Southgate is the big winner here. He engineered a semi final place for a limited squad in many ways. Some players like Trippier, Maguire and Pickford have had a fantastic tournament. Henderson, Stones, Kane and Walker had a decent tournament. Sterling did good runs in the last couple of matches but his lack of goals and assists is a problem. Lingard scored a great goal but missed at least another 5 chances. Rashford is still raw. Ali had a average time and Young's poor left foot is a issue when you play left back. Jones, Cahill, Welbeck and Vardy's career could be at an end ? Is Rose the answer at Left back ? Why did Gareth lose face with Loftus-Cheek ? Young Trent-Alexander is a talented RB Delph and Dier I feel the jury is out. Pope and Buckland will only get in if Pickford Is injured.
A side point - Lovren could have been give 5 yellow cards in the first half. Ref let him get away with a lot. Got the distinct impression he wasn't keep on booking anyone first half to not ruin the game. Not that it matters
Not to mention Mandzukic. Did you notice his eyes in the tunnel whilst they were waiting to take the field? Then after the goal, screaming into the camera? Something a little Marradonesque there, methinks!
"If you ever see a post from WRICURKINCAM walk away and pretend you didn't. Only madness lies ahead. " = Henry Irving.
I'm a bit pissed rn but also quite emotional, what a coincidence.
I've never been more proud of an England team in my lifetime (I'm 22 in a weekish).
This tournament has given me interest in the national side for the first time in years and I feel like we have a core group of players who actually want to give their all for the first time in my generation.
I'm not usually that patriotic but I'm so proud of what we've achieved at this World Cup and was close to tears when we lost. But despite that I feel that we have made great strides in actually being able to be competitive and get to the final of a major competition.
I feel so much pride for this team, almost as much as when we won League 1 with SCP and that says alot,
Anyways onwards and upwards ayyyy until we get knocked in the group stages of Euro 2020 by Lichtenstein!!!!!
Weaker opposition or not, semi finals exceeds pre tournament expectations and, as others have observed, they left it all out there tonight so you can’t really complain. In fact there are many things to be proud of about the way the team went about things.
BUT, tonight brought some of the same old technical flaws to the surface. There were signs even in the Tunisia game that our passing along the back three could be vulnerable to the press if the passing was not really sharp and accurate. Tonight there were too many sloppy passes that gave Croatia chances and a sense that we were not secure defensively. A sense which proved justified as England twice collectively switched off to allow Croatia to score.
In midfield, we still do not have a true playmaker and players who can reliably retain possession when given the hurry up by the opposition. Colombia exposed it a bit, but not as consistently as Croatia did.
England started well but the tide was turning from midway through the first half and Southgate was too slow to switch up the shape or add fresh legs to a desperately tiring midfield. I think Loftus-Cheek should have been introduced. Sticking Rashford on and just hitting it long was horribly unimaginative and not a befitting plan B for this otherwise we’ll prepared team to finish its run with.
YET, it all could have been so different. England didn’t create a whack load, but there were chances and for Harry Kane of all people.
Gutted but proud would be how I would say I feel right now.
This run has hopefully gone some way to restoring some belief, but it also should not distract from the fact England are still short of some fundamental things needed to win a major tournament. The best of this group are now experienced. Hopefully as the members of our successful U20 and U18 teams break through the best of them can be added to the squad and wthey can attack future tournaments with a deeper, better balanced squad to go with that renewed belief.
Last of all though. At least this World Cup has actually been fun, and at the end of the day that is what supporting a team should be above all else.
Weird start to the thing - the pub I was going to was full but a rival pub sent a stretch limo to take a bunch of us to Buzbys bar in Santa Monica. We were piling out when a huge roar from the pub told us we were one up. Wow. After that, the nerves quietly set in. We looked good in some parts, Croatia showed they wanted it too, and the final whistle came when we needed it, but the second half of extra time, we paid a huge Price for a bit of carelessness at the back and the dream died.
I had a long walk alone back to the hotel, and my interest in the world cup has eaporated. I hope we beat Belgium to go one better than Italia '90 as it's abut time we laid that to rest, but I really couldn't care less about the final, and probably won't watch it. I'll not point fingers at any of the squad - we got much further tan I expected and I hope we can build on this. But despite the fact I feel as if I was kicked hard in the gut this morning, it has been a great tournment all round, and also for us. I think @redmidland said earlier he couldn't listen to 'three lions' without a tear in the eye, and I feel the same way. But they did us proud, and we can hold our heads very high after that.
What a month, so many good moments with my mates that I’ll never forget. No expectations and we got to the last 4. After the first half they were much better than us, so no complaints. Roll on 2020
Can't be too dissappointed, as the better side won in the end, but that game was there for the taking and we blew it, due to a lack of experience and some individual errors.
Cross for the first goal should never have been allowed to come into the box, and Young was a good thirty metres out of position - once it did come in, then the ball needs to be attacked, but Walker was day dreaming, and that changed the game.
Second goal stemmed from a wild hack from Walker, and then Stones losing Mandjukic running in behind him - said before that small mistakes will cost you in the WC, and we made critical errors tonight.
With hindsight at around the hour mark, we could have taken off Henderson and Sterling, brought on Dier and Delp, switched to a 4-5-1 formation, and let them try to play round us, with Ali trying to play off Kane.
Can't really begrudge the Craotian's their success, they seem a pretty honest bunch compared to others, and I hope they do well in the final, but from what I have seen France will have too much for them all over the pitch, and a midfield trio of Kante, Pogba and Matuidi, will not be as easily over-run as ours was in the 2nd half tonight.
Thought the ref was poor. That cnut Lovrens should have been booked early in first half. His aggression shoould not be forgottenand when he fcuks for Liverpool again I will take pleasure in that!
Just recovered, I am gutted. In the end I would say Croatia were deserved winners, I thought before the game their midfield was too much for us and the second half confirmed it. They stretched us and had all the time in the world on the ball, was painful viewing at times.
I'm pretty pissed off at the officials, flagged offisde when we weren't? Throw in not given twice I think, two blatant fouls waved away, ball went out for a corner and not given. If I was the England manager I would want the officials to be looked into, I'm not trying to say they were corrupt but they were certainly incompetent and for a game of that magnitude they shouldn't be allowed to be near the pitch again.
A bit more negatives before the positive. Southgates lack of subs early on? It was clear Kane and Alli were shot, why not swap Kane for Vardy or Alli for RLC, both players good enough to step up and we needed fresh legs. I was also disappointed with Sterling coming off as I thought he was having a good game. I like Walker but if we want to progress we need to take him out of the side and play Trippier as a right back and have actual midfielders, problem is I guess is we really aren't spoilt for choice with midfielders, that said Hendo surprised me this tournament. I'll happily admit I was not his biggest fan but he did his bit, just comes back to the fact he doesn't do much with the ball, he can't get it forwards and with how we play we need someone to take that role. The last main thing that bothered me was the lack of fight and character in that game. First 45 mins we were the better team undeniably, next 75 what happened, no one seemed to want it, I only saw emotion from Pickford, none of the players were trying to gee eachother up, hardly anyone asking for the ball, lack of urgency. Maybe I'm asking too much but I would rather have gone out to a far superior side to eliminate all 'what ifs' than what happened. Croatia were beatable and now it's left question marks imo.
Anyway the positives. Pickford, top top keeper, could be looking at the #1 for ten years or more there, great shot stopper and love his passion. I don't want to go over the top but I think Stones and Maguire with the right coaching could be a world class centre back partnership, no concerns there anymore, Trippier is a top player too. Kane is Kane, he will be the main man for years. After that, I don't wanna sound negative cause I am proud of what they achieved in bringing positivity back to the national side, but I don't think the rest are good enough if we want to be world champs. The bright news is we have an abundance of young talent coming through so hopefully one of them can be the midfield enforcer we need.
Roll on Euros and hopefully Southgate gets the time to push this team ever further with some new talent
It's been a great tournament. And we got much further than most of us expected.
Not good enough tonight and it looked like we were the team that had played 240 minutes in our last 2 games. Too many times we were way too slow to react.
Croatia are nothing special and that game was defo winnable. Gutted.
I kept wondering why. England are a much younger side than Croatia...
Anyway, I really enjoyed the first half. I can't remember if I've seen a better England team than that. It was almost like watching one of the best Premier League teams play. It would have been a totally different result had Lingard or Kane taken one of those massive chances and scored.
By the way I think the referee and the linesman were poor.
This is the best World Cup I've watched (I was born in the late 80's). England played a huge part in it being my favourite World Cup. Although the match on Saturday means very little and it's unclear what kind of lineup Southgate will choose but I hope England defeat Belgium and complete this amazing journey with a victory.
After all, the only team we beat in normal time in that tournament was Egypt.
I still don't understand how people communicated before the internet.
Those were the days, relying on landlines and phone boxes and word of mouth. Kids these days don’t know they’re born.......
Yes but what did you do with all your free time while you waited for your carrier pigeons to deliver their messages? Were you just...alone with your thoughts?
Probably socialising with my neighbours, listening to my vinyl records...all the things we don’t do anymore!
Oh, and the ref and that Lino on the far side. What a pair of blind cunts.
Linesman was way off the pace and how many foul throws where there in that game? Might as well just throw it under arm from the line if they are not going to bother with a proper throw in.
My old man god bless him was never a fan of the early goal I could hear him shouting "too early" as Trippier smashed that kick in. Your early game plan does somewhat go out of the window when it happens.
Worried me too, especially the celebrations that were reminiscent of match ending ones.
Looking back on it we should've buried them in that first half. I really feel that if we'd gone 2 up that would've been game over. Still don't see why Kane didn't just square it for Sterling to have a tap in.
Been a lot of talk about Russian doping, fitness levels etc but after going to extra time and penalties in both of their knock out matches, Croatia still looked miles fitter than us in the second half and then in extra time last night.
Team of mostly average players, a couple of quality players with the chance of a lifetime. Sadly we didn't have the players good enough to take advantage.
So proud to be a England fan, Southgate is a legend... we fully over performed overall. But I think the experience got too us and we looked knackered. Kane I'm sure was injured and Vardy just isnt cut out for that level.
Lots of positives to take forward.. but I have literally zero interest in 3rd place.
“The all-round perception was that this is a new-look England who have changed their ways of punting long balls upfield but when we pressed them it turned out that they haven’t.”
Some truth to this. In the first half it made us move the ball faster, and we looked dangerous with our pace. Second half, the midfield completely disappeared and we just smashed it up there. We were totally unable to keep the ball. The top sides can always keep it to relieve a bit of pressure. We reverted to type.
I thought I would have, but I haven't, proud of the way they played, totally overachieved and exceeded my expectations.....if Kane's 1 on 1 goes in last night then I think we win the game at 2-0 up at HT, it didn't and they were so much stronger than us in the 2nd half and extra time. Fully deserved and we just looked out on our feet - no complaints.
Have loved every minute of this WC and will watch the last 2 games. Think France will win it and Mbappe will become the star of the tournament.
I knew my little girl was into football, but I was more upset for her last night, she was sobbing with about 5 mins of extra time left and still sobbing in bed, bless her.
I thought the system was effective, but we saw that when the team goes deeper it became less so. It depends a lot on always having a threat. Southgate will now do the analysis I'm sure and tweak things. This isn't the last stand of the side given its youth and there are some decent players who can come in and enhance it. We have a lot to be positive about, but this was a great chance and you have to take your chances when they come.
I think the third place game has some importance still. It is further experience and by winning it England could have the best result of an England team since 66. I hope it is taken seriously.
Was gutted last night and still reflecting this morning on what could've been but the reality is that there are so many positives to come out of the tournament.
We far exceeded expectations The whole country got behind the team We're now proud of our national team again after the Euro 2016 shambles We had the second youngest squad in the tournament Players like Maguire, Trippier and Henderson showed they belong on the international stage Southgate, a manager who many weren't convinced by, is now a national hero. Kane will win the golden boot And lastly even our notoriously harsh national press, are all praising the team/squad today.
From such an ongoing high,I feel empty today. Gutted.
Same mate. I know that Croatia are the better team. They were more comfortable on the ball and eventually the quality told, but I’d dared to dream again. The whole experience of the last 3 weeks and seeing the scenes in places like Croydon box park etc have been a real buzz. Didn’t want it to end.
We’ve made massive progress. Still got a lot of work to do, because if we ever do want to compete at the top top level, we will need one or two players who are technically more comfortable on the ball.
I can’t ask anymore of any of them though. They really did give it their very best. And for that, I’m grateful
Comments
He engineered a semi final place for a limited squad in many ways.
Some players like Trippier, Maguire and Pickford have had a fantastic tournament.
Henderson, Stones, Kane and Walker had a decent tournament.
Sterling did good runs in the last couple of matches but his lack of goals and assists is a problem.
Lingard scored a great goal but missed at least another 5 chances.
Rashford is still raw.
Ali had a average time and Young's poor left foot is a issue when you play left back.
Jones, Cahill, Welbeck and Vardy's career could be at an end ?
Is Rose the answer at Left back ?
Why did Gareth lose face with Loftus-Cheek ?
Young Trent-Alexander is a talented RB
Delph and Dier I feel the jury is out.
Pope and Buckland will only get in if Pickford Is injured.
"If you ever see a post from WRICURKINCAM walk away and pretend you didn't. Only madness lies ahead. " = Henry Irving.
I've never been more proud of an England team in my lifetime (I'm 22 in a weekish).
This tournament has given me interest in the national side for the first time in years and I feel like we have a core group of players who actually want to give their all for the first time in my generation.
I'm not usually that patriotic but I'm so proud of what we've achieved at this World Cup and was close to tears when we lost. But despite that I feel that we have made great strides in actually being able to be competitive and get to the final of a major competition.
I feel so much pride for this team, almost as much as when we won League 1 with SCP and that says alot,
Anyways onwards and upwards ayyyy until we get knocked in the group stages of Euro 2020 by Lichtenstein!!!!!
BUT, tonight brought some of the same old technical flaws to the surface. There were signs even in the Tunisia game that our passing along the back three could be vulnerable to the press if the passing was not really sharp and accurate. Tonight there were too many sloppy passes that gave Croatia chances and a sense that we were not secure defensively. A sense which proved justified as England twice collectively switched off to allow Croatia to score.
In midfield, we still do not have a true playmaker and players who can reliably retain possession when given the hurry up by the opposition. Colombia exposed it a bit, but not as consistently as Croatia did.
England started well but the tide was turning from midway through the first half and Southgate was too slow to switch up the shape or add fresh legs to a desperately tiring midfield. I think Loftus-Cheek should have been introduced. Sticking Rashford on and just hitting it long was horribly unimaginative and not a befitting plan B for this otherwise we’ll prepared team to finish its run with.
YET, it all could have been so different. England didn’t create a whack load, but there were chances and for Harry Kane of all people.
Gutted but proud would be how I would say I feel right now.
This run has hopefully gone some way to restoring some belief, but it also should not distract from the fact England are still short of some fundamental things needed to win a major tournament. The best of this group are now experienced. Hopefully as the members of our successful U20 and U18 teams break through the best of them can be added to the squad and wthey can attack future tournaments with a deeper, better balanced squad to go with that renewed belief.
Last of all though. At least this World Cup has actually been fun, and at the end of the day that is what supporting a team should be above all else.
I had a long walk alone back to the hotel, and my interest in the world cup has eaporated. I hope we beat Belgium to go one better than Italia '90 as it's abut time we laid that to rest, but I really couldn't care less about the final, and probably won't watch it. I'll not point fingers at any of the squad - we got much further tan I expected and I hope we can build on this. But despite the fact I feel as if I was kicked hard in the gut this morning, it has been a great tournment all round, and also for us. I think @redmidland said earlier he couldn't listen to 'three lions' without a tear in the eye, and I feel the same way. But they did us proud, and we can hold our heads very high after that.
Cross for the first goal should never have been allowed to come into the box, and Young was a good thirty metres out of position - once it did come in, then the ball needs to be attacked, but Walker was day dreaming, and that changed the game.
Second goal stemmed from a wild hack from Walker, and then Stones losing Mandjukic running in behind him - said before that small mistakes will cost you in the WC, and we made critical errors tonight.
With hindsight at around the hour mark, we could have taken off Henderson and Sterling, brought on Dier and Delp, switched to a 4-5-1 formation, and let them try to play round us, with Ali trying to play off Kane.
Can't really begrudge the Craotian's their success, they seem a pretty honest bunch compared to others, and I hope they do well in the final, but from what I have seen France will have too much for them all over the pitch, and a midfield trio of Kante, Pogba and Matuidi, will not be as easily over-run as ours was in the 2nd half tonight.
I'm pretty pissed off at the officials, flagged offisde when we weren't? Throw in not given twice I think, two blatant fouls waved away, ball went out for a corner and not given. If I was the England manager I would want the officials to be looked into, I'm not trying to say they were corrupt but they were certainly incompetent and for a game of that magnitude they shouldn't be allowed to be near the pitch again.
A bit more negatives before the positive. Southgates lack of subs early on? It was clear Kane and Alli were shot, why not swap Kane for Vardy or Alli for RLC, both players good enough to step up and we needed fresh legs. I was also disappointed with Sterling coming off as I thought he was having a good game. I like Walker but if we want to progress we need to take him out of the side and play Trippier as a right back and have actual midfielders, problem is I guess is we really aren't spoilt for choice with midfielders, that said Hendo surprised me this tournament. I'll happily admit I was not his biggest fan but he did his bit, just comes back to the fact he doesn't do much with the ball, he can't get it forwards and with how we play we need someone to take that role. The last main thing that bothered me was the lack of fight and character in that game. First 45 mins we were the better team undeniably, next 75 what happened, no one seemed to want it, I only saw emotion from Pickford, none of the players were trying to gee eachother up, hardly anyone asking for the ball, lack of urgency. Maybe I'm asking too much but I would rather have gone out to a far superior side to eliminate all 'what ifs' than what happened. Croatia were beatable and now it's left question marks imo.
Anyway the positives. Pickford, top top keeper, could be looking at the #1 for ten years or more there, great shot stopper and love his passion. I don't want to go over the top but I think Stones and Maguire with the right coaching could be a world class centre back partnership, no concerns there anymore, Trippier is a top player too. Kane is Kane, he will be the main man for years. After that, I don't wanna sound negative cause I am proud of what they achieved in bringing positivity back to the national side, but I don't think the rest are good enough if we want to be world champs. The bright news is we have an abundance of young talent coming through so hopefully one of them can be the midfield enforcer we need.
Roll on Euros and hopefully Southgate gets the time to push this team ever further with some new talent
Anyway, I really enjoyed the first half. I can't remember if I've seen a better England team than that. It was almost like watching one of the best Premier League teams play. It would have been a totally different result had Lingard or Kane taken one of those massive chances and scored.
By the way I think the referee and the linesman were poor.
This is the best World Cup I've watched (I was born in the late 80's). England played a huge part in it being my favourite World Cup. Although the match on Saturday means very little and it's unclear what kind of lineup Southgate will choose but I hope England defeat Belgium and complete this amazing journey with a victory.
We could have been looking forward to the World Cup Final and there is a very good chance I will never see this chance again in my lifetime
Been a lot of talk about Russian doping, fitness levels etc but after going to extra time and penalties in both of their knock out matches, Croatia still looked miles fitter than us in the second half and then in extra time last night.
Lots of positives to take forward.. but I have literally zero interest in 3rd place.
“The all-round perception was that this is a new-look England who have changed their ways of punting long balls upfield but when we pressed them it turned out that they haven’t.”
Some truth to this. In the first half it made us move the ball faster, and we looked dangerous with our pace. Second half, the midfield completely disappeared and we just smashed it up there. We were totally unable to keep the ball. The top sides can always keep it to relieve a bit of pressure. We reverted to type.
Have loved every minute of this WC and will watch the last 2 games. Think France will win it and Mbappe will become the star of the tournament.
I knew my little girl was into football, but I was more upset for her last night, she was sobbing with about 5 mins of extra time left and still sobbing in bed, bless her.
Roll on 2020.
I think the third place game has some importance still. It is further experience and by winning it England could have the best result of an England team since 66. I hope it is taken seriously.
We far exceeded expectations
The whole country got behind the team
We're now proud of our national team again after the Euro 2016 shambles
We had the second youngest squad in the tournament
Players like Maguire, Trippier and Henderson showed they belong on the international stage
Southgate, a manager who many weren't convinced by, is now a national hero.
Kane will win the golden boot
And lastly even our notoriously harsh national press, are all praising the team/squad today.
We’ve made massive progress. Still got a lot of work to do, because if we ever do want to compete at the top top level, we will need one or two players who are technically more comfortable on the ball.
I can’t ask anymore of any of them though. They really did give it their very best. And for that, I’m grateful