Pickford Trippier Maguire Stones Rose Lingard Henderson Shelvey Sterling Kane Rashford
Only one problem with that side...
Or on the hour mark, 99% agree with that Daz, sub Delph for the fella who never got the call up and we could have shut down the threat from their constant overlapping full backs
As many have said, gutted but there's more hope for the future than for a long time with the current set up plus some of the under 21 world champions will be breaking through.
Loads of positives to take from the tournament. We came up short in the end, but getting to the semi final is a great achievement - full credit to Southgate and the players. This is massive progress.
Haven't caught up with this thread yet. I can't help feeling that Southgate was outdone tactically last night.
All the talk before the game was about them pushing their fullbacks and wingers up on our wingbacks and causing an overload. Southgate had to find a way to deal with this before the game.
They didn't do this first half and we looked comfortable. Second half from the very first move it was clear they had made the decision to do this. Fair enough you don't need to change things straight away give it time and see how the system deals with it. After about 10 mins it was clear we were losing the battle. They were all over our wingbacks and were 2 on 1 with them regularly. This prevented them from getting up and down the pitch as they have done so well all tournament. So that meant in attack we had no width and in defence we had the midfield 3 trying to cover the whole width of the pitch and help pick up one of the side men as well as deal with their world class 2. We were losing the midfield battle. It needed a tactical switch. Either a temporary move like swapping sterling to the left to pick up one of the side men until we had weathered the storm. Or switching to a back r to match them. At the very least we could have used RLC as some fresh legs in midfield as it was clear Ali and Lingard were struggling to get wide quick enough. Something had to change and it didn't. We allowed them to overrun us in midfield for too long and they made us pay for that.
Kane sat too deep all match
Fair summary (imo) but would say the warning signs were there after half an hour, we were sitting back or forced back and started to hit it long. The longer the game went on the worst that tactic became and Lovern & Vida gobbled everything up. At that point I was sure we were going to lose unless we changed tactics.
Most disappointed with Ali as I am a big fan but where were all the little moves and link ups that you see him do for Tottenham.
Vital experience for the players. We also have players coming through to fully develop the system that Southgate wants.
Who's coming through? Honest question
Arnt we current holders for every youth level?
under 17s and under 20s champions, if the premier league can introduce a cap on over seas players we have a great future ahead.... not so much though if they stay with the Chelsea reserves until they are 25
Spare a thought for my poor lad who is half Russian and half English and has now experienced the pain of elimination twice in short order, although 15 years watching Charlton will have equipped himself for football pain. I shall resist the temptation to buy him a poster of Luka Modric and to book a holiday in Croatia.
For me, England this tournament was the best ive seen. We may have had the easiest route, but this squad played with honour and as a unit, and with true pride in the badge which I havent seen in my lifetime and im very proud of our team for that. Well done lads.
I'm 30 so don't remember 1990 but agree with this.
Im 25 mate
Blimey. What was your England highlight before this tournament?
Probably Beckham scoring that free kick against Greece haha. That's about all I've got. I was pretty happy with the 02 tournament but even that wasn't brilliant
Well played England, so close yet so far. The big positives coming out of the tournament were the defence (bar Young who was so so) and Harry Kane who lead the line well. Less convincing was central midfield (Dele Ali didn't seem fit enough to play his crucial box to box role). Lingard, Sterling and Rashford played like squad players and we'll need better options in future tournaments if we're going to challenge for trophies.
Feel great optimism about the future of the England team. Decent youth level players an excellent showing at this tournament from a young team who will be confident and hungry to avenge the disappointment in future tournaments.
In relative terms whilst world class players like Ronaldo, Suarez, Pepe and uber sausage Neymar spent the tournament writhing around feigning injuries trying to cheat their way to success by comparison our lads in the main played with hearth, spirit and backbone and exited with dignity and heads held high.
Proudest I've been of an England team since 96 and a couple of months ago not being an avid follower of the premier league probably wouldn't have recognised in the street some of the young ladrivers who have lifted the mood and spirit of our wonderful country so brilliantly the past few weeks and given us a sense of optimism for future success.
I just hope this is the start of something, by that i mean the way we play the bond between team and fans within the stature within the England DNA and we can regularly get to QF, SF and dare i say it finals.
The Germans in the past have not always had the best players or word class players but because of the above managed to ensure they are in the mix most tournaments.
Vital experience for the players. We also have players coming through to fully develop the system that Southgate wants.
Who's coming through? Honest question
A few other posters have basically provided the answer. Also the fact Southgate seems to be able to turn a number of unheard of 'average' players into world level. As long as we put team before individuals we will have a chance.
Haven't caught up with this thread yet. I can't help feeling that Southgate was outdone tactically last night.
All the talk before the game was about them pushing their fullbacks and wingers up on our wingbacks and causing an overload. Southgate had to find a way to deal with this before the game.
They didn't do this first half and we looked comfortable. Second half from the very first move it was clear they had made the decision to do this. Fair enough you don't need to change things straight away give it time and see how the system deals with it. After about 10 mins it was clear we were losing the battle. They were all over our wingbacks and were 2 on 1 with them regularly. This prevented them from getting up and down the pitch as they have done so well all tournament. So that meant in attack we had no width and in defence we had the midfield 3 trying to cover the whole width of the pitch and help pick up one of the side men as well as deal with their world class 2. We were losing the midfield battle. It needed a tactical switch. Either a temporary move like swapping sterling to the left to pick up one of the side men until we had weathered the storm. Or switching to a back r to match them. At the very least we could have used RLC as some fresh legs in midfield as it was clear Ali and Lingard were struggling to get wide quick enough. Something had to change and it didn't. We allowed them to overrun us in midfield for too long and they made us pay for that.
Kane sat too deep all match
Exactly right - you need to react to these things when it is clear the game has changed. It felt like that before they scored. In terms of what you do - I think there are different things but doing something different is the first priority. I think when managers are not sure what to do for the best, they delay. I'd rather they try something that may not work faster.
Pickford Trippier New LB Gomez Stones Maguire Henderson New CM (Winks?) Lingard New Attacking Mid / Or the Man City version of Sterling Kane
We need an English version of Modric/Pirlo if we are to get anywhere - I suspect the nearest we have at present is Jonjo Shelvey.
Is why we have to hope that Phil Foden or Mason Mount get their chances at Man City and Chelsea respectively as they're probably the best young kids coming through for England in that sort of position
The problem is we dont seem to have another Goalscorer coming through who can take the pressure off Kane; Tammy Abraham and Dominic Solanke have been tipped to set the world alight yet neither appear to have done so and I still dont rate Rashford as our next big hope
Also have players like Lewis Cook, Tom Davies, Winks, Loftus-Cheek, Lookman, Solanke, Brewster, Reece Oxford, Hudson-Odoi. Plenty of great talent coming through and reasons to think this can be the start of something good and not just a one-off miracle tournament.
Also have players like Lewis Cook, Tom Davies, Winks, Loftus-Cheek, Lookman, Solanke, Brewster, Reece Oxford, Hudson-Odoi. Plenty of great talent coming through and reasons to think this can be the start of something good and not just a one-off miracle tournament.
And most importantly... the FA need to do everything they can to keep hold of Southgate as he's going to be linked with every Premier League job that becomes available over the course of the next season!!
He's the one man that I can think of that'll keep an eye on the Senior Players and will keep a close eye on any potential kids coming through - Let him go and I fear we run the risk of bringing someone in who'll simply see the England job as an easy wage, and other than attending a Premier League game each week, will simply select the same old names
Apart from what England could have done better, I keep asking myself why could I have have done better?
If I had watched it in the same room as the Colombia game or likewise drank Sol again instead of San Miguel, would that have helped? Should my parents have been there watching with us all again? Who knows?
Vital experience for the players. We also have players coming through to fully develop the system that Southgate wants.
Who's coming through? Honest question
A few other posters have basically provided the answer. Also the fact Southgate seems to be able to turn a number of unheard of 'average' players into world level. As long as we put team before individuals we will have a chance.
I had never heard of Harry Maguire before this tournament. I didn't follow the Premier League last season as closely as before so that was probably why I didn't know who he was. I think he did well at this World Cup and that superb header against Sweden is one of the things I'll remember about England at this tournament.
That's another thing i love about Southgate, he picks players that suit his system well and doesn't just go for 'names'. Time and again in the past we've picked the players first and then tried to get them to play a system that doesn't suit them.
If we'd had someone like McClaren or Allardyce in charge they'd probably have played Phil Jones just because he's at United.
Apart from what England could have done better, I keep asking myself why could I have have done better?
If I had watched it in the same room as the Colombia game or likewise drank Sol again instead of San Miguel, would that have helped? Should my parents have been there watching with us all again? Who knows?
Proper gutted this morning, the most important thing is to build from here. Southgate and this team have got the whole country behind them like something we haven't seen for well over a decade. If they use this momentum and develop their system of playing further we could at least continue to reach these heights.
Proud of how we played this tournament. Southgate is so classy in victory and defeat, the players played fair all tournament in the face of some properly dirty tactics, and with a few more years experience and the increasing crop of under 20/17 World Cup winners hopefully coming through the ranks we could do brilliantly... we still believe?
Chances like that to get to a World Cup Final come along once in a lifetime.
I think they happen more often than people think - 1990, Belgium and Cameroon before a difficult semi final, 2002 teams going out left, right and centre. Euro 2016 is another example, Portugal's side of the draw.
In the last 20-25 years teams like Sweden, Romania and Turkey have reached semis without playing anyone great.
Lopsided draws will happen more often in 24 team Euros and 48 team World Cups too.
I’m talking about England having the easiest route to a final ever imaginable, weak group , weak knock out opponents and a weak semi final opponent , we will never see that again .
Until the young English players are playing consistently at a high level, from an early age, we're not going to be where we need to be. English players are considered young at a late age compared to the nations we look up to.
Most of that squad came through the football league / lower prem and that speaks volumes, our top clubs are not producing enough. At the same age that Loftus Cheek is now, Modric was a class act signing for Spurs. Lukaku at 21 was leaving Chelsea because he wasn't playing - Rashford at a similar age is falling further down the pecking order at United.
Comments
As many have said, gutted but there's more hope for the future than for a long time with the current set up plus some of the under 21 world champions will be breaking through.
Loads of positives to take from the tournament. We came up short in the end, but getting to the semi final is a great achievement - full credit to Southgate and the players. This is massive progress.
Most disappointed with Ali as I am a big fan but where were all the little moves and link ups that you see him do for Tottenham.
Pickford
Trippier
New LB
Gomez
Stones
Maguire
Henderson
New CM (Winks?)
Lingard
New Attacking Mid / Or the Man City version of Sterling
Kane
Just looked at the U20 team, the winning goal in the final was scored by Calvert-Lewin...
Player of the tournament was Solanke. Former winners: Messi, Pogba, etc.
Lewis Cook captained the side.
Lookman also there, doing well in the Bundesliga.
Article about where the squad are now.
The only question is whether he will get enough game time at City.
In relative terms whilst world class players like Ronaldo, Suarez, Pepe and uber sausage Neymar spent the tournament writhing around feigning injuries trying to cheat their way to success by comparison our lads in the main played with hearth, spirit and backbone and exited with dignity and heads held high.
Proudest I've been of an England team since 96 and a couple of months ago not being an avid follower of the premier league probably wouldn't have recognised in the street some of the young ladrivers who have lifted the mood and spirit of our wonderful country so brilliantly the past few weeks and given us a sense of optimism for future success.
Been bloody brilliant.
The Germans in the past have not always had the best players or word class players but because of the above managed to ensure they are in the mix most tournaments.
I would take that.
The other one who I’m hopeful about is Sancho at Dortmund.
Sessengnon needs to be in there as well.
The problem is we dont seem to have another Goalscorer coming through who can take the pressure off Kane; Tammy Abraham and Dominic Solanke have been tipped to set the world alight yet neither appear to have done so and I still dont rate Rashford as our next big hope
You also have to wonder if Leon Bailey might get involved now
Trippier
Sessegnon
Gomez
Stones
Maguire
Henderson
Foden
Lingard
Sancho
Kane
Also have players like Lewis Cook, Tom Davies, Winks, Loftus-Cheek, Lookman, Solanke, Brewster, Reece Oxford, Hudson-Odoi. Plenty of great talent coming through and reasons to think this can be the start of something good and not just a one-off miracle tournament.
He's the one man that I can think of that'll keep an eye on the Senior Players and will keep a close eye on any potential kids coming through - Let him go and I fear we run the risk of bringing someone in who'll simply see the England job as an easy wage, and other than attending a Premier League game each week, will simply select the same old names
With that, Lovren being the love child of the ref and with Kane looking injured and really not contributing after 45 minutes. We were up against it.
Yep, they did the nation proud but as a young team and coach lacked game management.
The chance was there and we couldn’t take it.
Gutted.
If I had watched it in the same room as the Colombia game or likewise drank Sol again instead of San Miguel, would that have helped?
Should my parents have been there watching with us all again? Who knows?
Am I partly to blame?
If we'd had someone like McClaren or Allardyce in charge they'd probably have played Phil Jones just because he's at United.
Proud of how we played this tournament. Southgate is so classy in victory and defeat, the players played fair all tournament in the face of some properly dirty tactics, and with a few more years experience and the increasing crop of under 20/17 World Cup winners hopefully coming through the ranks we could do brilliantly... we still believe?
Most of that squad came through the football league / lower prem and that speaks volumes, our top clubs are not producing enough. At the same age that Loftus Cheek is now, Modric was a class act signing for Spurs. Lukaku at 21 was leaving Chelsea because he wasn't playing - Rashford at a similar age is falling further down the pecking order at United.