England finish 4th.

If Gareth was employing a kind of plan B, with Henderson hoofing the ball from his own half for Sterling and Kane to run on to, wouldn't it have
made more sense to have taken Shelvey for this purpose, bring him on when we got stuck in our own half.
 
Didnt watch any of it but 2 wins against teams you would of expected to beat ,a draw and 3 defeats ?
And england are back
Am I missing something here ?
 
Overall,while the final was a tad anti climactic ,its been a brilliant tournament that I didn't expect to enjoy half as much as i have.
Its bridged the gap in the domestic game too,which is a huge bonus!

Just a quick word if thanks to @MCFC1993 for his efforts in making and updating the WC threads,a job well done pal :-)

Thanks, it was a great World Cup, hope everyone found the threads useful.
 
That's going to be the last summer World Cup for eight years.
I know what a major fuck up those seasons are going to be with the season finishing in May and starting again in July then the World Cup over November and December and the league starting again on a Boxing Day through to May.

Those few years will be a fucking farce.

No wonder Pep’s only signed to 2021.

People’s annual July Summer holidays will see attendances plummet as well around the country.
 
Didnt watch any of it but 2 wins against teams you would of expected to beat ,a draw and 3 defeats ?
And england are back
Am I missing something here ?

In previous years, England would have lost to the teams they expected to beat so yes - progress of sorts. No body is suggesting (least of all Southgate) that they are suddenly world beaters but they are at least in a place they can build on.
 
Losing to Croatia in extra time is an illustration of the issue with England. They were in their third extra time yet looked fresher. Our squad was not strong enough to cope with the demands of the tournament and Southgate waits too long to make changes. Taking Sterling off repeatedly was an error. Taking Henderaon off was an error and not being willing to experiment with formations was an error.

However, the first tournament for most (including as a manager for Southgate) you have to be happy with a semi final regardless of opposition. Croatia had a solid defence and an exceptional player in Modric plus a more than capable attacking trio. England lack strength in depth but I think continually playing Alli was an error and Dier was woeful when we needed more solidity. We need that star midfielder to come through. Not a number 10, a central midfielder who runs the game. We need to build on this side towards the euros and scrap any who cannot play at the next world cup due to age - Cahill, Young, Delph, Vardy for example to make sure the young players gel. We are a mile off the likes of Belgium, Spain, France, Brazil and Germany but made a semi final. Regardless of who you play that is still a good performance.
 
Didnt watch any of it but 2 wins against teams you would of expected to beat ,a draw and 3 defeats ?
And england are back
Am I missing something here ?

Yes, you're missing the fact that we didn't draw with Colombia, we beat them on penalties.

We wouldn't have been in the quarter finals if we'd drawn.
 

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