The World Cup 2018

[Alex]

Bilic is hardly a tactical mastermind. He didnt seem to have a clue at West Ham.

[spud_gun]

The seethe is strong

[Lecter]

Bilic is hardly a tactical mastermind. He didnt seem to have a clue at West Ham.

And yet he spoke infinitely more sense than Hoddle

[SK]

How **** a defender is Walker? How anyone thought he had it in him to play CB is beyond me.

[dom9]

he doesnt even do clubism. he likes headphones though

Yawn

[Buzzo]

The seethe is strong

We know where we sit in the great scheme of things. Pictures of Scotland fans crying only remind me that we once used to pay meaningful games.

Been about 20 years since I've been close to weeping (in that way) about the Scotland football team.

[Buzzo]

How **** a defender is Walker? How anyone thought he had it in him to play CB is beyond me.

Yeah, he had a mare last night.

Kind of harsh though as he clearly has never played as a CB and doesnt have the tactical discipline for the position. Square peg in a round hole that was exposed once a decent team were in opposition.

[red g]

Yeah, he had a mare last night.

Kind of harsh though as he clearly has never played as a CB and doesnt have the tactical discipline for the position. Square peg in a round hole that was exposed once a decent team were in opposition.

Think even Walker himself alluded to something similar pre-tournament

[Buzzo]

I still think the hype was encouraged by the goal scored tally which is great until you actually look at how many of them were scored from set pieces and pens. England didnt score anywhere near enough from open play (2 or 3 was it? one of which was a deflection )

I said very early on in the tournament to a mate that 5 at the back would get us so far and then a team that was good in possession would expose it

Also a midfield of Henderson, Ali and Lingard is nowhere near good enough

I do have some friends who are realistic supporters and would say similar, and I do understand the enjoyment that is involved in a decent run.

But it is too much. And it is too much too soon. If the build up to last night had been for the final then fair enough, but it was talk of winning the trophyy when it wasn't even on the table yet that was baffling.

There is none of the hesitance which (for example) we had in our CL run. I dont know if that is a purely Englsih media driven thing or not. The destiny card was played, the 'coming home' and it feels massively detrimental. There was no realistic chat (such as what you have said above) in the run in, and you wonder if the mentality was slightly adjusted, as in, 'we have a battle ahead' rather than 'our name is on the cup', would it give the team a better chance?

Ultimately they fell at the first major obstacle, and once Croatia began to play the opposition rather than the occasion, they looked a far better, and more tactically disciplined team.

I think the England team has improved, there are players who have developed well over the tournament, but I'll be prepared to bet, that come the next tournament, the pressure on the team to deliver will again be overwhelming.

[Shaggy]

It was a great ride, and loads of good memories made with mates who support other clubs. Likeable young team, likeable manager, something to get behind for once. And for once England (both the team and fans) didn't besmirch a tournament. On the contrary. Been a fun World Cup all round - nice summer distraction. Can't wait for the real stuff to start though.

[Shaggy]

I think the England team has improved, there are players who have developed well over the tournament, but I'll be prepared to bet, that come the next tournament, the pressure on the team to deliver will again be overwhelming.

Re the future, I think they've every right to feel optimistic. All those WC wins through the youth age groups will surely bear some fruit - there's a different breed of footballer coming through like Sessegnon, Phil Foden, Jaden Sancho and hopefully Brewster. The next WC will come a touch too soon for most of them, I reckon, but the team is young anyway.

[Shaggy]

It stayed at home...

https://twitter.com/djdaymos/status/1017150023233130496

Old video that. Was a week or two ago

[Shaggy]

I was in the pub - why did Henderson get taken off? Just gassed, or a knock? He's England's best player by a mile and it's absolute night and day when Dier comes on for him.

[Phoenix07]

The Coming Home stuff started during the group stages, its laughable

It just snowballed from there

Load of ****ing nonsense and frankly its typical of the whole English fan mentality, they get carried away nearly every tournament after they see a good result

Anyway they had as good a chance as they have had in a long long time, dont see them getting as good a chance as this anytime soon

It made no sense! The original concept was for Euro 1996, and that it was because England were hosting it, hence football's coming home.

But it got warped into something else, implying that the World Cup was coming home. Erm, perhaps 5 time winners Brazil, or 4 time winners Germany and Italy would beg to differ on the definition of 'home'. And then we have Jules Rimet, the Frenchman who started the World Cup. Or the first hosts of the World Cup (Uruguay).

If France beat Croatia, then perhaps England fans were right. It's coming home - to France.

[Shaggy]

[ame]https://twitter.com/LukeAFoley/status/1017301075320139776[/ame]