Can we lose to Sweden? Well we all know the answer to that - most definitely. I said last night we needed a very un-England performance after the equaliser and winning on pens is about as un-England as you can get.
We need to repeat the 'un-England-ness' versus a team who you just know have a habit of turning us over.
But like Shooters says, take a look at their starting line up. Players from Abu Dhabi, the MLS, Russian sides (and not the good ones), Scandanavian leagues.
Make no mistake we should be winning this comfortably (doesnt mean we will though - we have to attack it like no game ever before)
They don't have a habit of turning us over at all.
Why did we look so much better with Sterling on the pitch? Because he draws the attention away from the other players, giving them freedom to express.
He's a threat and other teams know it and so far, all have successfully nullified him, to the detriment of focusing on others.
Don't get me wrong, this often means we're looking at sort of turgid displays, but that's because we are genuinely posing an incisive threat for the first time since either 2004 or 2006, and teams are battening down the hatches.
This is the first time I've been excited about England in a very, very long time, and it's a great feeling.
Sweden have turned us over in the past by playing as a team rather than a bunch of selfish individuals. If Southgate has genuinely got the players to change their mindset and put their egos to one side the game's ours to lose.
Sweden and Switzerland gave the ball away so often, and if Sweden do so against us they are likely to get punished. They dealt with crosses very well and are well organised throughout. Probably best discribed as the old English style of football. It was also a very open game and few serious fouls.
I think Sterling will be our biggest threat in opening them up, especially coming in from the wing.
Sweden and Switzerland gave the ball away so often, and if Sweden do so against us they are likely to get punished. They dealt with crosses very well and are well organised throughout. Probably best discribed as the old English style of football. It was also a very open game and few serious fouls.
I think Sterling will be our biggest threat in opening them up, especially coming in from the wing.
They also play a flat back 4 which should allow players like Lingard and Ali/Rashford/RLC to drift inside and work in-between the lines. Then our wing backs should have a field day.
Our formation and style is set up perfectly to play against these.
Why did we look so much better with Sterling on the pitch? Because he draws the attention away from the other players, giving them freedom to express.
He's a threat and other teams know it and so far, all have successfully nullified him, to the detriment of focusing on others.
Don't get me wrong, this often means we're looking at sort of turgid displays, but that's because we are genuinely posing an incisive threat for the first time since either 2004 or 2006, and teams are battening down the hatches.
This is the first time I've been excited about England in a very, very long time, and it's a great feeling.
@PaddyP17 - I posted similar on the match thread. We missed his runs, and the fact he was often the outlet for the other players to release the ball to.
Why did we look so much better with Sterling on the pitch? Because he draws the attention away from the other players, giving them freedom to express.
He's a threat and other teams know it and so far, all have successfully nullified him, to the detriment of focusing on others.
Don't get me wrong, this often means we're looking at sort of turgid displays, but that's because we are genuinely posing an incisive threat for the first time since either 2004 or 2006, and teams are battening down the hatches.
This is the first time I've been excited about England in a very, very long time, and it's a great feeling.
I don't think it's a case of us looking better with Sterling on the pitch, I think it's more to do with having two CDM's on the pitch at the same time. It was a negative substitution to bring on Dier at that time and we got punished for it.
I swear we could win the whole bloody thing and people would still come out with comments like "we scraped past a very poor Brazil side" "sterling was rubbish" "we were lucky the Germans were already out" etc etc
well, we technically could. You don't get additional points for playing well, with style, taking out the top teams etc.
We have a very good spirit, work hard, are very good at set pieces and (so far) have a striker who has been very reliable with penalties. But every game we have played so far has either been a stop-start side show, or a reserve game. The nearest we have come to a fluent game of football was vs Tunisia, who are clearly inferior to us and played deep encouraging us to play with possession.
The last 10 mins of normal time last night and then the 1st half of extra time concerned me at just how poor we are at retaining possession when a team is pressing us higher up the pitch. Which the better teams will do better and for longer in a game than what Panama, Tunisia and Columbia have attempted
We have scored just one goal, a deflection off a heel, from open play.
We are getting results and progressing. Its great. Lets hope the momentum it takes us to the next level performance wise. But we are not getting there with golden generation stuff imo. Apologies if that sounds a bit deflating.
No we aren't getting there with golden generation stuff - because in tournament football our golden generation were god awful. This England team would turn that one over purely because this one works together, has a never say die spirit and more importantly a manager who has a plan, a system and a way of working that isn't about trying to fit all of the big egos into it and trying to please them all (which was impossible)
This group of players aren't sitting at lunch in their team cliques and whispering to each other (totally heresay I know but I believe that was happening) they are a hard working group of young lads who play for each other and enjoy being around each other. You can't buy that.
We aren't going to play champagne football but then look at Brazil who are obviously known for that and yet they have gone way more defensive and cautious in this tournament yet nobody is talking much about that are they? France turned it on against Argentina but that was such an attacking game and Argentina were pretty bad defensively, every other game they were incredibly turgid so it's hard to know what France team will show up from one match to the next. Belgium are the only team that have looked good for any length of time in the tournament and even they nearly slipped up against Japan and should have at least been taken to extra time if not for a foolhardy/brave attack from Japan in the last minute that left them exposed.
Point being you can pick holes in every teams performances for the entire tournament - but I garauntee you every team on the other side of the draw will be hoping to avoid England in the final more than any of the others.
We as England fans have a choice now, we can go negative, not wanting to get hurt again which is understandable with our history, or we can do what this England team did last night in the face of ANOTHER penalty shoot out loss and say- you know what. Sod history. This is England. We made this sport and we are taking it home.
I don't care if that's me getting carried away, we are better than all four teams in our half of the draw and I don't think hand on heart you could ever say that about an England team in the quarter finals in a generation. This is once in a lifetime for me and i'm going to bloody dream and no negativity or talk of past failures is going to stop me.
Absolute tripe by a bunch if effeminate snowflakes who have no idea what it means to represent England in the World Cup. It will take a near miracle for us to proceed from the group.
Bobby Moore, Ray Wilson, Nobby Stiles, Geoff Hurst etc. Would be embarrassed by the performance of this bunch of posers. They are more suited to the girls' grammar 1st eleven along with their manager. Harry Kane is exempt from any of my comments.
I swear we could win the whole bloody thing and people would still come out with comments like "we scraped past a very poor Brazil side" "sterling was rubbish" "we were lucky the Germans were already out" etc etc
well, we technically could. You don't get additional points for playing well, with style, taking out the top teams etc.
We have a very good spirit, work hard, are very good at set pieces and (so far) have a striker who has been very reliable with penalties. But every game we have played so far has either been a stop-start side show, or a reserve game. The nearest we have come to a fluent game of football was vs Tunisia, who are clearly inferior to us and played deep encouraging us to play with possession.
The last 10 mins of normal time last night and then the 1st half of extra time concerned me at just how poor we are at retaining possession when a team is pressing us higher up the pitch. Which the better teams will do better and for longer in a game than what Panama, Tunisia and Columbia have attempted
We have scored just one goal, a deflection off a heel, from open play.
We are getting results and progressing. Its great. Lets hope the momentum it takes us to the next level performance wise. But we are not getting there with golden generation stuff imo. Apologies if that sounds a bit deflating.
No we aren't getting there with golden generation stuff - because in tournament football our golden generation were god awful. This England team would turn that one over purely because this one works together, has a never say die spirit and more importantly a manager who has a plan, a system and a way of working that isn't about trying to fit all of the big egos into it and trying to please them all (which was impossible)
This group of players aren't sitting at lunch in their team cliques and whispering to each other (totally heresay I know but I believe that was happening) they are a hard working group of young lads who play for each other and enjoy being around each other. You can't buy that.
We aren't going to play champagne football but then look at Brazil who are obviously known for that and yet they have gone way more defensive and cautious in this tournament yet nobody is talking much about that are they? France turned it on against Argentina but that was such an attacking game and Argentina were pretty bad defensively, every other game they were incredibly turgid so it's hard to know what France team will show up from one match to the next. Belgium are the only team that have looked good for any length of time in the tournament and even they nearly slipped up against Japan and should have at least been taken to extra time if not for a foolhardy/brave attack from Japan in the last minute that left them exposed.
Point being you can pick holes in every teams performances for the entire tournament - but I garauntee you every team on the other side of the draw will be hoping to avoid England in the final more than any of the others.
We as England fans have a choice now, we can go negative, not wanting to get hurt again which is understandable with our history, or we can do what this England team did last night in the face of ANOTHER penalty shoot out loss and say- you know what. Sod history. This is England. We made this sport and we are taking it home.
I don't care if that's me getting carried away, we are better than all four teams in our half of the draw and I don't think hand on heart you could ever say that about an England team in the quarter finals in a generation. This is once in a lifetime for me and i'm going to bloody dream and no negativity or talk of past failures is going to stop me.
Absolute tripe by a bunch if effeminate snowflakes who have no idea what it means to represent England in the World Cup. It will take a near miracle for us to proceed from the group.
Bobby Moore, Ray Wilson, Nobby Stiles, Geoff Hurst etc. Would be embarrassed by the performance of this bunch of posers. They are more suited to the girls' grammar 1st eleven along with their manager. Harry Kane is exempt from any of my comments.
Thats up there with when i said KM would do a good job for us!
No doubt England have caused problems with their set plays. Sweden won’t be quite so obliging and will be more solid from corners and free kicks. Should be fascinating game.
No doubt England have caused problems with their set plays. Sweden won’t be quite so obliging and will be more solid from corners and free kicks. Should be fascinating game.
Colombia have two solid centre backs in Davinson Sanchez and Mina and we caused them problems all night.
If Dier didn't have a 50p head we wouldn't have even needed penalties.
Sterling starts, we lack a passer in the midfield to open up defenses, so you need a tricky player to cause problems otherwise, and Sterling did that well, he also puts in a massive shift. Alli isn't fit, and can't see him backing up in time for Saturday.
Sweden are a bit of a bogey side in tournaments, can't remember beating them in one, just scrappy draws up being popped open by Thomas Brolin in Stockholm in '92.
We beat them in Euro 2012 and drew in 2006 and 2002.
Sweden and Switzerland gave the ball away so often, and if Sweden do so against us they are likely to get punished. They dealt with crosses very well and are well organised throughout. Probably best discribed as the old English style of football. It was also a very open game and few serious fouls.
I think Sterling will be our biggest threat in opening them up, especially coming in from the wing.
To be fair RR we too are good at giving the ball away so I would say if Sweden do it it will be equal. Take a look at the 1st half hi-lights from last night and you will struggle to see Lingard finding a team mate with a pass or creating something for himself without losing the ball.
Did no-one watch Rashford's performance against Belgium? He is not the answer but seems it's another case of being a better player when you're not in the team.
There is one thing nobody can dispute. We invented the beautiful game and it is time it came home. FIFA have been anti-England for too long! We have been rubbish for too long! I doubt we will have a better opportunity to do the business in any of our lifetimes!
Rashford is a great player to bring on against tiring opponents - he does create different problems and can beat a man or two or pull out something special. Not everytime - but it is in his locker. I like him as a sub though, for that reason.
Don't get all the negativity. We don't need to be the best team in the entire tournament, don't need to be playing blinding football every game, how did that work out for Spain? We just have to beat the teams put in front of us. All 3 of the teams left on our side of the bracket are beatable, Sweden especially, then we're in the final and that's one game where we have to turn up and play our best football.
Were Wigan the best team in the cup when they won the FA Cup final? No, but they got to the final and then beat Man City in the final. My old man is always saying England weren't the best team in the 66 World Cup, but we won that too. Why can't we do the same?
Comments
We have Won 8, Drawn 11 and Lost 7 vs Sweden.
Let's hope the Columbians left some snow.....
He's a threat and other teams know it and so far, all have successfully nullified him, to the detriment of focusing on others.
Don't get me wrong, this often means we're looking at sort of turgid displays, but that's because we are genuinely posing an incisive threat for the first time since either 2004 or 2006, and teams are battening down the hatches.
This is the first time I've been excited about England in a very, very long time, and it's a great feeling.
Friday: two matches to savour
Saturday: two matches to endure
Pickford
Trippier Stones Maguire Rose
RLC Henderson
Lingard
Rashford Kane Sterling
Walker has looked a liability to me
I think Sterling will be our biggest threat in opening them up, especially coming in from the wing.
Our formation and style is set up perfectly to play against these.
This group of players aren't sitting at lunch in their team cliques and whispering to each other (totally heresay I know but I believe that was happening) they are a hard working group of young lads who play for each other and enjoy being around each other. You can't buy that.
We aren't going to play champagne football but then look at Brazil who are obviously known for that and yet they have gone way more defensive and cautious in this tournament yet nobody is talking much about that are they? France turned it on against Argentina but that was such an attacking game and Argentina were pretty bad defensively, every other game they were incredibly turgid so it's hard to know what France team will show up from one match to the next. Belgium are the only team that have looked good for any length of time in the tournament and even they nearly slipped up against Japan and should have at least been taken to extra time if not for a foolhardy/brave attack from Japan in the last minute that left them exposed.
Point being you can pick holes in every teams performances for the entire tournament - but I garauntee you every team on the other side of the draw will be hoping to avoid England in the final more than any of the others.
We as England fans have a choice now, we can go negative, not wanting to get hurt again which is understandable with our history, or we can do what this England team did last night in the face of ANOTHER penalty shoot out loss and say- you know what. Sod history. This is England. We made this sport and we are taking it home.
I don't care if that's me getting carried away, we are better than all four teams in our half of the draw and I don't think hand on heart you could ever say that about an England team in the quarter finals in a generation. This is once in a lifetime for me and i'm going to bloody dream and no negativity or talk of past failures is going to stop me.
Come the fuck on England !
Its coming home!
If Dier didn't have a 50p head we wouldn't have even needed penalties.
Same XI for me.
Rashford is a great player to bring on against tiring opponents - he does create different problems and can beat a man or two or pull out something special. Not everytime - but it is in his locker. I like him as a sub though, for that reason.
Were Wigan the best team in the cup when they won the FA Cup final? No, but they got to the final and then beat Man City in the final. My old man is always saying England weren't the best team in the 66 World Cup, but we won that too. Why can't we do the same?