The England World Cup Thread

[tiger666]

After watching Henderson, Linguard & Stones fuck up repeatedly last night I was wondering why each are so highly rated. Henderson was poor not recycling play as I've been told he is sublime at. Linguard can't pass or control a pass for shit! And Stones , gave the ball away, played the ball to players already under pressure and generally looked wank whenever the ball was anywhere near him.

A special mention for Walker as he grabbed the ball sped forward, got lost, turned around and passed backward... more than once. He really is more limited than I thought. Poch's system made the best of Walker's abilities. Walker charging up the middle of the field with no clue was just sad to see.

Who has said Henderson is sublime at anything? He wasn't great last night but overall this WC he's performed the anchor role ok imo. I don't think Dier would have performed any better. You say Lingard can't pass for shit yet him and Stones had some of the highest pass completion in the team. Stones certainly wasn't "wank".

 

[TorontoYid]

Henderson was damn lucky. Had we lost the shootout he would never have heard the end of it like Waddle and Pierce.

 

[michaelden]

Who has said Henderson is sublime at anything? He wasn't great last night but overall this WC he's performed the anchor role ok imo. I don't think Dier would have performed any better. You say Lingard can't pass for shit yet him and Stones had some of the highest pass completion in the team. Stones certainly wasn't "wank".

Whose ratings are those?

 

[tommo84]

Whilst its great that the country is so united in their support and fondness for this England team, there has been a fair amount of hyperbole about certain players' performances. Henderson is probably the prime example. He has played well in the 3 games he's started but I don't think he's been great in any of them. Against Tunisia he started fantastic and then disappeared/slowed us down for the middle 45 minutes. Last night he kept us ticking over nicely but he often gave the ball away very soon after we had won possession, which stopped us from establishing any rhythm and creating more chances (the same could be said of a lot of our players last night).

Maguire is being lauded and has generally done well, but both him and Walker have been guilty of giving the ball away in/close to our own half and needing to be bailed pout by the other two and Henderson. Lingard was terrific against Panama, and his movement was great against Tunisia, but he should have scored at least once vs Tunisia (if Sterling had missed those chances it would have been the subject of a 10 minute monologue by Piers Morgan) and last night he was anonymous. Dele hasn't looked right since the first 20 minutes vs Tunisia, and Young has offered almost none of the attacking threat which this system depends on from the wing-backs.

For all the eulogising of some players, only really Kane and Trippier could be described as being consistently excellent over 3 games (I'm not including the game v Belgium obvs). Haven't seen Stones do anything wrong either tbf.

 

[tiger666]

Whose ratings are those?

Whoscored, from opta. I don't care about the ratings, it's the pass completion I was highlighting.

 

[LexingtonSpurs]

Who has said Henderson is sublime at anything? He wasn't great last night but overall this WC he's performed the anchor role ok imo. I don't think Dier would have performed any better. You say Lingard can't pass for shit yet him and Stones had some of the highest pass completion in the team. Stones certainly wasn't "wank".

Of course seeing one fo those stats illustrates part of the problem - why is Kane attempting 4 long-balls?

 

[LexingtonSpurs]

Changes I would make for Sweden:

Pickford
Walker Stones Maguire
Trippier .............. Dier .................. Rose
........Lingard....... Loftus-Cheek
Dele Kane​

Dier in for Henderson - not because Dier is necessarily better, but on the contrary, I think Henderson will be more important than Dier against Croatia, and Henderson is sitting on a yellow right now. Play Dier now, save Henderson for the Semi-Final.


Loftus Cheek in for Sterling. Sterling just does not fit in this set-up. Runs around a bit, but no end-product, and no real link-up with Kane. At the same time, Dele is wasted in CM, he is better when he is making runs off the ball, not trying to be the playmaker, and we know he links up well with Kane.

 

[Mouse!]

Changes I would make for Sweden:

Pickford
Walker Stones Maguire
Trippier .............. Dier .................. Rose
........Lingard....... Loftus-Cheek
Dele Kane​

Dier in for Henderson - not because Dier is necessarily better, but on the contrary, I think Henderson will be more important than Dier against Croatia, and Henderson is sitting on a yellow right now. Play Dier now, save Henderson for the Semi-Final.


Loftus Cheek in for Sterling. Sterling just does not fit in this set-up. Runs around a bit, but no end-product, and no real link-up with Kane. At the same time, Dele is wasted in CM, he is better when he is making runs off the ball, not trying to be the playmaker, and we know he links up well with Kane.

Aren't yellows wiped at the QF stage? I'd keep Hendo in but agree with the other two changes.

 

[LexingtonSpurs]

Aren't yellows wiped at the QF stage? I'd keep Hendo in but agree with the other two changes.

After the QFs.

Hendo, Walker, RLC, and Lingard are all sitting on a yellow and would miss the SFs if they pick up a yellow against Sweden.

 

[LSUY]

Henderson was damn lucky. Had we lost the shootout he would never have heard the end of it like Waddle and Pierce.

Yeah but think of the ton of money he would have got from Pizza Hut.

 

[tommo84]

Changes I would make for Sweden:

Pickford
Walker Stones Maguire
Trippier .............. Dier .................. Rose
........Lingard....... Loftus-Cheek
Dele Kane​

Dier in for Henderson - not because Dier is necessarily better, but on the contrary, I think Henderson will be more important than Dier against Croatia, and Henderson is sitting on a yellow right now. Play Dier now, save Henderson for the Semi-Final.


Loftus Cheek in for Sterling. Sterling just does not fit in this set-up. Runs around a bit, but no end-product, and no real link-up with Kane. At the same time, Dele is wasted in CM, he is better when he is making runs off the ball, not trying to be the playmaker, and we know he links up well with Kane.

I suggested the exact same change today at work. I don't think we can accommodate Dele, Lingard and Sterling all in the starting XI, and Dele's movement makes him much more difficult for defenders to track than Sterling, which opens up space for not only Kane but Lingard's runs from deep. I'd argue Dele is a better finisher too.

Wouldn't take out Henderson though - Dier isn't playing well, and we can't look beyond the next round. Besides, if Henderson is even close to the responsible leader that so many Liverpool fans insist he is then he can avoid a booking in one game.

 

[Shadydan]

1 nil against teams we should be spanking is not much of a threat. Stirling doesn't seem to be able to see the goal and instead does everything possible to not put the ball between the posts. Midfield and defense looks ok but we should be scoring a LOT more goals

What teams should we be spanking?

Don't see why it's so much of a surprise thst we are struggling to create, thst was the concern before the tournament so for me it's hardly an issue especially if we are fully utilising other methods of scoring which we are.

 

[SlotBadger]

for me it's haedku an issue

Gesundheit!

 

[TorontoYid]

What teams should we be spanking?

Don't see why it's so much of a surprise thst we are struggling to create, thst was the concern before the tournament so for me it's haedku an issue especially if we are fully utilising other methods of scoring which we are.

You don't think we should have destroyed Tunisia and at least have beaten Belgium? Belgium is a decent team but Tunisia should have been a very easy game. We had an easy group and I personally think we should have been top not 2nd.

If we beat Sweden, I am doubtful we can beat Croatia who are playing well and even more doubtful we can beat either France or Brazil in the final based on how we have played so far. Can't rely on a penalty and defending the lead against those teams.

 

[TorontoYid]

After the QFs.

Hendo, Walker, RLC, and Lingard are all sitting on a yellow and would miss the SFs if they pick up a yellow against Sweden.

Why couldn't Sterling be in that position.

 

[Amo]

You don't think we should have destroyed Tunisia and at least have beaten Belgium? Belgium is a decent team but Tunisia should have been a very easy game. We had an easy group and I personally think we should have been top not 2nd.

If we beat Sweden, I am doubtful we can beat Croatia who are playing well and even more doubtful we can beat either France or Brazil in the final based on how we have played so far. Can't rely on a penalty and defending the lead against those teams.

The fuck you on about.

 

[tommo84]

You don't think we should have destroyed Tunisia and at least have beaten Belgium? Belgium is a decent team but Tunisia should have been a very easy game. We had an easy group and I personally think we should have been top not 2nd.

If we beat Sweden, I am doubtful we can beat Croatia who are playing well and even more doubtful we can beat either France or Brazil in the final based on how we have played so far. Can't rely on a penalty and defending the lead against those teams.

Your expectations of this England team appear somewhat detached from everything we've witnessed over the last few years.

Do I think we should have beaten Belgium? Both teams made wholesale changes so that game is no barometer for either squad's strongest XI, but if we were both full strength then no I don't think we should be beating Belgium. Belgium are one of the top 3 or 4 international teams in the world. They do not have any obvious weaknesses in their team, whereas we have 2 or 3 glaring weakness - lack of a creative number 10; a lack of options in the centre of midfield; inexperienced centre-backs.

We have done well to reach the quarter-finals and we had no reason to think we are even close to one of the best 4 countries in the world going into the tournament. If we go any further it will be a fantastic achievement. France and Brazil would both be strong favourites to beat us if we were to get to the final, and Croatia are an experienced unit who have finally started to bring it all together following years of squandering the talent they have throughout the middle of the pitch (Modric and Rakitic would be 2 of the first names on the team-sheet for England).

 

[LexingtonSpurs]

Why couldn't Sterling be in that position.

What position?

 

[Shadydan]

You don't think we should have destroyed Tunisia and at least have beaten Belgium? Belgium is a decent team but Tunisia should have been a very easy game. We had an easy group and I personally think we should have been top not 2nd.

We created about 6 clear cut chances against Tunisia but they fell to the wrong players, could have easily ran up a Belgium like score if we took our chances besides they were more open against Belgium is because they had to go for it as they lost their first match, their mentality was different.

And no I don't think we should have "destroyed" them considering their defensive record going into the tournament.

 

[riggi]

More of this please..