Quarter-Final - Saturday 7th July - Sweden 0-2 England

[Guest]

I have to admit I got sterling wrong. Although I was pissed at the time. But after looking at the match reports he should have scored but his overall contribution was good.

[Stan]

yeah I don't get doing that at all.

absolute cunts the lot of them.

also heard that fans yesterday were bouncing around on ambulance vehicles and rendering them out of use for the rest of the day too. Proper weird behaviour to do that, no matter how drunk you might get.

[Guest]

35 minutes ago, Stan said:

yeah I don't get doing that at all.

absolute cunts the lot of them.

also heard that fans yesterday were bouncing around on ambulance vehicles and rendering them out of use for the rest of the day too. Proper weird behaviour to do that, no matter how drunk you might get.

Most fans were well behaved though. I mean there were thousands of fans and there have only been a few incidents. They are idiots though

[Dave]

1 hour ago, Stan said:

yeah I don't get doing that at all.

absolute cunts the lot of them.

also heard that fans yesterday were bouncing around on ambulance vehicles and rendering them out of use for the rest of the day too. Proper weird behaviour to do that, no matter how drunk you might get.

Ah yes. The girl with thunder thighs and the Asian lad were the people i were referring too. For a lot of people this is the chance to get very drunk in a merry atmosphere in the sun with loads of people. I doubt either of them are season ticket holders who love the game.

[Stan]

8 minutes ago, The Palace Fan said:

Ah yes. The girl with thunder thighs and the Asian lad were the people i were referring too. For a lot of people this is the chance to get very drunk in a merry atmosphere in the sun with loads of people. I doubt either of them are season ticket holders who love the game.

yeah but you can get very drunk in a merry atmosphere without being a vandal or damaging emergency vehicles?

[Dave]

36 minutes ago, Stan said:

yeah but you can get very drunk in a merry atmosphere without being a vandal or damaging emergency vehicles?

When did I say you couldn't? Clearly by my original post I don't agree with it at all.

[Stan]

9 minutes ago, The Palace Fan said:

When did I say you couldn't? Clearly by my original post I don't agree with it at all.

I think I misread/misinterpreted it mate  

[LFCMike]

I'm glad I came in here and saw a couple of posts in Sterling's defence. Thought it was just me that thought he had a good game. 

[Stan]

4 minutes ago, LFCMike said:

I'm glad I came in here and saw a couple of posts in Sterling's defence. Thought it was just me that thought he had a good game. 

I thought he did very well to make space, get in good positions, make good runs but the end product was disappointing for me. Two clear occasions he should have done better than he did and made a different choice to the one he made. The most annoying one was where he took on the keeper and instead of passing to Kane/Alli, he tried to take on a defender and shoot. Not like he didn't see them either as on replays you could see he notices them there. Bit selfish of him. BUT, he got in those positions in the first place and was the only  one doing so running in behind the Swedish defence and get in those spaces to create opportunities/chances.

Definitely not his worst game but having said that definitely no need for the criticism I heard him getting. 

I've been praying for him to get his first goal at a tournament since the start of this one. Just to get people off his back and give himself a bit of confidence about it all. 

[LFCMike]

1 hour ago, Stan said:

I thought he did very well to make space, get in good positions, make good runs but the end product was disappointing for me. Two clear occasions he should have done better than he did and made a different choice to the one he made. The most annoying one was where he took on the keeper and instead of passing to Kane/Alli, he tried to take on a defender and shoot. Not like he didn't see them either as on replays you could see he notices them there. Bit selfish of him. BUT, he got in those positions in the first place and was the only  one doing so running in behind the Swedish defence and get in those spaces to create opportunities/chances.

Definitely not his worst game but having said that definitely no need for the criticism I heard him getting. 

I've been praying for him to get his first goal at a tournament since the start of this one. Just to get people off his back and give himself a bit of confidence about it all. 

Yeah I agree with all of that. Here was the first I'd seen people backing him. The pub and social media yesterday and today was just full of people slating him. He should do better with that chance where he could have passed to Kane or Alli but his all round game was good like you say. I think that situation he made his mind up far too late and by the time he had the chance to pass to either was gone and he had to go on his own

[Dan+]

On 7/7/2018 at 17:02, RandoEFC said:

Before this tournament Henderson was a redshite bastard and I hated numerous other England players including Alli and Ashley Young but right now I love every single one of them. This is what international football should always have been for us young English folk.

As for Pickford, I'll actually be more gutted if he leaves us soon than I was when Rooney left. That lad is absolute class.

Im genuinely interested from a psychological perspective whether I still hate Henderson, Alli etc. when we get back to the domestic season.

I thought this as well. Kane always gets shit when he comes here but I wonder if it would be a bit different if England did actually go all the way.

England this tournament have done something to me they've never ever done. I don't care if we've had a lucky draw or if we rely on set pieces. People are behind the national team in a way I've never seen. I felt as good as I've ever felt going into this tournament and maybe my gut instinct was right.

We were good yesterday. If Germany turn that performance and result in against Sweden people say it's an assured, champions performance on the route to going all the way. We were never under huge threat although what threat we did have, Pickford dealt with superbly.

Maguire's grown into this tournament and he's been phenomenal this last two games, to the point I actually worry we've seen the last of him at Leicester.

This is by a stretch my favourite ever World Cup. It's had everything and it could get better still. I think we make that final.

[Honey Honey]

I remember years ago applauding England players when they came back and played against us for their club. I remember applauding Gerrard once when he came to take a corner. I also remember applauding Lampard after he scored a very good goal against us, at least I am sure it was him. This must have all been after euro 2004 but I might be wrong.

I expect the same when Kane comes here first game of the season. I'm actually looking forward to showing some appreciation. We'll probably sing he spits when he talks as well though  

[Guest]

22 minutes ago, Harvsky said:

I remember years ago applauding England players when they came back and played against us for their club. I remember applauding Gerrard once when he came to take a corner. I also remember applauding Lampard after he scored a very good goal against us, at least I am sure it was him. This must have all been after euro 2004 but I might be wrong.

I expect the same when Kane comes here first game of the season. I'm actually looking forward to showing some appreciation. We'll probably sing he spits when he talks as well though  

You'll applauding world champions because it's coming home. It's fucking coming home!!!

[SirBalon]

3 hours ago, Dan said:

I thought this as well. Kane always gets shit when he comes here but I wonder if it would be a bit different if England did actually go all the way.

England this tournament have done something to me they've never ever done. I don't care if we've had a lucky draw or if we rely on set pieces. People are behind the national team in a way I've never seen. I felt as good as I've ever felt going into this tournament and maybe my gut instinct was right.

We were good yesterday. If Germany turn that performance and result in against Sweden people say it's an assured, champions performance on the route to going all the way. We were never under huge threat although what threat we did have, Pickford dealt with superbly.

Maguire's grown into this tournament and he's been phenomenal this last two games, to the point I actually worry we've seen the last of him at Leicester.

This is by a stretch my favourite ever World Cup. It's had everything and it could get better still. I think we make that final.

I completely understand those sentiments.

Out of curiosity... How old were you for Euro '96?

[Honey Honey]

[Dan+]

1 hour ago, SirBalon said:

I completely understand those sentiments.

Out of curiosity... How old were you for Euro '96?

3. Howcome?

[SirBalon]

Just now, Dan said:

3. Howcome?

Because of what everyone is saying in relation to how it’s being lived here in England. The atmosphere was the same back in 1996... It was great!

[Harry]

5 hours ago, Dan said:

 

England this tournament have done something to me they've never ever done. I don't care if we've had a lucky draw or if we rely on set pieces. People are behind the national team in a way I've never seen. I felt as good as I've ever felt going into this tournament and maybe my gut instinct was right.

 

What impresses me is none  of the players have looked overawed the way the previous generation so frequently did. 

With previous keepers you could see it in their eyes. Pickford just seems fully focused on doing a job. 

[Honey Honey]

The likes of Pickford and Maguire have grown into the tournament after wobbly starts. 

So much of this game is in the mind.

[Dan+]

1 minute ago, SirBalon said:

Because of what everyone is saying in relation to how it’s being lived here in England. The atmosphere was the same back in 1996... It was great!

Yeah I was born at a bad time for it really. The first tournament I can really remember was World Cup 2002 although at that age you're kind of excited naturally. Euro 2004 had me in tears twice - once at losing to France after being ahead with a minute left, and once at losing to Portugal on penalties. 2006 was exactly the same at the end.

2008 I think was the really damaging year for England. I think after having a generation of players tipped for so much, to never get past a quarter final is damaging, and to not even qualify in 2008 was an absolute disgrace. It's the one time in my life (bar 1994 but I was 1) that I can remember us not qualifying for a tournament and it just felt weird. It felt like a bitter end to a generation with such potential.

Ever since then it's just been more and more negatives. 2010 we were horrible, made a mess of an easy group (never forget the papers England Algeria Slovakia Yanks headline) and ended up battered by a young Germany side in the next round. 2012 we weren't actually too bad in fairness but it still wasn't anything to get you really excited - we did really well in our group but the Italy game was a bit depressing overall with the usual penalties outcome. 2014 and 2016 were just disgusting tournaments from England. Hodgson should never have had 2016.

After Euro 2016 I felt almost done with England - especially given what had just happened with my own club. I felt like Leicester and England were the antithesis of each other. Leicester were a team of limited players with 3 stars, one that knew its strengths and weaknesses and one that kept their bottle against all the odds. England thought they were too good for any of our players, thought they could get away with throwing a striker beyond his best years into midfield, picking players who had no business being in tournaments and only made it because of who they played for. There was just nothing about it I could get behind. I called us having a stinker from the off.

But maybe sometimes what goes down must come up. We'd spent years being underwhelming but the underwhelming had become embarrassing, and losing to Iceland in a tournament is the absolute nadir for us. I got to a point during that game where I thought you know what, I actually kind of hope we lose, if it takes a seriously embarrassing result to force us into change then I'm all for it. We were going nowhere.

Through qualifying for this tournament I wasn't really convinced by Southgate. I preferred him to Hodgson but I still wasn't sold he was going to change things. It was during the friendlies in March I started to get on board with him and what he was about. He was genuinely trying new things, we were playing good football in the friendlies rather than the usual garbage.

Bit by bit Southgate has done things that I've wanted to see an England manager do and that's what's made me warm to him - and wouldn't you know it, we've ended up producing our best tournament since 1990 (with a view to better), to the point now it's gotten everyone on board with him. The players also take a lot of credit, plenty I've slagged off in there but the lot of them are making me proud to be English at the minute and I've never been able to say that about an England side, and that's all I've ever wanted from them.

[Dan+]

25 minutes ago, Harry said:

What impresses me is none  of the players have looked overawed the way the previous generation so frequently did. 

With previous keepers you could see it in their eyes. Pickford just seems fully focused on doing a job. 

I think there's definitely less pressure on this group of players but at the same time, if they'd lost to Sweden I still think the knives could've come out. If it was Brazil or Germany it wouldn't be as likely but Sweden people I don't think would accept defeat to.

Croatia's a funny one, I think there's very little between the two. I think it'll be more hurt than anger if we lose to Croatia whereas nearly every other time England have gone out recently it's been anger, and rightly so.

[Harry]

10 hours ago, Dan said:

I think there's definitely less pressure on this group of players but at the same time, if they'd lost to Sweden I still think the knives could've come out. If it was Brazil or Germany it wouldn't be as likely but Sweden people I don't think would accept defeat to.

Croatia's a funny one, I think there's very little between the two. I think it'll be more hurt than anger if we lose to Croatia whereas nearly every other time England have gone out recently it's been anger, and rightly so.

I don't think it's fair to expect this England team to beat this croatia team and be angry if they don't. 

This Croatian team its provably their last chance for modric, rakitic, mandzukic to win something and its at least a silver generation for them talent wise. 

No question for me this is a bronze at best generation for England and on paper this game could go either way imo.

Best of luck for it in any case

[DeadLinesman]

Croatia have to ability to smash a team if and when they’re big players turn up, which they haven’t so far. England can win this if the same Croatia turn up that played Denmark and Russia.

[Guest]

4 hours ago, DeadLinesman said:

Croatia have to ability to smash a team if and when they’re big players turn up, which they haven’t so far. England can win this if the same Croatia turn up that played Denmark and Russia.

Our best performance in recent times was against Croatia at Wembley. But i just think they are gonna play brilliantly on Wednesday. The confidence is there, everyone in the country is behind them I just think we're gonna see the best performance in years

[Dr. Gonzo]

I like this:

also this isn't bad at all: https://streamable.com/jf1ln