all after coming on, not a good performance at all.

 

Better team won. Can’t score a goal from open play.

Would rather have lost 3-0 though. It’s the hope that kills you.

Also: ITV.

No disgrace, never expected us to get this far.

 

Best team won in the end. A missed chance. Rashford for Sterling reduced our effectiveness a lot I think. A poor substitution.

 

Southgate got this wrong.
2nd half Croatia pressed high, stopped us playing out from the back, and then beat Kane to the hoofs time and time again.
Once we stop playing out from the back there was no more need for 3 CBs, it became a wasted position. That was the moment imo to sub on another mid for a CB.
Croatia out thought and outplayed us and deserved it.

 

Excellent stuff. Obviously sad to see us go out, but they've exceeded all our expectations.

Well done Croatia

 

They beat Sweden, Columbia and Panama, and they're heroes that have restored pride in our national side. Really?

 

Yes. Still, only this and WFC PL champions on offer now.

 

Don't be stupid. Look who else went out

 

Sterling has got slated but we have looked poorer in games after he has come off. Kane did nothing after half time and loftus cheek should have come on for either lingard or ali

 

The same Sweden who knocked Italy out and topped a group with Germany, the same Colombia who finished higher than Argentina in qualifying, yes there is pride but with the younger lot having won the U19 & U20 WC, they exceeded pre-tournament expectations and it looks reasonably good for the future.

 

Good grief you are a misery guts, aren’t you?

Still, First Night of the Proms is coming up. Trust it meets your ridiculously high standards. If not, why not try to do better yourself instead of just lazily criticising everyone else?

 

To be honest looking at our squad I am surprised we got so far. The team achieved more than you would expect. Classic example of the coaches making more than the sum of the parts. Everyone tried their best and you can't say that of English teams in the recent past. So no upset just disappointment of what might have been. Trippier was my England player of the tournament. So now the now the weekend off and back to proper football agony in a months time.

 

I didn't see much of Lingard and Alli was clearly tired. My estimation of the two have gone up in the competition however.

 

Difficult not to be disappointed when you get so close - but the one criticism you can use against Southgate is that his substitutions are poor. They very nearly cost us against Colombia, unfortunately we didn't get away with it tonight.

But I expected very little from this team at the start, so when the dust settles and the disappointment eases, it was a decent tournament.

France comfortable winners, by 2 0r 3.

 

Now we'll just have to support Hoddesdon Tennis Club until the season starts

 

This.

Had a feeling of impending doom the longer the game went on.
Like so many years of watching Watford.

But well done Mr Southgate - revived my interest in England and this team can get better.
And Trippier did for England what he has done everytime he plays Watford, great crosses and a good goal.
Maguire has come from nowhere and come good.
Future looks better for England.

 

Still, the deal was win the word cup or wfc win the league wasn't it ? Looking good for next season then.

 

Have enjoyed the last few weeks, a complete bonus. Croatia much better in the end and that's what happens when you don't take the chances.

Great World Cup. Not unhappy at all.

 

Or the County Championship...

 

The thing that hurted us most is the lack of a number ten to dictate the play and get on the ball when we were under pressure. In the absence of that, Sterling was key as at least his movement was unpredictable. Taking him off tonight for Rashford was a terrible mistake, we were so, so predictable with no-one to link the midfield to attack.

 

Has been good to see England play from the back in this tournament, started to hoof it after they scored which was our downfall. Future looks brighter than it was.

 

I think we'll be a big threat in the coming years. I see this as a blueprint to be worked on, with some of the excellent players coming through guided by some of the lads that played tonight.

We will be back

 

We were too one dimensional and got found out by a team who cancelled our one way of playing, with time at the back.

Once we came out 2nd half we were never in the game.

We rode our luck to get this far and at least didn't go out to a ****** side. Croatia are not a great side, but their top players turned up 2md half. Unlike in 1990, I don't feel like we have been unlucky to go out. We have gone as far as we could with the talent available.

Our only world class player, in Kane, was utterly awful. Even Gray would have done more today. Kane was crap vs Sweden too but a win papered over that.

We never had a plan b but semi final for this team is still an achievement, they'll come home to a heroes welcome but were on the verge of becoming historical figures.

 

Putting on rashford was ok, but keeping 3 centre backs at the same time didnt work.

 

The team is lacking 2 or 3 players with an x factor. Lingard, alli and Henderson are honest pros, but they don't have magic in them, which you often need to go that bit further in a world cup

 

Sterling was good today. Kane should've come off instead of him. We lost all threat when raheem went off

 

On the upside, recent years as a Watford fan have trained me well for this situation. This is not a drill. I repeat, this is not a drill.

I thought we visibly slumped after Kane missed that first half chance. Wasn't 100% sure about it at HT but can see it clearly now. He's the talisman, and will likely win the golden boot, but that miss seemed to ripple through the team. Second half outlook was much too defensive. We all know there would have naturally been gaps as Croatia had everything to play for but we let them dictate.

Ali looked knackered all tournament for me. Others looked exhausted and it's clear some were nursing injruies. Did well to get this far. Might even stretch to not booing some of the England players when they come to the Vic this season.

 

As I said, players will be phased out. Our youth teams are Champions, and they will be the future. Look at Germany from 06 to the 2014 win

 

The squad was also short of options in midfield, it was definitely our weakest area with no real alternatives to Ali and Lingard despite both being a bit hit and miss