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World Cup Discussion Thread - Day 24 (7 July)

Anurag Jo

Well-Known Member
May 14, 2014
586
1,240
Am I the only one who thinks England could get thrashed should they get through to the final by either France or Belgium ? We only have one real top quality player (Kane) against how many do both France and Belgium have ?
You have a point. Belgium and France have better squads than England. But the pressure of the final is a different thing altogether.
Remains to be seen how many of these top class players bring their A game. For that reason alone England have a great chance.
 

spurs_girl_tasha

Believes
Apr 25, 2006
11,969
7,422
Am I the only one who thinks England could get thrashed should they get through to the final by either France or Belgium ? We only have one real top quality player (Kane) against how many do both France and Belgium have ?

Yes are you. Everyone else believes it's coming home. (And if they don't, they should).
 

mrlilywhite

Well-Known Member
Sep 1, 2008
3,174
4,992
Am I the only one who thinks England could get thrashed should they get through to the final by either France or Belgium ? We only have one real top quality player (Kane) against how many do both France and Belgium have ?

Not sure I agree with your assessment if I'm honest. For sure we don't have the depth of quality that either France, Belgium or even Croatia have, but at this stage, I don't think it matters that much. Greece was an average side that won the Euro's. Russia is considered a below avg team that went further than everyone expected. These are teams that had one key attribute. Their ability to play for each other, and united as a team. I firmly believe that we have as good a chance as anyone at this stage and I don't think we have seen the best of our key players yet, and even though he has scored six goals, we all know that Kane has got another gear to find.

There is more to come, and I am reasonably confident that we can get past Croatia. After that, it is one game, and so far we have exceeded expectation, so having less pressure on us than the other three left could help us play with a bit more freedom. This isn't blinded faith, but a genuine optimism. Yesterday's game against Sweden was imo our best game so far.
 

yawa

Well-Known Member
Aug 9, 2005
12,589
9,414
Not sure I agree with your assessment if I'm honest. For sure we don't have the depth of quality that either France, Belgium or even Croatia have, but at this stage, I don't think it matters that much. Greece was an average side that won the Euro's. Russia is considered a below avg team that went further than everyone expected. These are teams that had one key attribute. Their ability to play for each other, and united as a team. I firmly believe that we have as good a chance as anyone at this stage and I don't think we have seen the best of our key players yet, and even though he has scored six goals, we all know that Kane has got another gear to find.

There is more to come, and I am reasonably confident that we can get past Croatia. After that, it is one game, and so far we have exceeded expectation, so having less pressure on us than the other three left could help us play with a bit more freedom. This isn't blinded faith, but a genuine optimism. Yesterday's game against Sweden was imo our best game so far.

I’d say we’re stronger than Croatia and I think our squad and generally performances have been unappreciated.

Croatia have looked pretty poor in the last 2 games and so as you said I don’t see why we can’t get past them.

This might be the best chance we ever get as there’s not one team left who has been exceptional.
 

BringBack_leGin

Well-Known Member
Jul 28, 2004
27,719
54,929
While Sterling’s ability to drag the ball up the pitch at pace is brilliant, I do wish he had more intelligence and composure/ less selfishness when he has a decision to make. With Man City, playing with De Bruyne and Silva most decent attackers would post impressive stats. England don’t have a player with that ability to create space and dictate play so Sterling’s (and for that matter, Dele’s) drawbacks are accentuated.

I wouldn’t drop him, he scares the shit out of defenders and like Sweden, Croatia’s centre backs are lumbering and slow. But when he has a number ten on his back and our centre forward, who has played well v Sweden and Columbia, has yet to have a real chance in open play, something isn’t right.

As for our boys, I actually think Harry’s best game of the tournament came v Sweden, he gave a complete performance for the team, occupied the defenders, held the ball, linked play and dropped back constantly. Criticism of his channel play is unfair, he can’t in this system as there’ll be a gaping hole in the middle, it’s not like at Spurs where he has Son, Dele and Eriksen buzzing around him constantly.

Trippier was superb again, some of his passing was astounding and his touch is far better than I realised. England’s player of the tournament in my opinion.

Dele did what he does best, ghosting in and showing up where he’s not expected to score a lovely header. I think criticism of him has been a bit much, he’s not had a rub when attacking but he’s worked his bollocks off and without him (as shown whenever he comes off) Ashley Young would have been taken to the cleaners defensively. I’m happy for him getting a goal.

Dier, I love that he’s basically Southgates wrecking ball. It does a disservice to his ability and means he’s not seeing as much of the pitch as he’d like, but he seems to be embracing it. Interestingly, pre match Henderson was interviewed and asked about leaders in the squad. He said himself and Harry obviously, Delph and Young (makes sense given their age), and Dier. Goes to show how much more thing young man brings than what we see.

Massive credit must go to Southgate. He’s mitigated England’s lack of a top class playmaker by designing a system to bypass it without reverting to turgid hoofball like Allardyce would have. We’re the only nation really working the flanks this tournament and that might be where we win it. And no, we shouldn’t have taken Wilshere or Shelver, they’re not good enough to compete with top midfielders and would have let us down. I also understand why Wellbeck has gone, beachside Harry’s work off the ball knits this system together and while Wellbeck will never win a golden boot, he will put in those yards to hold up play and link things together.
 

hughy

I'm SUPER cereal.
Nov 18, 2007
31,840
56,924
Am I the only one who thinks England could get thrashed should they get through to the final by either France or Belgium ? We only have one real top quality player (Kane) against how many do both France and Belgium have ?
Let's forfeit the Croatia game then just in case this happens.
 

Dharmabum

Well-Known Member
Aug 16, 2003
8,274
12,242
What’s your point?

The point was pretty obvious really. I know England fans - rightly so - are carried away by being in the semi-finals of this WC ...but for an outsider it's not seen as a great achievement to 1) overcome Panama & Tunisia in the group stages and then 2) reach the semis by outing Colombia and Sweden.
England did not meet a single top team (ok, they met Belgium's "reserve team" in a game in which the best result actaully was to lose) on their way. Colombia, who had their best player (Rodriguez) out injured, is the highest FIFA ranked at 16 (not saying this rating is always exact though as Germany right now is ranked as no. 1). Yes, not a single "worthy" opponent yet to call it a great achievement.
It's something wrong when the "best" tactical move a coach make is to lose a group game to avoid better opponents (nothing wrong doing that though as it's totally within the rules of FIFA).

PS! No, these are not sour grapes at as I am happy that England are through to the semi-finals - mainly because of all the Spurs players taking part and being main contributors.
And I want Harry to be this WC's top-scorer.
 
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punkisback

Well-Known Member
Apr 10, 2004
4,410
7,278
Sterling was fine. The idea that any one can do what he does is just bizarre, he carries the ball forward incredibly well.

The amount of scrutiny he gets is ridiculous. I'm sure a certain newspaper campaign has nothing to do with this.
I’m one of the biggest defenders of sterling as a man. But as a footballer yesterday he was selfish and dribbled down blind alleys
 

punkisback

Well-Known Member
Apr 10, 2004
4,410
7,278
Am I the only one who thinks England could get thrashed should they get through to the final by either France or Belgium ? We only have one real top quality player (Kane) against how many do both France and Belgium have ?
You just have to give your all and play at 100%. This is what Southgate seems to be getting us to do. Getting the players emotionally invested in each other and the fans gives them extra impetus to take into games. If Leicester can win the league, no reason that we can’t win the World Cup.
 

daryl

Well-Known Member
Jan 30, 2012
552
863
Am I the only one who thinks England could get thrashed should they get through to the final by either France or Belgium ? We only have one real top quality player (Kane) against how many do both France and Belgium have ?
 

Streetspur77

Happy Clapper
Jul 20, 2017
2,792
9,404
The point was pretty obvious really. I know England fans - and rightly so - are carried away by being in the semi-finals of this WC ...but for an outsider it's not seen as a great achievement to 1) overcome Panama & Tunisia in the group stages and then 2) reach the semis by outing Colombia and Sweden.
England did not meet a single top team (ok, they met Belgium's "reserve team" in a game in which the best result actaully was to lose) on their way. Colombia is the highest FIFA ranked at 16 (not saying this rating is always exact though as Germany right now is ranked as no. 1). Yes, not a single "worthy" opponent yet to call it a great achievement.
It's something wrong when the "best" tactical move a coach make is to lose a group game to avoid better opponents (nothing wrong doing that though as it's totally within the rules of FIFA).

PS! No, these are not sour grapes at as I am happy that England are through to the semi-finals - mainly because of all the Spurs players taking part and being main contributors.
And I want Harry to be this WC's top-scorer.

Still don’t get your point. We’re in the last 4 of the biggest competition in the world. Many teams have failed to get here after losing to teams they should have beaten, its a great achievement
 
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