Sky Blue Harry H
Well-Known Member
You were hardly on your own, Sam?!
The World Cup Thread (14 Viewers)
- Thread starter Earlsdon_Skyblue1
- Start date
You were hardly on your own, Sam?!
D
Deleted member 5849
Guest
Well if we threw it, the team we'd have apparently beaten otherwise are also in the semi-final...
Westendlad
Well-Known Member
If our name is on the cup it doesn't matter who we play. COME'ON ENGLAND
Westendlad
Well-Known Member
Pickford 10
Walker 9
Stones 9
Maguire 10
Trippier 10
Henderson 10
Young 8
Lingard 7
Kane 7
Alli 8
Stirling 9
subs 6
Walker 9
Stones 9
Maguire 10
Trippier 10
Henderson 10
Young 8
Lingard 7
Kane 7
Alli 8
Stirling 9
subs 6
Otis
Well-Known Member
A bit generous there me thinks.
Pickford 9
Tripper 8.5
Walker 6.5
Maguire 8.5
Stones 7.5
Young 6.5 (4 for first half)
Lingard 7
Henderson 8
Alli 7
Kane 8
Sterling 6.5
Westendlad
Well-Known Member
Me thinks you're being a bit of a meanie
Kane 8 ?....Thought he was ok but nothing special. Tin hat on..I thought Stirling was very good, never stopped running and causing them problems, ok he should of scored 2 but as we won i'll let him off !
Frank Sidebottom
Well-Known Member
What about Sutton United?
Gazolba
Well-Known Member
We should be able to beat Croatia, though I don't think it will be as easy as some on here think.
I'd rather Modrić was on our side than theirs, and Mandžukić is likely to be a lot deadlier than Sterling if he gets a chance.
I'm fancying a France vs England final and think France will be too strong for us. If somehow Belgium beat France, I think we can beat them.
I'd rather Modrić was on our side than theirs, and Mandžukić is likely to be a lot deadlier than Sterling if he gets a chance.
I'm fancying a France vs England final and think France will be too strong for us. If somehow Belgium beat France, I think we can beat them.
Last edited:
Westendlad
Well-Known Member
Modric is class, the way he sprays passes around is a joy to watch. Henderson is in for a busy night. Delph in for Alli or stick to our game plan thats worked so far ?
Otis
Well-Known Member
Well that's it. Without Pickford, Sterling's misses could easily have cost us.Me thinks you're being a bit of a meanie
To be quite honest, I was thinking of marking Kane higher.
Thought he had a great game, albeit a different type role to his normal one. At times he was playing as a midfielder, but he played a real captain's role and led by example and hardly gave the ball away all night..
I thought he was excellent.
Sterling cannot keep missing golden opportunities. At this level it can so easily come back and bite you on the bum.
Gazolba
Well-Known Member
The question is do you want the Premier league's leading scorer playing as a midfielder while a player who has scored once in 23 games for England is our main striker?
Otis
Well-Known Member
No. Think it was a needs must situation. Had Rashford played instead of Sterling I don't think Kane would have played so deep.
MusicDating
Euro 2016 Prediction League Champion!!
16 Conclusions: England 2-0 Sweden - Football365
Excellent article.
8. We do need to talk about Sterling’s finishing again. There are those who will deliberately overlook – or maybe just not notice – Sterling’s movement for England. More than any other attacking player, it is his runs off the ball that create space for teammates and himself. He was excellent at it against Sweden.
Whatever you might think and no matter how many times people boo his name in pubs up and down the land, Sterling is an excellent footballer. But his finishing for England is the weakest aspect of his game. Having got into excellent areas, he lacks the confidence or clarity of thought to add the accomplished finish.
Whether that confidence has been battered by the media treatment that Sterling referred to pre-tournament is open to interpretation and opinion, but you would be a fool to think that Sterling’s missed chances mean he should not be in this team. Thankfully, Southgate gets it:
“In the last five or six games, with the change of system, he has been key. His movement, his ability to run at teams from deep, his inter-changing of position with the other forward players is very important.”
And Pep Guardiola gets it:
“Sometimes we judge him on ‘he missed that goal, he missed that shot,’ but the amount of actions he creates, assists, he creates fouls, penalties… His understanding of the game is global: he can create inside, outside, dribbling, runs in behind.”
Excellent article.
8. We do need to talk about Sterling’s finishing again. There are those who will deliberately overlook – or maybe just not notice – Sterling’s movement for England. More than any other attacking player, it is his runs off the ball that create space for teammates and himself. He was excellent at it against Sweden.
Whatever you might think and no matter how many times people boo his name in pubs up and down the land, Sterling is an excellent footballer. But his finishing for England is the weakest aspect of his game. Having got into excellent areas, he lacks the confidence or clarity of thought to add the accomplished finish.
Whether that confidence has been battered by the media treatment that Sterling referred to pre-tournament is open to interpretation and opinion, but you would be a fool to think that Sterling’s missed chances mean he should not be in this team. Thankfully, Southgate gets it:
“In the last five or six games, with the change of system, he has been key. His movement, his ability to run at teams from deep, his inter-changing of position with the other forward players is very important.”
And Pep Guardiola gets it:
“Sometimes we judge him on ‘he missed that goal, he missed that shot,’ but the amount of actions he creates, assists, he creates fouls, penalties… His understanding of the game is global: he can create inside, outside, dribbling, runs in behind.”
Otis
Well-Known Member
Yeah, I get all that and I am a big Sterling fan, but at international level you have to take your chances.
Yesterday we scored 2, but they were the only 2 we had on target.
We were clearly the better team and thoroughly deserved to win, but without Pickford's saves it could well have cost us.
Sky_Blue_Daz
Well-Known Member
More importantly have you seen the Croatian president? Milf
Otis
Well-Known Member
Is he?
Otis
Well-Known Member
Didn't know that.
As I said earlier in this thread, if he is not taking his chances, he has at least to make sure he is making chances for others.
Earlsdon_Skyblue1
Well-Known Member
He's not been keen key though, he's been a burden to the team in every single game. That article is butt-hurt biased rubbish.
Before the tournament I said he shouldn't be started and got ridiculed for it. Now he has proved what I was essentially saying all along, but some people are still blindly defending him. I know some are overly critical of him, but there are others that are too far the other way.
He might have been slightly better against Sweden (who are a rubbish side) but it still wasn't really good enough. As the point in that script says, his final product isn't good enough. Like Ryan Kent though, why be on the pitch if you do a nice run but it comes to nothing?
If it wasn't for Sterling being so wasteful we would have been more than 1 up against Colombia. We also would have been more than 1 up at half time yesterday.
We have other better players waiting for a go, and they need a chance. We have ridden our luck on wasting chances and as we get into Croatia and France/Belgium we cannot go wasting our hits at the death star so carelessly. We will be punished for it and it will probably cost us our exit.
He's been involved with one goal all tournament, hardly something to rave about. He's a burden to the England team and whilst more people are waking up to this, I hope it isn't too late for Southgate.
As I said yesterday and that article alludes to his head must be all wrong.
His last two appearances have shown improvement and before yesterdays show I was wishing and willing him to bag one or two.
But that miss left me totally exasperated ,had Pickford not played so well that could have really bitten us on the arse I was fuming and don't buy the line that Rashford or Lingard more advanced couldn't fullfil the role he's playing .
His last two appearances have shown improvement and before yesterdays show I was wishing and willing him to bag one or two.
But that miss left me totally exasperated ,had Pickford not played so well that could have really bitten us on the arse I was fuming and don't buy the line that Rashford or Lingard more advanced couldn't fullfil the role he's playing .
Last edited:
Otis
Well-Known Member
If he keeps playing and keeps missing gilt-edged chances it will cost us.
That's one thing I don't get with him. He knows his finishing isn't great, he knows he hasn't scored for an age for England and knows the pressure is on him.
Yet when he tried to go round the keeper and then got the ball back he had Kane standing right alongside him and simply needed to square it, but decided to shoot again.
Covstu
Well-Known Member
I thought he played quite well yesterday to be honest, he worked very hard but agree he has missed some guilt edged chances which could have cost us. There was no way we were losing that game yesterday especially after our goal. I don’t think Southgate will want to change it but we need to be more clinical. I thought Alli had a great game yesterday and he hasn’t been playing well over the previous 3 games
D
Deleted member 5849
Guest
If Sterling is the question, Lingard isn't the answer.
covmark
Well-Known Member
Otis
Well-Known Member
Yeah, but apart from that, what have open play ever done for us?
SIR ERNIE
Well-Known Member
They finished above Netherlands in their WC qualifying group, beat France 2-1, knocked out Italy in their WC play-off and of course finished above Germany in their group.
So not exactly rubbish.
Credit England for making them look distinctly average.
Covstu
Well-Known Member
Agree, never popular because of the style but they are not mugs and have beaten some big nations
CJ_covblaze
Well-Known Member
I thought this was the worst England team you could remember?
MusicDating
Euro 2016 Prediction League Champion!!
That's fine, you've selected your scapegoat already if we don't win it. And if we do win, it will be despite Sterling...
I'm screaming at the tv shouting 'how do you miss that!' as much as anyone, but that's ignoring what he brings to the side. He set up Kane's chance (which he should have scored from) and made the chances he missed by making great runs.
Why do you think Sweden (qualified ahead of Netherlands, beat Italy in the playoff, topped a group including Germany and Mexico) looked 'rubbish'? Maybe it was because they couldn't keep their nice rigid 4-4-2 formation and were scared of our pace.
I'm sure you know more than Pep, Gareth and Domenech though...
Captain Dart
Well-Known Member
This WC thing is effecting the Yanks too
D
Deleted member 5849
Guest
There's a middle ground isn't there? After all, thought your whole argument was that we lose to Belgium to get the easier games...
Netherlands were washed up that tournament, and Sweden were the only team to give Germany hope this WC, even though they had a man sent off. Definitely a good result to knock Italy out over two legs, mind.
But... it was our best display of the tournament really, as we were relatively comfortable and Sweden are a damned site better than Panama (how the hell did they manage to get to the WC?!?)
Now, Croatia aren't to be feared really... it's ours to lose.
Sky Blue Harry H
Well-Known Member
Think I had a bet on Maguire to score first goal on SBT bookies - come on and update the system, I may have won a few quid for a change!