England v Croatia....Match Thread

Unbelievable....

"Pubs charge football fans up to £700 for table to watch England take on Croatia"

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/pubs-charge-football-fans-up-24306368

And I thought the £15pp Docks are charging to keep the riff-raff out was expensive! I’m there on Friday though still.

I'm guessing that's one pub charging £700 for people stupid enough to pay it.

I’d rather buy £150 worth of booze and food and have my mates at my place not spending a penny

Anywhere that wants to charge is taking the pis5

It’s on free to view TV. People don’t have to go to the pub to watch it and pay for the privilege.

I think I'll undercut that £700 to £650. At a push at might get 60/70 in the house @ £650 each, that's over £45K; free can Guinness and bottle of red on me and £45k for the youth development. Everyones a winner.

Cancel that the wife's just seen this post, sorry everyone.

England team. -

GK: Jordan Pickford

RB: Kyle Walker

CB: John Stones

CB: Tyrone Mings

LB: Kieran Trippier

CDM: Declan Rice

CDM: Kalvin Phillips

CAM: Mason Mount

LW: Raheem Sterling (what a surprise)

RW: Phil Foden

ST: Harry Kane  


Grealish on the bench (what another surprise)

Quoted from TheRonRaffertyFanClub

England team. -

GK: Jordan Pickford

RB: Kyle Walker

CB: John Stones

CB: Tyrone Mings

LB: Kieran Trippier

CDM: Declan Rice

CDM: Kalvin Phillips

CAM: Mason Mount

LW: Raheem Sterling (what a surprise)

RW: Phil Foden

ST: Harry Kane  


Grealish on the bench (what another surprise)

Trippier at left-back over Chilwell and and Shaw is the obvious eyebrow raiser. I’m sure there’s logic behind it but whatever it is, it isn’t immediately apparent to me.

All in all it’s a back four that screams “we better be scoring at least to goals if we want to win”. We do have the creativity and firepower to do that though in my opinion.

Quoted from Poojah

Trippier at left-back over Chilwell and and Shaw is the obvious eyebrow raiser. I’m sure there’s logic behind it but whatever it is, it isn’t immediately apparent to me.

All in all it’s a back four that screams “we better be scoring at least to goals if we want to win”. We do have the creativity and firepower to do that though in my opinion.

Not sure of the logic either. Maybe the right winger likes to cut inside???

So many right backs, we have one at left back. Think Shaw is better personally but no surprises there.

Me and my brother had a shot at picking the team we thought Southgate would go with and we were almost spot on.

Would have got Grealush in there somehow myself as he makes things happen, but he's gone cautious with two holding type midfielders in Philips and Rice.

Slightly disappointed but not surprised.

Quoted from smokey111

Not sure of the logic either. Maybe the right winger likes to cut inside???

Rebić and Perišić both like to cut inside. Probably worried about an overload on the right (our left) with Vrsaljko, which is what happened three years ago.

On paper it’s the toughest game in the group so you set up defensively, with more experience.

Sterling caused them all kinds of problems in the first half in Moscow. Hopefully he will stretch them.

If not, plans B and C are on the bench, in Grealish and Sancho (EDIT: although apparently Sancho isn’t even on the bench)

Trippier will be on set pieces too. Possibly doesn’t trust James’ exuberance against Perišić and wants Walker to face him.

Come on England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿, give us something to smile about.

Quoted from Knut Anders Fosters Voles

On paper it’s the toughest game in the group so you set up defensively, with more experience.

Sterling caused them all kinds of problems in the first half in Moscow. Hopefully he will stretch them.

If not, plans B and C are on the bench, in Grealish and Sancho (EDIT: although apparently Sancho isn’t even on the bench)

Yes Grealish might get the final 10 min if he’s lucky.

Better hope Kane stops this false 9 act he’s been doing and Foden is not hamstrung by managerial caution.

This looks more like “try not to lose” than “let’s get some points” .

Quoted from TheRonRaffertyFanClub

Yes Grealish might get the final 10 min if he’s lucky.

Better hope Kane stops this false 9 act he’s been doing and Foden is not hamstrung by managerial caution.

This looks more like “try not to lose” than “let’s get some points” .

Kane dropping deep is probably why Sterling is playing.

May as well make this the Match Thread  

Come on England.

Good view from our seats on half way line. You can just make out the scar on Alan Shearer's lip from here....  

Quoted from Grantham_Mariner

Good view from our seats on half way line. You can just make out the scar on Alan Shearer's lip from here....  

Justin Whittle - Legend.

Negative as fook as usual.
Sterling well out of form.
Kelvin Phillips who the felicitations he???

Can't remember England ever winning the first game of a Euros, can see it being 1-1.

Quoted from TAGG

Negative as fook as usual.
Sterling well out of form.
Kelvin Phillips who the felicitations he???

The fact you don’t know who Kalvin Phillips is suggests your knowledge on team selection might not be the greatest!

Quoted from TAGG

Negative as fook as usual.
Sterling well out of form.
Kelvin Phillips who the felicitations he???

What a positive outlook you have.
Your probably looking forward more to the booing?

Quoted from Abdul19

Can't remember England ever winning the first game of a Euros, can see it being 1-1.

They’ve never done it apparently, I’d be happy with a draw to be honest.

Good start by England, Foden has already hit the post.

Quoted from promotion plaice

Good start by England, Foden has already hit the post.

They're certainly looking as If they're up for it. Definitely better than the last two games.

Get Grealish on (he's world class) before we end up chasing the game.

Quoted from promotion plaice

Get Grealish on (he's world class) before we end up chasing the game.

Sterling, Foden and Mount have started well.

Rubbish.

Started well but now mainly seem to be a bit lost, not creating enough from midfield. Still worried that Mings and Stones have an error in them. Sterling showing why Pep doesn’t usually pick him to start now, feel Foden needs to be allowed to wander and more so that he can find some space. Game looking like a 0-0 draw.

Phillips playing very well as is Mings. Not great but it is not shite either . Walker has been poor

Decent start but faded badly towards end of first half

Sterling’s been the main threat. If you don’t have that threat to get beyond the defence, Croatia will be able to push up another 10-15 yards.

Grealish doesn’t give you that option.

Get in.....Sterling.

And that's why Sterling is playing.

Who the fúck is Kelvin Phillips!?

Living near Leeds I have heard at least one mention of Phillips over the last 2 seasons

.......Never heard of TAGG though.  Who is this man?.🤔🤔

Phillips Day

Quoted from Poojah

Who the fúck is Kelvin Phillips!?

Ronnie Pickering's brother.

Quoted from Poojah

Who the fúck is Kelvin Phillips!?

Dunno. Can you TAGG people on here?

Quoted from Stadium

What a positive outlook you have.
Your probably looking forward more to the booing?

No don't agree with booing, I just turn my back.

Saka for Foden now

The Leeds lad has been brilliant.

Come on England.

Pickford’s kicking...!!!

Well not vintage but a win is a win, Croatia are always a tough nut to crack and important to get a win in the first game

That’s the sort of mature and intelligent tournament performance that other countries excel at.

Well done to the players, management team and fans in the stands.

Now let’s beat the Scots.

FT....England 1-0 Croatia  

Pressure off for the Scotland game  

Well done England…… I love the fact that Croatia ended up playing the last 10 minutes with Moderic so deep where he can’t hurt you as much.

Thought Philips was excellent despite who he plays for.  

Very boring game, but a win is a win, bring on Scotland!

Pickford hardly had a save to make. Well done England now for the Jocks!

Great win, played well at times, and there is a lot of room for improvement as the team starts to gel, looking positive

Quoted from TAGG

Negative as fook as usual.
Sterling well out of form.
Kelvin Phillips who the felicitations he???

Great performance by the unknown Phillips.
Good performance & a welcome first game victory in the Euro's for England.

Never had chance to admire what Phillip's offers until today. He breaks the play up so well, is very strong and also very good going forward. Cant say I'd have picked him in my starting 11 before the game but he has definitely out himself into my 11 for the Scotland game

That’s a great win for England and Marxism

Philips my MOTM by far today.

A win is a win but i wish we'd zip it arround a bit quicker we have so much pace, I guess the heat was tough. Very good start to the tournament. Les if you want to zip over the money now fella it's all good
#ItsComingHome

Quoted from 123614

Very boring game, but a win is a win, bring on Scotland!

It's the group stage of a knockout competition. We needed not to lose and preferably win which we did. First 20 mins our forward play was excellent, entertaining and you felt a goal was coming. Midfield and defence were more than adequate and coped very well.

Southgate got it all right from start to finish including bringing on Bellingham at the end.

Sterling and Phillips weren't fancied and proved to be the match winners. Firstly we won and secondly, it was an entertaining game in what was quoted 30c heat. Boring NO and as you say bring on Scotland.

Not an entertaining game. Dissapointed with croatia who seemed to come for a point

Pressure off for the next 2 games

Pressure should stay on, don't let the professional performances slip. I'll take all boring 1-0 wins.

Every so often the GT drops a complete howler and today was one of them:-

'The Jubilee Pub in Grimsby was one of the many venues which showed the game on big screens for fans to watch while enjoying a pint.

There were jubilant scenes as England's Marcus Rashford scored in the 68th minute.'


Rashford wasn't even on the pitch when Sterling scored.

But they still know how to charge for inaccurate news! Paper doesn't refuse ink comes to mind.

Win good
Entertaining bad
But we move on
If we win every game 1-0 we will win the tournament

Result wise it was a win and you could say that’s all that was needed today. However I felt we looked so slow and I don’t think you can blame the weather, I think we’ve looked like that for a long time under Southgate. The constant balls backwards and the lack of desire to run at Croatia was painful to watch and has to be something Southgate is encouraging because none of them play like that at club level.

The Trippier decision was the wrong one IMO, he was constantly having to check back onto his right foot (who knew!).

Quoted from pontoonlew

Result wise it was a win and you could say that’s all that was needed today. However I felt we looked so slow and I don’t think you can blame the weather, I think we’ve looked like that for a long time under Southgate. The constant balls backwards and the lack of desire to run at Croatia was painful to watch and has to be something Southgate is encouraging because none of them play like that at club level.

The Trippier decision was the wrong one IMO, he was constantly having to check back onto his right foot (who knew!).

Amazed by some of the negativity on here. That is the kind of controlled performance which has been inflicted upon England for years. Pickford didn't have a save to make. Mings,  Phillips and Sterling were excellent.

Grealish will get minutes in the next two games as I expect Scotland and Czechoslovkia will put 10 behind the ball. The trickery of Foden and Grealish will be needed.

If we cobble our way through every game 1-0 we win the tournament and that will do for me. I’d feel just the same about Town staggering out of the NL like that. The idea is to win these things. Expansive football can happen later.

Quoted from smokey111

Amazed by some of the negativity on here. That is the kind of controlled performance which has been inflicted upon England for years. Pickford didn't have a save to make. Mings,  Phillips and Sterling were excellent.

Grealish will get minutes in the next two games as I expect Scotland and Czechoslovkia will put 10 behind the ball. The trickery of Foden and Grealish will be needed.

Agreed, the first goal will be to qualify. If we do that against Scotland I think he'll make wholesale changes against the Czechs (similar to what he did in the World Cup) and then make a decision about a team who he thinks will be a best fit for whoever we face in the knockouts.

It's a knockout competition, not exhibition games. The first 3 games are group stages and you can lose 1 and still go through. After that it's win, or else you out.

We won our first game and on our way, 1 down 6 to go. If we lose let's criticise but when we win let's be positive. I'm sure Russia, Turkey. Croatia etc. would love to in our position.

So get behind the team, next up Scotland and a win puts us into the knockouts.

Quoted from pontoonlew

Result wise it was a win and you could say that’s all that was needed today. However I felt we looked so slow and I don’t think you can blame the weather, I think we’ve looked like that for a long time under Southgate. The constant balls backwards and the lack of desire to run at Croatia was painful to watch and has to be something Southgate is encouraging because none of them play like that at club level.

The Trippier decision was the wrong one IMO, he was constantly having to check back onto his right foot (who knew!).

Another way of looking at it is that we just beat the runners up from the last world cup, the team that knocked us out of the tournament. Kind of sounds like a good win when you put it into perspective.

It’s been rare in tournaments to see England control a game to that extent. Pickford barely had a save to make and the key chances fell to England.

We changed us shape, scored and then sured it back up…Jon done and mission accomplished for me.

Quoted from Theimperialcoroner

That’s a great win for England and Marxism

If this isn’t the next post of the week it shows a lack of sense of humour amongst the snowflake boo boys.

Quoted from smokey111

Amazed by some of the negativity on here. That is the kind of controlled performance which has been inflicted upon England for years. Pickford didn't have a save to make. Mings,  Phillips and Sterling were excellent.

Grealish will get minutes in the next two games as I expect Scotland and Czechoslovkia will put 10 behind the ball. The trickery of Foden and Grealish will be needed.

I've no doubt it was a good performance overall but I'm pretty certain we'd need to up the tempo to have any chance at winning the tournament.

It's all about opinions, doesn't make it 'negative'

Quoted from pontoonlew

I've no doubt it was a good performance overall but I'm pretty certain we'd need to up the tempo to have any chance at winning the tournament.

It's all about opinions, doesn't make it 'negative'

There’s no point going full throttle in the first game either.

3 points against the World Cup finalists is a great result and our best start to a tournament in ages.

Some dire stats from the England v Croatia game in 2018.  Quoted in a paper yesterday.  They demonstrate how we have improved since.  Arguably by how much.

Against Croatia in 2018 Pickford played the ball long 40 times.  We lost it the vast majority of times.  Henderson lost the ball on nearly 50% of the time when making forward passes.  Kane lost the ball 21 times.  (All stats over 120 mins)

Quoted from TownSNAFU5

Some dire stats from the England v Croatia game in 2018.  Quoted in a paper yesterday.  They demonstrate how we have improved since.  Arguably by how much.

Against Croatia in 2018 Pickford played the ball long 40 times.  We lost it the vast majority of times.  Henderson lost the ball on nearly 50% of the time when making forward passes.  Kane lost the ball 21 times.  (All stats over 120 mins)

i hope he doesnt walk straight back in the side

Don't want to peak too soon, the final will do.

It's clear we have improved a bit since we played them in the semi final and I also think it's a tournament too far for an aging Croat side who have dropped a notch since then.

It was a good controlled win by England but I don't think the other tournament favourites will be shaking in their boots yet if they come up against us.

They say you can't win the tournament in the first game, but you can go a long way to losing it, so a win was very welcome and we can improve as we grow into the tournament. I expect there may be a change or two for the next game. We can afford to be a bit more adventurous.