England v Spain

[SpiritofBurnden]

What was upsetting the most was that Southgate had a free hit. He could have set the team up expansive ly and yes we probably would have got beat heavily and been criticised but we would of all understood what he was doing.

You'd have been on here defending him to the hilt after we'd been hammered would you?

You've slagged him off for reaching a World Cup semi-final!

Laughable.

 

[hilts]

Do it for Saint George Harry

 

[93.01]

You'd have been on here defending him to the hilt after we'd been hammered would you?

You've slagged him off for reaching a World Cup semi-final!

Laughable.

No I'd never defend because I've had his number him from way back when he got the under 21 gig. He should never have got that role as at the time I thought he was shit. Not rocket science. One word, Middlesborough. Further evidence for me of how shit he is has dearth of under 21 players who have failed to come through under his tutilege. So no I'm not slagging him off because he reached a semi in the world Cup.
I've always thought he was shit. Plus I'm telling it as it is for the fourth time becuase despite having a a piss easy draw he failed to put in place a style of football that created goals from open play, get the best of players or display any tactical awareness with his subs or style of play when he 1 nil up against Croatia, which was laughable.

 

[inchy14]

I thought it didn't count if you won on pens?

According to your logic it's actually a draw.

When's the replay of the 1990 World Cup semi-final?

I didn’t say victory doesn’t count if won on pens though did I? I said we hadn’t beaten any decent sides and we hadn’t, we flukes our way to the semis same as plenty of other sides have. This whole argument isn’t about us getting to a semi final but about how fucking shite we are, if you can’t see it I can’t help you.

They get there by being better than the opposition.

They don't need to be any better than that.

There's no asterisk next to the winner's name saying, *Fluked their way to victory.

No actually they don’t sometimes, they get there by being luckier, were the rags better than Munich in ‘99? Wigan than us in 2013? Birmingham better than Arsenal in 2000 and whatever? No the weren’t but the rode their luck and won.

England will win fuck all until we start learning to keep the ball and create proper chances in games. We need a real shake up of the culture in this country, something hopefully Pep is starting.

 

[SpiritofBurnden]

I didn’t say victory doesn’t count if won on pens though did I?

That's exactly what you said.

We didn’t even beat them ffs. Unless winning in pens counts in this wank argument?

 

[SpiritofBurnden]

No actually they don’t sometimes, they get there by being luckier, were the rags better than Munich in ‘99? Wigan than us in 2013? Birmingham better than Arsenal in 2000 and whatever? No the weren’t but the rode their luck and won.

Luckier?

You mean by being better at putting the ball in the net than the opposition?

That's not luck.

 

[inchy14]

That's exactly what you said.

Taken out of context though, the arguement is about how good or bad we are, if you want to let fluking our way to a semi-final, losing to 3 teams in the tournament and only scoring one goal from open play (plus a huge deflection) cloud your judgement then fine, go for it. I'll let my own eyes tell me we're not very good and need to massively improve or we'll continue down the path of mediocrity.

Luckier?

You mean by being better at putting the ball in the net than the opposition?

That's not luck.

Not luck? Of course it is, when your shower of shit won at our place a while back, after we'd hit the woodwork something like 6 times and you got a last minute penalty to win, was that not luck? Would you seriously argue you were better than us?

It's opinions and views like yours and Marks which will continue to hold England back. We're supposed to be one of the elite nations, so much money is flowing through the English game that it's bordering on criminal that we're classing ourselves as the plucky underdog. But until the coaching system and picking of players who can fit that system is sorted out we'll continue to achieve the total sum of fuck all, but at least you'll be happy right?

I thought when Southgate started to play out from the back that we finally had someone with some semblance of a plan, to then try and shoe the likes of Henderson, Lingard, Maguire, Rashford, Wellbeck, Jones, Dier into it shows he's either not watching these players be unable to pass the ball each week comfortably for their teams in the Prem or just picking them because they play for the so called top clubs.
If he wanted players who could actually pass he could have looked at Wilshire, Maddison, Foden, Barkley, Shelvey. But no he went for tried and tested and once again we're out of our depth.

 

[Wretched Vengeance]

Dier to captain England tonight.

How inspiring.

 

[Dave S]

Dier to captain England tonight.

How inspiring.

Is that a joke?

 

[supercity88]

I really didnt think England deserved a draw, they were 2nd bast all over the park. England are a crap team with no midfield and no creativity as has been stated, it all comes from the FA who are also crap, lets face it they thought giving Big Sam the job was a really good idea. They need to start by employing a good manager, like maybe Eddie Howe...Just my opinion.

We did deserve a draw. Welbeck's goal should have counted plus there were numerous chances for Rashford. We created the better chances. Spain can dominate the game against anyone but they didn't create much. We should have won the game on chances we created but a draw would have been fair. Just because Spain had more of the ball doesn't mean they deserved to win the game.

Southgate rightly adapted the plan and made us play more direct. He knew we couldn't out pass Spain. And he knows we lack creativity and has said himself the lack of English players playing regulalry is a concern. There is no hype around England. There is just an excitement about the good young players but it is cemented in our understanding that in reality we still are not good enough. We had to get behind the team in the WC and ride the wave of excitement. It's coming home was purely banter, no one really expected us to win it regardless of who we ended up playing. We are two creative midfield players and a top striker away from being a quality side. Until those players emerge we will rely on pace and set pieces unfortunately.