World Cup 2018 | 14th July | Third Place: Belgium vs England, KO 15:00 (BST)

Could go either way for England after this.
On the plus side, there are some aspects that look promising. Playing out from the back more. The rejection of the old dead wood. Trippier's showing.
On the negative side, Kane looks untouchable now. Pickford seems to have become the man after a good show in a penalty shootout. I'm not convinced.

Looking forward, if they continue to play 3 at the back and wing backs, the midfield needs serious improvement. In that formation you need a midfield 3 that can control the game better than the players England have. The whole team needs to be more alert to attacks aimed at the back end of the defensive line. Croatia exploited the blind spot on the end of the back line and scored a goal from it and Belgium did the same tonight. It's a weakness of the formation, so if you're going to play it, stop the ball coming in.
 
England will never be good enough until players like Phil Jones can't make the squad. Still a way to go. Trippier has been superb. I wonder if he could be converted to a midfield player like Pep did with Philip Lahm. Trippier seems to be the only England player, apart from Stones, who can actually pass the ball. Harry Kane was dreadful for most of the tournament whether or not he won the Golden boot. His movement off the ball has not been good enough. Perhaps he is injured.
 
Once again, Raheem was ridiculously sacrificed for Rashford, who came on and did the square root of absolutely fuck all.

Again.

OK, so Sterling might not have been playing as well as against Croatia, but he was still causing the Belgium defence problems, something that completely disappeared in the second half, though admittedly, England gave it a real go, and had Dier's chip gone in, who knows.

I thought all four of our lads had a good tournament, especially Stones, but if we could see that Rashford replacing Raheem didn’t work, why couldn’t Southgate?

We’ve far exceeded expectations, but our displays in the semifinal and today were both a bit of a letdown.
 
Vienna_70 said:
Once again, Raheem was ridiculously sacrificed for Rashford, who came on and did the square root of absolutely fuck all. Again. OK, so Sterling might not have been playing as well as against Croatia, but he was still causing the Belgium defence problems, something that completely disappeared in the second half, though admittedly, England gave it a real go, and had Dier's chip gone in, who knows.
Click to expand...

Sterling can't complain about being subbed.

Contrary to what you say, he wasn't causing their defence any problems.

Nor was Kane for that matter and he should also have been subbed at half-time.
 
Hoghead said:
Best England players of the tournament? In no particular order ....
Pickford
Trippier
Stones

Relied on defense?
Thoughts?
Click to expand...
That’s exactly what I said to Mrs S watching the game. These three were the most consistent performers + Maguire was fine as was Kyle. That’s half a team + Raz Who will perform in direct relation to the quality around him. Realistically England need three good midfielders before they can challenge. Phil might be one of them but Ali and Lingard are not and never will be.
 
The consensus of opinion is that if we had a more creative midfield that would make us a world beaters. We used to have an embarrassment of riches in that department and that didn’t work. Supporting England and city used to be frustrating, now it is just supporting England.
 
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