Roy Keane tells it like it is.
Does the man, not have a filter? :eek:
No, he says things with conviction which people mistake for veracity.
Reckon John Stones would captain Brazil - the most talented English player in his position and would look like Beckenbauer if he was playing with players of similar technique in front of him [ie not Hendo and Dier], so I’d say that guy needs to pipe down and pay closer attention. He (and you) are right about Sterling, though - he can be frustrating but the quality is obvious.
I didn’t watch the game last night - the opportunity to go mountain biking on some dodgy trails whilst the park rangers were all watching the telly was too enticing, but obv Sterling had little joy getting behind the Croatian backline? Some extremely slow defenders there that he would have on toast, but if they’re sitting deep and there’s no one to thread the passes…
Indeed - Roy is a total mingebag, perhaps understandably so as he’s turned into one of the bluffers he once railed against.
The fanbase of England might have been thinking about parades, football’s coming home etc but it’s infantile to suggest that Southgate and the squad were looking past Croatia.
More succinetltly put bySime Vrsaljko
When the going got tough, England reverted to type.
In the Olympics it would be the bronze medal game. Which makes me wonder: how different is the World Cup from Olympic football? Do the same players on the same national teams compete or is it somehow completely different?
The Olympic tournament is for under 23s only, so it isn’t wholly represent of the professional scene. You get teams winning medals who would not get far in the World Cup.
England don’t even compete in the Olympics, as they would be required to compete as Team GB, and the four home nations won’t do it (it’s complicated and mainly to do with an ongoing battle with Fifa, who would prefer we all competed in World Cups as the UK - we did it as a one off for the London Olympics).
Do they still allow a few (3?) overage players for the actual tournament? I know the US used to use them to fill in gaps or reward fringe players for the full team.
The Olympics and U20s can be a little interesting. There is some predictive ability as to how players will be in their careers. About a decade ago Argentina won a bunch of youth tournaments with Messi, Aguero, di Maria, etc. African teams tend to overperform compared to their full national teams. The cause for that is a bit controversial. It might be that transitioning into a pro is difficult with weak domestic leagues, but there are also accusations of using overage players.
Watch if you’re jonesing for some soccer during a summer break or if you’re super into following youth development, but it’s not an important tournament.
But the intention of Southgate is to change that “type” and for most of the tournament and the qualifying that’s been the way and it is true of the players coming through.
It would be harsh to say that is all they are and it would be over-optimistic to say that they have totally eradicated it. They are setting out with that intention though and they have come a long way.
And the intention of Ericsson and Capello before him. And then Roy Hodgson wanted to get back to classic English style. I have been watching England a long long time and lost a lot of money betting on them:(. Its a story we have all heard before. And every time in this tournament when they were pressed they went back to type. Against Colombia when they conceded the equaliser and the ecstasy of finally winning a shootout masked that. Colombia were pretty poor and lacking their best player. Croatia, not so much.
The problem is not the game plan even. Its the fact that English players have rarely gelled as a team. They become individuals. Its that which makes Sterling great for City and Shitty for England. Its that which makes Harry Kane forget he is a striker last night and in 2006 made Lampard, Gerrard and co forget how to play and take kicks against Portugal.
Until that changes, Southgate or anybody else can do sweet fuck all.
The atmosphere around the England camp suggests that is changing (indeed I believe some of the players have publicly said so - although of course that could be PR hype). England didn’t win this tournament because they simply don’t have the talent at the moment. But as said, once decent midfielder could change all that. Finding him will take some doing though.
And I think it is different this time. The success of the youth teams and continuity of playing style and the eradication of the “big-timer” mentality is something we haven’t seen before.
Southgate’s approach is root and branch and exactly designed as “team and system” first to try and eradicate those past deficiencies.
They aren’t there yet and no-one really thought they would be.
Interesting, thanks. I wouldn’t mind if they did that for basketball too. (Except for allowing the three overage players…that’s just silly.)
If, on 10 June 2018, Jesus himself had come down from the heavens and proclaimed that England would be a World Cup semifinalist, wouldn’t most England fans have been satisfied?
I know its human nature to always want more but England did very well.
They did better than Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Italy, Holland, Spain and the winner of the last two Cops Americas Chile.
You also broke the Curse of the Penalty Shootout.
You guys were wonderful.
Also, rereading the pre Cup predictions, no one mentioned Croatia. They have demolished Argentina and had three consecutive come from behind wins. Yet they, the Rodney Dangerfields of this World Cup, still get no respect. 
You are kidding, right? Stones isn’t even the best player playing in England’s back line these days (Harry Maguire). And Stones being asleep at the switch is why England lost in Extra Time.
If this is how you read the game, and individual players, I’m not particularly impressed with your assessments of England, Brazil, or beer. 
I agree with this. But it might have been a coaches decision to have the defenders keep their shape rather than shutdown attackers. They were doing it earlier in the match. Maguire was brilliant this World Cup. Maybe England’s best player who is not a GK.
I think as a general rule most England supporters will be happy that the team got to the semifinals. It’s not an easy thing to do, and it’s been a while since they did it last.
However, I think that losing in a semi-final to Croatia will hurt, simply because Croatia aren’t a team that traditionally does super-well. Going out to a Germany, or a Brazil is no shame, because lets face it, lots of teams have gone out to those nations over the years. But going out to Croatia will have a real bad taste. It will make people think that England managed to under-achieve in that game. Whether or not that is a valid way to feel about Croatia, that’s what they will think.
If on June 10th someone claimed that if the best win a team had all tournament was Sweden and that they also had a wonderful WC, the entire world would have rolled their eyes.
Agreed on your next post that Croatia deserve more respect. However, for someone that doesn’t rate Brazil and claim it’s only based on history you give an unusual amount of weight to the Argentina result. That didn’t really surprise me, their defending 7 are a dumpster fire.
Tbf I don’t rate Brazil right now in 2018 and I would argue their results of the last 4 years of international football back this up. As we see, things in football change quickly.
Also, some of the silly rhetoric that Brazil had by far the best players in the World perhaps made me overreact.