Really not much more Southgate or England could’ve done tonight. Sadly Kane got inside his own head in the key moment. But that shit happens. That’s elite level sport. That’s the human factor. That’s why we love football.
My only question would be, to what extent was the attack minded performance tonight Southgate’s plan and to what extent was it forced upon him by France taking the lead earlyish.
Either way, England can take lots of positives from that match. The team is still young. There will be more chances. Come on Morocco.
Better team lost and very proud of the players. Really feel for Kane who i doubt will sleep much tonight replaying that pen in his head over and over. Ref had it in for Saka for some reason and some piss poor decisions from him. Reasons to be very optimistic for the Euros
So frustrating thought overall we were the better side.
Still on the positive side Saka, Foden Rice, Bellingham etc will all get another chance again in 18 months. As this world Cup shows experience means alot France, Argentina and Croatia all have stacks of it
One other thought. This is still very much an England TEAM. They play as a unit, they play with commitment, and club rivalries are set aside. We definitely have not always been able to say that. That is one of the reasons that we’re disappointed not to have beaten France in a qtr final, rather than throwing our hands up and shouting “not this bull shit again” after we’ve lost to Iceland. That is very much down to Southgate and the way he’s united this team. Yes he’s tactically conservative, but he deserves much more credit for the way he’s has healed and rebuilt the England setup. It was in absolute tatters when he took over and now we are genuine contenders at the top table again. That should not be underestimated.
It's not easy to score two pens in one game, especially when it's your team's keeper. I can't believe they got that second when we were on top.
I'm resigned now to never seeing us win the World Cup. Never get a better chance.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but maybe we should have given the second one to someone else to avoid the guessing, second guessing etc given he'd had one already.
But then if someone else had taken one and missed it would have seemed ridiculous.
He's captain, joint record goal scorer, penalty taker for club and Country and scored the previous one. I see no reason why they'd faff about and have a different taker second time around.
As a neutral - France had an extra gear when needed. The ref was bad but it felt France always had something spare in attack and soaked up pressure well. The second penalty was crap though it probably avoided worse heartache in extra time... Give it a few years and it'll be the England team with something spare
We were the better team and couldn't have done anymore I dont think. Just didnt get the breaks but that's football.
You need a bit of luck, look at the Croatia goal. Yes Kane should I’ve scored, we would have still have had to win against France and the officials Though.
Hurts. There was a lot that went against us. Their first coming from a foul we weren't given, Giroud's goal being deflected in, the ridiculous fact we were denied one obvious pen and then needed VAR to get a stonewall one after that didn't make things easy. Despite that we were excellent. Walker made the best player in the world-elect look ordinary and Southgate was smart getting Henderson to overlap Saka rather than sending Walker forward. Tactically and technically we were superb. Kane played like a world class 9 and it's such a shame he couldn't convert that second penalty.
We had them rattled when we won that pen. Hernandez had completely lost his composure, Mbappe was getting frustrated, their midfield was getting pverrun with Griezmann on a yellow, Upamecano was getting even wilder in his challenges. Would have been an uncomfortable extra time for them with a fresh Grealish and Sterling on. In the end we were undone by the luck not going our way in the key moments and that's unfortunately football. Oddly hurts more knowing that we were excellent and deserved more than when we're just terrible. Maybe Capello and Hodgson were onto something..
Two moments of class won the game for France, yeah we were unlucky but France are World champions for a reason. Also, I don't think I've seen refereeing that bad at this level, ultimately he didn't cost us the game but I assume the refs are all graded at the World Cup and his performance was ......odd. I think Southgate has some thinking to do in terms of the side, Henderson, Kane, Walker, Maguire, Stones will not be involved for the next World Cup, does he keep the side together for the Euros or does he look to replace those players now.
1958 and 1962 - A team wins back to back world cups led by a #10 who was a teenager at his first, beating England in the quarter finals of their second run
1966 - England win the world cup
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2014 - Germany win the world cup
2018 and 2022 - A team could win back to back world cups led by a #10 who was a teenager at his first, beating England in the quarter finals of the second
One thing that nobody has mentioned about the match: I was concerned that the Palace flag would put him off. Such an ugly monstrosity. It would need an extraterrestrial not to have his concentration upset by it twice. I blame the defeat on that stripey Nigel.
Capello was dogshit for England. The amount of money that incompetent was paid is a disgrace
We've pretty much had useless Managers since Bobby Robson in 1990... The only reason the FA got lucky with Southgate was the fact that he was already part of the Managerial setup, and of course had gone for "Big Sam" in the first place anyway - Do we seriously think Allardyce would have got us close in any of these games, especially after that one match display against Slovenia or Slovakia (always get those two mixed up)
Taylor: Yeaa okay, less said the better. Venables: Unlucky but had home support at the Euros, maybe should have got us to the Final Hoddle: Probably the best of the lot, unfairly sacked Keegan: Playing Legend, crap Manager Eriksen: Wasted a Golden Generation, whereas Southgate is nurturing it McClaren: Wally with a Brolly Capello: God almighty Hodgson: Relied too heavily on an ageing squad.
Two moments of class won the game for France, yeah we were unlucky but France are World champions for a reason. Also, I don't think I've seen refereeing that bad at this level, ultimately he didn't cost us the game but I assume the refs are all graded at the World Cup and his performance was ......odd. I think Southgate has some thinking to do in terms of the side, Henderson, Kane, Walker, Maguire, Stones will not be involved for the next World Cup, does he keep the side together for the Euros or does he look to replace those players now.
For continuity you change two players every two years on average. That way you always have experience in the team and none of this 'building for the future' nonsense.
Oh, and I'd like to put Henderson in the management team in view to take over as manager, be that in 2026, 2028 or 2030
I was trying to ignore the ITV pundits but it struck me that Gary Neville said this is a better England team than the ones he played in. I think that's spot on, and not only because he's agreeing with something I said earlier in the competition - this is the best england team on my lifetime (with the caveat that I'm too young to remember 1970 when the team was reportedly a bit useful). They cam up against the team who've been the best in the tournament so far, and ran them very close.
It may not seem like it for those with more commitment to England than me, but that was a great game to watch and a really good performance. Just the luck of the draw that it was a quarter final not the final.
France Morocco will be an interesting one. A colonial history that makes England and India look like best friends. And Morocco have already done the thing about being the first African team to get as far as they have.
Two moments of class won the game for France, yeah we were unlucky but France are World champions for a reason. Also, I don't think I've seen refereeing that bad at this level, ultimately he didn't cost us the game but I assume the refs are all graded at the World Cup and his performance was ......odd. I think Southgate has some thinking to do in terms of the side, Henderson, Kane, Walker, Maguire, Stones will not be involved for the next World Cup, does he keep the side together for the Euros or does he look to replace those players now.
The two worst on field refereeing performances of the whole WC have been in the QF, today and the Argentina match, which is crazy.
In earlier games, there were issues with VAR decisions, but the onfield decisions were generally correct.
I was trying to ignore the ITV pundits but it struck me that Gary Neville said this is a better England team than the ones he played in. I think that's spot on, and not only because he's agreeing with something I said earlier in the competition - this is the best england team on my lifetime (with the caveat that I'm too young to remember 1970 when the team was reportedly a bit useful). They cam up against the team who've been the best in the tournament so far, and ran them very close.
It may not seem like it for those with more commitment to England than me, but that was a great game to watch and a really good performance. Just the luck of the draw that it was a quarter final not the final.
France Morocco will be an interesting one. A colonial history that makes England and India look like best friends. And Morocco have already done the thing about being the first African team to get as far as they have.
I'm not sure I agree with that, as the "Golden Generation" had some seriously good players. An awful lot of Premier League legends around that time G Neville A Cole Campbell Ferdinand Terry J Cole Scholes Lampard Gerrard Beckham Shearer Owen/Rooney
Two moments of class won the game for France, yeah we were unlucky but France are World champions for a reason. Also, I don't think I've seen refereeing that bad at this level, ultimately he didn't cost us the game but I assume the refs are all graded at the World Cup and his performance was ......odd. I think Southgate has some thinking to do in terms of the side, Henderson, Kane, Walker, Maguire, Stones will not be involved for the next World Cup, does he keep the side together for the Euros or does he look to replace those players now.
Comments
We kept Mbappe quiet, but it was Griezmann who provided their quality instead
My only question would be, to what extent was the attack minded performance tonight Southgate’s plan and to what extent was it forced upon him by France taking the lead earlyish.
Either way, England can take lots of positives from that match. The team is still young. There will be more chances. Come on Morocco.
Still on the positive side Saka, Foden Rice, Bellingham etc will all get another chance again in 18 months. As this world Cup shows experience means alot France, Argentina and Croatia all have stacks of it
Yes Kane should I’ve scored, we would have still have had to win against France and the officials Though.
Some of the comments on here post match - now deleted - were completely uncalled for though. People wont forget those.
Taylor: Yeaa okay, less said the better.
Venables: Unlucky but had home support at the Euros, maybe should have got us to the Final
Hoddle: Probably the best of the lot, unfairly sacked
Keegan: Playing Legend, crap Manager
Eriksen: Wasted a Golden Generation, whereas Southgate is nurturing it
McClaren: Wally with a Brolly
Capello: God almighty
Hodgson: Relied too heavily on an ageing squad.
Oh, and I'd like to put Henderson in the management team in view to take over as manager, be that in 2026, 2028 or 2030
At least allow him to get into the flow of the game
I'd still argue the squad from the 2000s was better man for man, especially in Goal and Defence.
But we only ever saw them play as a bunch of individuals
In earlier games, there were issues with VAR decisions, but the onfield decisions were generally correct.
G Neville
A Cole
Campbell
Ferdinand
Terry
J Cole
Scholes
Lampard
Gerrard
Beckham
Shearer
Owen/Rooney