England v Croatia Match Thread

Lost to Belgium and Croatia. A good performance against Sweden. Threw away leads to Columbia and Croatia, and almost messed up against Tunisia. We're back to the achievement levels of the 1990s but largely due to not facing much better quality opposition.

Agree Rob.

Best chance in a generation. And not even against opposition of the quality of Germany at their best and they threw it away. This game was there for the taking but they let Croatia dominate, by reverting to passing the ball back all the time putting ourselves under unnecessary pressure, then switching off. This lot should be younger and fitter, and more rested so no excuses.

I hope they learn something from it.

It was noticeable that when we were under the cosh prior to their goal we reverted back to the old routine of Stones passing back to Pickford who booted it up for a hopeful head on. Hopefully with a bit more experience and the younger players getting a couple more years older we can play pass and move more.

Quoted from Meza

Just needed that midfielder who can run with the ball.  Far too many times the ball was played back and the long giving them pocession. Young inexperienced team and im sure they'll improve.  We had other players missing like Barkley and Lallana.  Dont rate Dier.  Im proud of them.

Barkley?! Lifetime ban for that suggestion surely?

Well that's the clubs season ticket sales strategy f.ucked then.

We got a round or two past our correct level due to the luck of the draw and fell short when our lack of quality was found out up front and in midfield. Too reliant on Kane, Rashford nowhere near at the moment and Sterling never looks like scoring for England, for all his other qualities. Vardy not suited for international football where he's not going to get the space he usually works in.

Lots of OK players, few anywhere near world class. Alli is pretty much rubbish at international level and he'll have to do one hell of a lot for England to prove otherwise for me (if he's in form which deserves selection).

The way Southgate failed to react and make a positive change when were on the back foot against Colombia and again tonight worries me for the future. I expect we'll qualify for the next Euros but I'd be surprised if we got past the quarters in that with our current approach. I hope one or two good young central midfielders emerge in the next couple of years as we can't rely on Henderson to be more than decent. Worryingly, Maguire and Stones both panicked quite bit tonight but I think they are decent footballers overall so hopefully they'll improve over the next two years. Young not an international full-back so I hope Rose has a good couple of years, Trippier lacking pace and strength. I'd prefer to see Walker at wing-back with another player in the back three if we're going to continue with the current formation. Or perhaps Alexander-Arnold?

Lingard OK, but no more than that. I hope Loftus-Cheek has a good couple of years somewhere (guessing not at Chelsea) as he is one with great potential to emerge this tournament. Also, lots of credit to Pickford who had the odd flap tonight, but can't be criticised with the ongoing panic in front of him because he's been very solid even when having to deal with endless back passes to whack clear.

Quoted from Rodley Mariner

Barkley?! Lifetime ban for that suggestion surely?

lol.  He reminded me a bit like Gazza.....always looking to attack, hopefully he'll get the game time at Chelsea and turn into a very good midfielder.

Quoted from Meza

lol.  He reminded me a bit like Gazza.....always looking to attack, hopefully he'll get the game time at Chelsea and turn into a very good midfielder.

Yeah they definitely didn’t sign him just to meet homegrown quotas by signing a fairly competent English trained player.

Hey guys, something to build on. Enjoyed the ride and look forward to the future.😎

Here's a telling statistic. If the match stats on the BBC are to be believed (and I'm guessing they are pretty accurate), we've had a total of 6 shots on target in our 3 knock-out stage games this tournament. That's one every 50 minutes, if you don't take stoppage time into account. Very poor, to say the least.