England

[Numbers]

I think Shelvey could have done a job in that midfield. Yes/no?

100% we had Vardy on who thrives on balls over the top, problem is Gareth didn't select anyone that can play them passes.

[nemtizz]

The Brazilians in Shearer's mentions.

 

What an odd country.

[Guest Howaythetoon]

I think Shelvey could have done a job in that midfield. Yes/no?

100% we had Vardy on who thrives on balls over the top, problem is Gareth didn't select anyone that can play them passes.

 

I would have taken Shelvey if we were playing a counter attacking type with Vardy up top and even to bring on as a sub, but he isn’t the answer to our creativity or lack of. He would just sit deep and we would surrender possession or be a man out in midfield. We need someone who can play off Kane who can play between him and the midfield and sadly we have no-one like that. Think of Hazard for Belgium who just floats and is never far from Lakaku or the midfield. Southgate has tried to address that by having us play a certain way which can work and has done thus far, but again it’s obvious we are crying out for a playmaker. A 10 would make all the difference.

[Teasy]

We just don't have enough creativity, i don't think it's something that can improve really. We are doing our best to get around it but the reality is that lack a player in midfield who can unlock a defence.

 

It's going to be like this for as far as we go in the tournament, we just need to hope we can find ways around it to get through as we have so far.

 

 

Its not about one man who can create something though, that's why we've failed in the past, individuals that can create but can't work together.

 

The problem in this match wasn't lack of creativity.  In recent matches we've played good Football, passed the opposition to death, waited for our moment and then played decisive passes that have lead to lots of chances and goals.  Even today we played better Football then I can remember us playing in any of our past knockout games  Colombia tried to stop us by dragging us into the dirt and making us rush things, not sure I've ever seen a more dirty cheating bunch of cunts to be honest...  But luckily we managed to show enough strength of character to win on pens for once

 

Thing is normally we'd be talking about how Colombia should have had a player sent off, shouldn't have been able to bully the ref blah blah blah.  But instead none of that matters, instead we can talk about the quarter finals and forget about Colombia.. You might say its fine margins, but it often is, and the fact is we're in the quarter finals

[Ketsbaia]

Never thought I'd see the day when England win another shootout, it was amazing.

 

As for the performance, it was poor and unimaginative but it was marginally better than the Colombians, who were just being shitheads and created nothing. England's only goals from open play have been against Panama, so that's a concern.

 

All in all, just a great range of emotions. Colombia were awful yet still snatched an equaliser, so you think it's destined to go a bad way. And then it didn't. A remarkable feeling.

[Teasy]

Dier's pen was crap.

 

You're crap!!

 

Dier is gonna be the new Southgate

 

[Mole_Toonfan]

We just don't have enough creativity, i don't think it's something that can improve really. We are doing our best to get around it but the reality is that lack a player in midfield who can unlock a defence.

 

It's going to be like this for as far as we go in the tournament, we just need to hope we can find ways around it to get through as we have so far.

 

 

Its not about one man who can create something though, that's why we've failed in the past, individuals that can create but can't work together.

 

The problem in this match wasn't lack of creativity.  In recent matches we've played good Football, passed the opposition to death, waited for our moment and then played decisive passes that have lead to lots of chances and goals.  Even today we played better Football then I can remember us playing in any of our past knockout games  Colombia tried to stop us by dragging us into the dirt and making us rush things, not sure I've ever seen a more dirty cheating bunch of cunts to be honest...  But luckily we managed to show enough strength of character to win on pens for once

 

Thing is normally we'd be talking about how Colombia should have had a player sent off, shouldn't have been able to bully the ref blah blah blah.  But instead none of that matters, instead we can talk about the quarter finals and forget about Colombia.. You might say its fine margins, but it often is, and the fact is we're in the quarter finals

 

Think you misunderstood my point tbh, I was responding to people who saying we need to improve the fluidity of our attacks.

 

My believe is we are doing the best we can with what we have but without an elite passer to put people in better positions there's a limitation to what we can do offensively.

[Si]

Just watching the pens, tense as fuck knowing the result already ffs.

[tgarve]

Just re watched the full game. Didn’t think we were that bad, need to be quicker going forward

[Si]

How bloody good has Southgate been, constantly talking to the players pushing them on. Seems to have a genuine rapport with the squad like I've not seen in a long time.

[Kaizero]

How bloody good has Southgate been, constantly talking to the players pushing them on. Seems to have a genuine rapport with the squad like I've not seen in a long time.

 

Imagine how good you'd be if you had a proper football man, though...

 

 

http://e0.365dm.com/15/10/16-9/20/sam-allardyce-newcastle-sunderland_3368394.jpg?20151025121456

 

[tgarve]

18 of the 23 play for the top 6.

 

without looking surely that would be the case for most major nations with a strong national league (germany, spain, italy etc.)?

 

I doubt there is another nation that will pick 18 of it's players exclusively from the top 6 of it's own domestic league and have aspirations of going far in the competition. We are shit from top to bottom and hope the big teams can prop us up as we have nothing to offer from decent foreign teams and don't trust players outside the top 10.

 

Embarrassing really.

 

Will keep this in case we win it

 

 

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

Not laughing now

[Anon]

Daily Mail aside, I thought Sterling caused them some problems but he really has to stop losing the ball as much. He was head down running into a group of 4-5 players on a regular basis, not necessarily in dangerous areas either. Alli was also ineffective and Young offered very little. Thought Henderson offered more going forward after Dier came on than either Alli or Young which is saying a lot.

 

Edit: Just saw the replay of the Pickford save at the end of the match 

[The College Dropout]

Biggest worry has to be the fact we're creating sod all in open play.

I was more of the view that we decided to sit on the lead and found it hard to snap out of that going into extra time. When we went for it again in the last 15 of ET we created chances. The first half of normal time was always likely to be tight, as most of the other games have been.

 

I don't think we should go that defensive when leading again, it almost worked but you have to give yourself a chance of catching them on the break. I'm very positive about the quarter final like, you'd imagine our players will be bouncing now and the pen thing is a massive monkey off our back too. Nothing to fear now.

 

Didn't create a chance in open play in 120 minutes. I can't think of any. Dier was from a corner iirc. Lingard took a dive when a decent opportunity presented itself.

 

Danny Rose?

 

Aye, Rose.

Think the point stands. We struggle to create.

[Interpolic]

The first half was always likely to be tight then after Kane's goal around 55 minutes we were too cautious and stopped trying to make anything happen. The first half of ET we were shell-shocked and couldn't kick the ball straight, then the 2nd half we snapped out of it and started creating openings. We also created plenty of chances in our opening 2 games, albeit against poor opposition.

 

Hardly think last night's game is the fairest time to judge our ability to create chances when we spent 45 minutes feeling out the opposition, 30-odd minutes over cautiously defending a lead and 15 minutes recovering from the setback of an equaliser. The second half of extra time was miles better in terms of our attacking, I was annoyed at us inviting so much pressure before that.

 

I hope Southgate and the team have learnt that going 1-0 up against decent opposition doesn't have to mean we sit back and try to spoil the game. The match last night is a massive monkey off our backs in more ways than one and I think we'll see a more confident and bold performance versus Sweden.

[Guest firetotheworks]

I think Shelvey could have done a job in that midfield. Yes/no?

I understood the decision to leave him out in the first two matches because we were playing this fast, short passing game. Against Belgium and Colombia though we've had players trying long balls over the top and it seems fairly obvious that we should have taken him.

[Guest firetotheworks]

The most insane part of that article is;

 

"it was up to England's penalty heroes to make sure he is given another chance". We were fucking winning when he went off!

It's bad enough being enough of a snidey little cunt to release a negative article just after your own country has won a knockout match at the world cup, but the fact that it's Sterling yet again when, for example, Eric Dier was so bad that he single-handedly affected our overall game, is fucking pathetic.

 

These cunts want England to fail so they can sell more hate. Fucking scum.

[NG32]

Sweden will be tough, they'll keep it compact and look to steal a chance.  I dont think weve beaten Sweden in a finals since 1958 ??

I've been wanting to post for ages about this world cup and how it's highlighted how certain teams and styles can properly fuck up so called better ones.

 

Japan and South Korea are two good examples, but there's also Croatia struggling against Scandos.

 

Point being I will be very surprised if Sweden is anything but a massive struggle. England don't do well against organised teams they can't dominate physically.

 

Aye,  ive been catching up with SSN this morning,  everyone is getting a bit ahead of themselves. 

 

This Swedish will be nails,  im hopeful but they will be a bastard to beat.

[mrmojorisin75]

Sweden will be tough, they'll keep it compact and look to steal a chance.  I dont think weve beaten Sweden in a finals since 1958 ??

I've been wanting to post for ages about this world cup and how it's highlighted how certain teams and styles can properly fuck up so called better ones.

 

Japan and South Korea are two good examples, but there's also Croatia struggling against Scandos.

 

Point being I will be very surprised if Sweden is anything but a massive struggle. England don't do well against organised teams they can't dominate physically.

 

Aye,  ive been catching up with SSN this morning,  everyone is getting a bit ahead of themselves. 

 

This Swedish will be nails,  im hopeful but they will be a bastard to beat.

Would say so myself. Can a repeat of what Neville said yesterday, we'll go at them and dominate for 20 or so. If we've not scored in that period they'll adjust and it'll be tough.

[samptime29]

Intense evening -  was so triggered when Colombia scored at the end.

 

Colombia were so niggly, so snide - were pissing me off.

 

So glad we've got through - finally won on Pens 

[NG32]

Intense evening -  was so triggered when Colombia scored at the end.

 

Colombia were so niggly, so snide - were pissing me off.

 

So glad we've got through - finally won on Pens 

 

For about 10/15 mins I thought Columbia would have a man sent off.  They went full Escobar for a while.

[Cronky]

Alli is currently ineffective and a big problem. He was often the closest player to Henderson but rarely showed for the ball and did little other than pass it back or lose it.

 

We need someone there who can link and can break the lines confidently. Loftus-Cheek has a way to go but he's the exact type of player. It's a massive shame AOC isn't fit, as he's genuinely perfect for it.

 

Agree 100% about Alli. Perhaps it's a fitness issue, but he's not getting involved enough and at times it felt like we were playing with 10 men.

 

He's been an automatic choice for a while now, and Southgate is probably reluctant to change a successful side.

 

Walker has always looked like he has a blunder or two in him, and sure enough he nearly handed a goal to them on a plate. If he's not fit for Saturday, it won't be a big loss.

 

[Keefaz]

Aw, mate.

[TBG]

Aye, I had to end it with her. Just didn't do it for me anymore

[The College Dropout]

Played 2 decent sides. Created at most, 3 good chances from open play. It’s a concern.