The Official World Cup 2018 Megathread

[Templeton Peck]

Should have won but hey ho very soon I'll be delighted with this. An average squad that showed up the Beckham generation for what they were.

 

[Johnny75]

So disappointed. Think.we played to long after we scorer. We played really well for.long parts of the tournament delighted with the player.

To those who say scraped past everyome.

We played really well against Tunisia, Panama, Colombia Sweden, we also played really well the furst half. I wanted us to play short get between the lines.

Fuck knows what you were watching.

I watched a team that has massively over achieved and good for them, they deserve it. We clearly lack a good manager and a central midfielder with vision but that's not a revelation.

Modric, Peresic, Brosovic and Rakatic schooled our midfield tonight but there's no shame in that we just don't have that level of talent.

 

[Tony Towner]

Been out tonight, so not ploughed through the thread. My thoughts:

We were the better team in the first half but didn't take our chances/make the most of our situations when we should have done. Over the 120 mins they deserved it though.

Southgate didn't know what to do when they were bossing the game at 0-1, the answers were Rose for Young, Rashford for Sterling and Dier for Alli. Ironically he made two of those, but too late. Failure to act then cost us the game as we didn't ever wrestle the momentum back. The questions about him tactically pre tournament have resurfaced.

Both goals were soft, as with the Tunisia penalty Walker's positional inexperience showed through.He didn't realise he was being attacked on his blind side like a career centre half probably would have. For the second, I said way up this thread that when we get knocked out of the tournament Southgate will be looking at Stones. No doubting he's had a good tournament, but tonight when it really mattered he switched off and it cost us.

Overall a positive tournament, but it still feels like an opportunity lost.

 

[playtheace]

We should have sorted the wide midfield out earlier - they killed us down the flanks - didn’t see the point of taking Sterling off for Rashford when the issue was further back - RLC would have made a difference for me.

I agree

 

[Templeton Peck]

Best team in the first half. Poor in the second. Better in extra time first half without making it count. Should have been 2 goals up within 30 minutes but didn't take our chances.

 

[Deleted Cyber]

Been out tonight, so not ploughed through the thread. My thoughts:

We were the better team in the first half but didn't take our chances/make the most of our situations when we should have done. Over the 120 mins they deserved it though.

Southgate didn't know what to do when they were bossing the game at 0-1, the answers were Rose for Young, Rashford for Sterling and Dier for Alli. Ironically he made two of those, but too late. Failure to act then cost us the game as we didn't ever wrestle the momentum back. The questions about him tactically pre tournament have resurfaced.

Both goals were soft, as with the Tunisia penalty Walker's positional inexperience showed through.He didn't realise he was being attacked on his blind side like a career centre half probably would have. For the second, I said way up this thread that when we get knocked out of the tournament Southgate will be looking at Stones. No doubting he's had a good tournament, but tonight when it really mattered he switched off and it cost us.

Overall a positive tournament, but it still feels like an opportunity lost.

Pretty fair summary mate.
1990. Absolutely devastated
1996 incandescent
2018 cest la vie !

I want to be angry but can't be. This team is greater than the sum of its parts. It has seriously over performed and run out of steam against a really decent Croatian team. If Gerrard Lampard and Rooney were ten year's younger then I would say it's a different story.But tonight , while disappointed we have not been cheated like 86 with the hand of God or unlucky like 90 or 96. They were better than us. It hapoens

 

[Deleted Cyber]

$#@! knows what you were watching.

I watched a team that has massively over achieved and good for them, they deserve it. We clearly lack a good manager and a central midfielder with vision but that's not a revelation.

Modric, Peresic, Brosovic and Rakatic schooled our midfield tonight but there's no shame in that we just don't have that level of talent.

Fuck. I agree completely. I am making a habit of this!

 

[Tony Towner]

The guy is crap, literally pointless player. If he played for any other team than utd then he would not get close to the England team. To think he was compared to mbappé is laughable.

[This isn't new, it's been my bugbear for ages and I've banged on about it numerous times]

Rashford and Joe Root, one custard pie, no deflections, where are you going?

 

[Pompey Wolf]

Congrats to Croatia. If there was a team in the SFs I wanted to win save England it was them.

Same themes as usual for England tonight. Not very good in open play, reliant on set pieces, very weak down our left-side, no creativity in the middle, only able to keep up our intensity beyond short bursts. So, this shouldn't be too much of a surprise. We're too poor going forward, 1 shot on target, and this is classic Southgate England, and we haven't been that good.

This isn't a stepping stone for England, this is the peak. It's a nice peak considering how bad we are, semi-finals is a real achievement for a team this poor that I predicted round of 16 for. But when you look back on it, we just weren't very good. Scraped past Tunisia, beat rubbish Panama, beat cheating Colombia on penalties, comfortable victory over Sweden and then a toothless defeat a stronger Croatian side. I just don't see us moving 'forwards' from here with our 'young and hungry side', we're not getting better, our coach is poor, and we got lucky with the draw and some big sides under-performing. A lot of things went in our way that won't again. QFs in the Euros at best for us next time, it will be a long time before we get this chance again. As for this 3rd/4th play-off, it's one of the most meaningless fixtures in existence, doubt I shall watch it. If you're really excited for it you need your head checked.

I do need to add what has impressed me is the behaviour of the side and our coach though. I don't like Southgate the coach but he seems like a very nice guy and has restored a connection with the fans. The players too who seem like a lot of great guy. Makes it tolerable to go watch England games again, haven't been to one since our failure at the Euros and think I might go to a few again, they have earned that for me.

With Croatia their golden generation is at their peak and the only way is down for them after this so it is nice to see some very talented players from such a small country get to a World Cup final. I think they'll lose though unfortunately, three games of 120 minutes means they must be exhausted. France to win the tournament it seems, even with their idiot in charge, which isn't the best for them in the long run really...

Good luck to Croatia.

Yeah, this, all of it

 

[Deleted Cyber]

The winner in this is Southgate. He comes out of this tournament with his stock much increased and deservedly so.MBE in the new years honours methinks after this.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

I hope not. Sporting honours are thrown round like confetti

 

[Deleted Cyber]

I hope not. Sporting honours are thrown round like confetti

Usually I agree. But a bang average england squad has reached the last 4 of the world cup. No one has us there. If you're giving MBEs to ashes winners then you need to recognise Southgates achievement. It's far exceeded all expectations. We have reached the last 4 with maybe 1 world class player. Croatia have at least 2 maybe more with their keeper

 

[Deleted Cyber]

My final point. Unfortunately the squad will be remembered as the nearly men who fell at the last hurdle. The only get out is if Croatia win. If they lose history unfortunately may remember 2018 as our best opportunity to reach a final since 66 and we blew it. Harsh, maybe but some will deliver that verdict.

 

[Deleted Cyber]

So let's end on a high and win the 3,rd place play off 5_4

 

[Deleted Cyber]

Let's be hypa critical

We are not creative enough
We keep too few clean sheets.
We have beaten no one of note competitively for ages.

We are a young squad
We play the same way at all levels
We have a manager who gets it.

 

[Alan]

I don't think it's entirely accurate to call this group of England players "bang average".

 

[Tredman]

Rashford and Joe Root, one custard pie, no deflections, where are you going?

Rashford every time.

 

[Boozad]

Was in too miuch pain to be down about last night and I didn’t really take the game in properly, managed to get back from the hospital with ten minutes gone. Didn’t seem a great performance from what I saw but we should have had it wrapped up in the first half. Can’t type out too many thoughts as it’s fucking killing to type but ultimately we didn’t deserve it.

 

[Langers]

My final point. Unfortunately the squad will be remembered as the nearly men who fell at the last hurdle. The only get out is if Croatia win. If they lose history unfortunately may remember 2018 as our best opportunity to reach a final since 66 and we blew it. Harsh, maybe but some will deliver that verdict.

Nonsense. There were no expectations this year and they've played well, giving many people a lot of hope for the future.

I'm very proud of them - this World Cup will rightly be remembered as a success and the tournament that saw the public all unite behind the national team for the first time in decades.

 

[Tredman]

Nonsense. There were no expectations this year and they've played well, giving many people a lot of hope for the future.

I'm very proud of them - this World Cup will rightly be remembered as a success and the tournament that saw the public all unite behind the national team for the first time in decades.

I agree they did well considering where we started, but it wasn't a success. A success would be winning.

The players can be happy with where they finished and they definitely over achieved so a conditional relative success maybe.