The World Cup 2018

[Shaggy]

Agree with all the stuff about England's mediocre-ish personnel, but there's a lot to be said for a team with a clear idea of how it wants to play. I think they're well coached, everyone knows their job and they could prove to be greater than the sum of their parts. Nothing wrong with that.

Of course, they could go out tonight and all of a sudden it's a disaster. England are walking an extremely fine line at the moment. Out tonight and it's a disaster, QFs would be about par, semis is excellent, and the final - win or lose - is monumental.

[Lecter]

I've watched more than ever and I think the spirit of the tournament and upsets are making it look even better. In the most part the football has been average

It's been really exciting so far though

[Lecter]

Agree with all the stuff about England's mediocre-ish personnel, but there's a lot to be said for a team with a clear idea of how it wants to play. I think they're well coached, everyone knows their job and they could prove to be greater than the sum of their parts. Nothing wrong with that.

Of course, they could go out tonight and all of a sudden it's a disaster. England are walking an extremely fine line at the moment. Out tonight and it's a disaster, QFs would be about par, semis is excellent, and the final - win or lose - is monumental.

Thing about England is look at the goals they have scored

Only 2 from open play and one of them was a deflection

The argument will be that it doesnt mater how you score, but eventually you will come up against a side that can defend set pieces and cause damage to you at the other end of the pitch

[Buzzo]

Agree with all the stuff about England's mediocre-ish personnel, but there's a lot to be said for a team with a clear idea of how it wants to play. I think they're well coached, everyone knows their job and they could prove to be greater than the sum of their parts. Nothing wrong with that.

Of course, they could go out tonight and all of a sudden it's a disaster. England are walking an extremely fine line at the moment. Out tonight and it's a disaster, QFs would be about par, semis is excellent, and the final - win or lose - is monumental.

Thats all true. I am aware that I could be accused of some bias here

However, the change in narrative has been pretty staggering, and all of the above options seem pretty possible. Are they well coached? Again, possibly, but I haven't seen them play a decent team yet. Gareth Southgate is getting a lot right, but he needs one result or performance to back up the newly created hype. If he gets a result tonight he will have to handle the far greater expectation.

3-5-2 is a worry for me. A decent opposing manager can really coach a team to exploit weaknesses behind fullbacks and to exploit numerical imbalances in midfield.

The thing that is being missed is that other countries will see the same opportunities as England do, and will hardly be quaking in their boots at facing this England team. I think this half of the draw is really open.

If England were to go out tonight, I genuinely don't know how it would be portrayed in the media. I suppose it would ultimately be a missed opportunity.

[Gingawaria]

Agree with all the stuff about England's mediocre-ish personnel, but there's a lot to be said for a team with a clear idea of how it wants to play. I think they're well coached, everyone knows their job and they could prove to be greater than the sum of their parts. Nothing wrong with that.

Of course, they could go out tonight and all of a sudden it's a disaster. England are walking an extremely fine line at the moment. Out tonight and it's a disaster, QFs would be about par, semis is excellent, and the final - win or lose - is monumental.

I disagree that if they go out tonight it's a disaster. I think they've shown some real promise so far (Belgium game aside) and even if they go out, there's still progress being made.

Considering I thought appointing Southgate was going to be a complete disaster, personally I think he's done a good job so far. He seems confident in his own ability and isn't afraid to make the difficult choices.

I'd say the future's pretty bright for England tbh.

[Buzzo]

I disagree that if they go out tonight it's a disaster. I think they've shown some real promise so far (Belgium game aside) and even if they go out, there's still progress being made.

Considering I thought appointing Southgate was going to be a complete disaster, personally I think he's done a good job so far. He seems confident in his own ability and isn't afraid to make the difficult choices.

I'd say the future's pretty bright for England tbh.

This is kind of my point, if beating Tunisia and Panama is 'showing real promise' then I hate to imagine what the base acceptable level was

Though I agree in the overall journey of the team (stick with Southgate whatever) and I guess this whole, 'who needs star players' thing could work. It is the lack of egos (other than Kanes) that seems to really be working.

The Golden Generation team were a real anomaly, there was a successful team hiding in each of the GG squads, there was never a manager with the balls or the nouse to do the obvious and put the best team on the pitch rather than the best eleven players.

No Rooney is a massive plus for England because he was always starting CF and nearly always **** in every tournament.

[Shaggy]

Thing about England is look at the goals they have scored

Only 2 from open play and one of them was a deflection

The argument will be that it doesnt mater how you score, but eventually you will come up against a side that can defend set pieces and cause damage to you at the other end of the pitch

But they're creating chances. They were profligate against Tunisia - could've been 4-0 up at half time, and Lingard and Sterling missed multiple chances each.

Thats all true. I am aware that I could be accused of some bias here

However, the change in narrative has been pretty staggering, and all of the above options seem pretty possible. Are they well coached? Again, possibly, but I haven't seen them play a decent team yet. Gareth Southgate is getting a lot right, but he needs one result or performance to back up the newly created hype. If he gets a result tonight he will have to handle the far greater expectation.

3-5-2 is a worry for me. A decent opposing manager can really coach a team to exploit weaknesses behind fullbacks and to exploit numerical imbalances in midfield.

The thing that is being missed is that other countries will see the same opportunities as England do, and will hardly be quaking in their boots at facing this England team. I think this half of the draw is really open.

If England were to go out tonight, I genuinely don't know how it would be portrayed in the media. I suppose it would ultimately be a missed opportunity.

I think the change in narrative is more or less fair enough. The draw has opened right up, and it *is* England's best chance of going a long way for a long time. They'll probably **** it up, but it's still their best chance. A lot of the poo-pooing of people's optimism reminds me of rival fans ridiculing us for getting excited during the CL run. It's daft imo. If you can't enjoy a run in elite football tournaments then you're in the wrong sport.

Also I don't think crushing a weak team is to be sniffed at. I really don't. Lots of smaller teams don't get tonked by stronger teams. No LFC fan bemoaned Maribor or Spartak's lack of quality when we stuck 7 past them. We tonked them because we were very good. Only two hammerings have been handed out in the whole tournament. You can never find fault with a 6-1 win (5-0 at HT and walk the 2nd half), no matter the opposition, and especially at a World Cup.

[The_weatherman]

I don't get why you guys are so negative towards England, (unless you are Scottish or Irish of course) England have a decent team, they are certainly good enough to get to the semi's at least with a little bit of luck.

They have pace and a top class finisher, decent midfield although the defence looks a bit off. This team should be able to match most teams left in the tournament.

[Exiled_red]

I think that it will largely come down to how well they do defensively. To be honest I haven't really been impressed with the back 3 but they weren't really tested perhaps they will perform better when they are more involved in the game as is likely with better opponents. The wingbacks have probably been some of England's better players but most of that has been in an attacking sense and they haven't really been forced to defend. As has been mentioned the system requires players to help out when the opposition are able to double up, which presumably means one of the CBs coming out as there is only Henderson in midfield who will get stuck in. The other concern would be Pickford who was pushing alot back into the 6 yard box after making saves you have to imagine opposition strikers will be looking to follow up on those chances if he does that again.

Going forward Kane is good but Lingard and Sterling have been hit and miss, you feel at least one of those has to step up.

England have nothing to fear but this won't be an easy game, I think the big danger could be looking at the big picture and not focusing 100% on the game tonight. Colombia are no pushovers and knockout games are usually very tight.

[Buzzo]

But they're creating chances. They were profligate against Tunisia - could've been 4-0 up at half time, and Lingard and Sterling missed multiple chances each.



I think the change in narrative is more or less fair enough. The draw has opened right up, and it *is* England's best chance of going a long way for a long time. They'll probably **** it up, but it's still their best chance. A lot of the poo-pooing of people's optimism reminds me of rival fans ridiculing us for getting excited during the CL run. It's daft imo. If you can't enjoy a run in elite football tournaments then you're in the wrong sport.

Also I don't think crushing a weak team is to be sniffed at. I really don't. Lots of smaller teams don't get tonked by stronger teams. No LFC fan bemoaned Maribor or Spartak's lack of quality when we stuck 7 past them. We tonked them because we were very good. Only two hammerings have been handed out in the whole tournament. You can never find fault with a 6-1 win (5-0 at HT and walk the 2nd half), no matter the opposition, and especially at a World Cup.

You are right with the poo-pooing, in this instance, I am the jealous rival fan on the outside looking in, it is a totally different place to be than all aboard the LFC CL express.

As I say, I am intrigued, as I don't have a handle on where England are yet at all. The hammering is fair enough. But I still don't read much into it. England need to back it up. We (LFC) were also playing league matches so it was much easier to understand the qualities we had as a team in a CL run by the latter part of which we were 40 games into the season, than it is a team that have played two times together against relative minnows.

My analogy would be that it would be like us saying we were going to storm the League, having beaten Watford away 1-0 and hammered Brighton at home 6-1

Mainly, I just cant see 'Pickford, Trippier, Walker, Stones, Maguire, Young, Henderson, Alli, Lingard, Sterling and Kane' as being WC winners. Still we got Brexit, Trump won the US election, so we are through the looking glass already.

[Buzzo]

If (big if) it were Scotland however, I'd have taken the day off, would be opening my first beer, and nervously looking forward to what might happen in the upcoming match. I'd be dreaming rather than analysing - so, of course I understand.

And I wish all you England fans the best of luck.

I think...

[Liverpool]

Think England will need someone closer to Henderson and Sterling up with Kane to do well further on in the comp

[Liverpool]

I'm wondering at what stage I'm allowed to jump on the England bandwagon

[Shaggy]

My analogy would be that it would be like us saying we were going to storm the League, having beaten Watford away 1-0 and hammered Brighton at home 6-1

I know what you're mean - but, in that scenario, in the league you'd still be 36 games away from winning it. In a WC you're 4 or 5 games from winning the thing.

Broadly though I agree with the stuff about the team. I don't rate Lingard, Sterling can't be relied upon unless you've got Pep extracting every last drop out of him, Alli is a strange player who gets goals without really otherwise affecting games, Walker's not a CB, Stones is extremely capable but erratic, Maguire a novice and debatable if he's good enough. I don't even rate Pickford.

But they look well-drilled to me and the spirit is undeniably great.

I'm going to the pub at 6 with a couple of mates who support City. **** it.

[Shaggy]

Think England will need someone closer to Henderson and Sterling up with Kane to do well further on in the comp

Agree with that too. England are more or less playing with one in midfield. QFs onwards I imagine he'll get RLC or Dier in there.

I'm wondering at what stage I'm allowed to jump on the England bandwagon

I'm a softy but I do like coming together with your mates who support other **** clubs, putting all the rivalry aside and enjoy supporting the same team for once. It's also good to want them to win but not really fret about it and not lose a single wink of sleep when it goes wrong.