Eisen
Registered User
Me too, some teams more, some less but I always liked them. Since the Platini aera.
World Cup: SF: Croatia vs. England, 7/11/2018
- Thread starter Live in the Now
- Start date
They were being told the pundits opinions etc. to use it for extra motivation.
I think it's very likely the same happens with the France game.
I'm happy and delighted for all the players, they all gave it their all, but I couldn't be happier for Lovren.
He's a genuinely nice guy who's had bad things happen to him privately and then became a meme with the English media, regardless of his actual play.
We'll he's had an absolutely immense 2018, both for Liverpool and Croatia. And I realize it all started with Klopp's confidence in him and VVD coming over, but the end result is a Lovren who is in consistently good form. And a Lovren in top shape, as Klopp says, is a world class defender.
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darko
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While they did end up on favorable side of the draw, they are a very good and well coached team. And they also have Modric. I didn't pick them to make the final but am in no means surprised they are here.
philip
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I'm absolutely gutted. That Kane miss. At 2-0 and well in control, you're comfortable. We were much the better side 1st half. Then 2nd half, I don't know what happened. It might have been some mental 'omg we're nearly in the final' breakdown, but we started giving the ball away cheaply. Players not moving, finding space. Defence being lackadaisical in possession. The 2 goals we conceded were really poor and you shouldn't be conceding those goals. We just went to pot, and it was all Croatia. We didn't deserve anything in that 2nd half. So disappointing. I am proud of our boys though, the semis for this team is a fantastic achievement. We did better than everyone expected.
Well done to Croatia though, they really wanted it 2nd half; now go win the whole thing boys.
Well done to Croatia though, they really wanted it 2nd half; now go win the whole thing boys.
philip
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This could be a factor why England will never be a force; you won't find a single person in this country who prefers national team football over their club. Not a prayer. Club football has always and will always be the priority for proper football supporters in this country ainec.
Eisen
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philip
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Big time. Why he stepped up when the ball was being headed his way and he had Manzu in behind....
there was a lot of bad play in that 2nd half. Too much. We just shit the bed.
philip
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While I’m proud of the lads and how far they got I do honestly feel Southgate made a some crucial mistakes.
1) Not taking a ball playing CM e.g Shelvey, Lallana or Wilshere.
2) Starting Young over Rose.
3) Taking Sterling off totally killed any attacking threat we had.
4) Leaving Alli on when he was totally anonymous, Loftus-Cheek was massively underused in this tournament.
We were very good first half but when Kane and Lingard missed them BIG chances I just had a nasty feeling we would pay for it and we ultimately did, proud of England but also frustrated as this was a big opportunity missed. Croatia were there for the taking 1st half.
1) Not taking a ball playing CM e.g Shelvey, Lallana or Wilshere.
2) Starting Young over Rose.
3) Taking Sterling off totally killed any attacking threat we had.
4) Leaving Alli on when he was totally anonymous, Loftus-Cheek was massively underused in this tournament.
We were very good first half but when Kane and Lingard missed them BIG chances I just had a nasty feeling we would pay for it and we ultimately did, proud of England but also frustrated as this was a big opportunity missed. Croatia were there for the taking 1st half.
Also, England trying to score while Croatia was celebrating. I don't even know what this is about lol... Especially after Panama did the same silly stuff vs England.
Varane was key in the CL, and best defenseman in the WC.
If he wins on sunday, he should win it.
Serious?
He shouldn't. And he's not going to either.
Varane is a rock, but Madrid's defense without him functions if Sergio Ramos is in there.
If Ramos is not there, however, it all goes awry (like the Juve 2nd leg).
I think they're the strongest CB pairing in the world at club level. But he's neither the top dog yet (Ramos is, for all his memery and controversies) nor are his performances B d'Or level.
That said, Varane is one of the few Madrid players who wasn't either injured or off form in the early part of last season (Modric, Ramos and Asensio being the others).
No matter how the final ends up, the Ballon d'Or will go to either Ronaldo or Modric.
Rightly so, IMO.
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philip
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What, the Messi/Ronaldo trophy? I don't think a defender has won the Ballon D'Or since Cannavaro about 15 years ago, and before that... christ knows. It usually just gets handed to whoever has the better year between Messi and Ronaldo
I mean Varane is the best CB in the world, but in what world was he as valuable to Real as Modrić was?
Cmac66
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Gutted for the lads but i am optimistic for the future with this team. No one expected us to even reach the quarter finals so to get to the semi final was a massive bonus. Gutted that we couldn't go all the way but on the night Croatia were simply better than us. There were plenty of chances for us to add to our lead and they fluffed it. Both goals could have easily have been prevented but they have made a nation love international football again. Good luck to Croatia and hope they go on to win it. only criticism from last night game was the referee had a shocking game other than that not much more we can complain about.
GKJ
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Ceremony
blahem
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It gets even better with the proper view of it... even if it had been a legal play, they still managed to go offside
Subašić - 7: wasn't really busy, handled himself well when he needed to, had a massive save on Kane that was called back due to offside
Vrsaljko - 8.5: immense game from Šime who was doubtful until the start, perfect cross for the equalizer and an amazing game and saved a goal in ET.
Lovren - 7.5: started off a bit shaky with a couple of hard fouls, but later on composed himself and was absolutely dominant in every aspect of the game, he doesn't get a higher grade because of lack of work
Vida - 8: boy says dumb stuff, but he can play. Along with Broz the most underappreciated player on the team. Tested from the get-go, handled Sterling perfectly, and with Lovren and Broz made Kane invisible. He deserves to play at a top-notch club, Liverpool is supposedly interested.
Strinić - 3: the only reason he didn't get a 1 is that he didn't cost us a goal. Just a horrific game that brought back memories of Strinić of old. Takes ages to decide what to do with the ball, can't complete a 5 meter pass, every cross lands on the head of the first guy in the box, pretty much ended all attacks going down the left flank, just a horrific game with ball in his feet. Felt like we were playing a man down.
Brozović - 7.5: dude covered 16.3 kilometers yesterday. He helped put Kane out of the game, played the role of a chain link between the D and Luka and Ivan, even got in into the attack with two nice shots.
Rakitić - 7: you could see he played sick, that wasn't the Rakitić at his best, but Ivan battling a fever, still he provided too much class for the English team and his long balls were key to quickly shifting sides and breaking down the defensive structure.
Modrić - 7.5: controlled most of the game, but gets 1 point taken off because of the foul on Ali. Extremely happy for him.
Rebić - 7: played alone for the first 30min, when he probably gave Young one of the worst experiences in his life when he just abused him down the flank. Fallen off as the game progressed and he messed it up on the follow up shot after Perišić hit the post.
Perišić -8.5: started off bad, but after he scored he was everywhere, if there was more composure he could've had 3 goals.
Mandžo - 9: what to say about him? I mean he is the personification of a big game player and a guy who has no fear whatsoever. Love him to death.
Kramarić - 1: played little, but in that little time managed to leave an extremely negative imprint. His selfishness could've cost us dearly, it's absolutely unacceptable that he shot that in the ET rather than to pass it to Perišić so that he can seal the game, had England scored and won he'd be the main guilty party.
Pivarić - 7.5: the complete opposite of Kramarić, substituted Strinić and in the next half hour played really well. Had a couple of take ons where he made the English look silly.
Badelj - played too little to grade
Ćorluka - played too little to grade
Dalić - 7: rough start, but as the game got on he got the better of Southgate
England:
Pickford -7.5: can't fault him for either goal, saved a couple of good ones, started off really well with the boot, but tailed off as the game went one just hoofing it, but that is on the defenders as well
Walker - 7.5: best English D, I don't fault him for the Perišić goal
Stones - 2: shambolic performance, made so many blunders with the ball in his feet, played the alibi game the entire time by returning the ball to the keeper, displayed horrific spatial awareness on the Mandžo goal, worst player on the pitch for England
Maguire - 7: strong in the air, tried something going forward, showed by far the most ambition of all of English players save for Sterling, Henderson, and Trippier
Trippier - 7.5: scored a brilliant goal, had a nice first half while Perišić was underwhelming, but dissapeared in the 2nd half
Young - 5: dominated by Rebić to a point of abuse, did absolutely nothing the whole game
Henderson -6.5: gets bonus points for effort, as I feel he was let down by his coach's inability to do a damn thing and adjust
Delle - 6: ran a lot, his timely run, in the end, resulted in a goal, but after that, he was most noticeable due to his nervousness, again failed by his coach who didn't do a thing to adjust when he had 3 guys covering the width of the pitch
Lingard - 5: messed up a glorious chance, did nothing of merit other than that
Sterling - 7: gave us fits at the start, pretty much the only threat up front
Kane - 5.5: invisible other than when he bottled his chance, but at least he can console himself that he was called offside there
Dier - 3: did he even touch the ball?
Vardy: did nothing
Rashford - 5: looked lost and in over his head
Rose - 6.5: looked lively and did well in limited time
Southgate - 2: didn't do anything to turn the tide, made subs that made no sense, especially the Sterling one, basically watched his team get played off the pitch after they got scored on without changing formation which clearly wasn't working and left his midfielders out there to be brutalized by the Croatian midfield.
Vrsaljko - 8.5: immense game from Šime who was doubtful until the start, perfect cross for the equalizer and an amazing game and saved a goal in ET.
Lovren - 7.5: started off a bit shaky with a couple of hard fouls, but later on composed himself and was absolutely dominant in every aspect of the game, he doesn't get a higher grade because of lack of work
Vida - 8: boy says dumb stuff, but he can play. Along with Broz the most underappreciated player on the team. Tested from the get-go, handled Sterling perfectly, and with Lovren and Broz made Kane invisible. He deserves to play at a top-notch club, Liverpool is supposedly interested.
Strinić - 3: the only reason he didn't get a 1 is that he didn't cost us a goal. Just a horrific game that brought back memories of Strinić of old. Takes ages to decide what to do with the ball, can't complete a 5 meter pass, every cross lands on the head of the first guy in the box, pretty much ended all attacks going down the left flank, just a horrific game with ball in his feet. Felt like we were playing a man down.
Brozović - 7.5: dude covered 16.3 kilometers yesterday. He helped put Kane out of the game, played the role of a chain link between the D and Luka and Ivan, even got in into the attack with two nice shots.
Rakitić - 7: you could see he played sick, that wasn't the Rakitić at his best, but Ivan battling a fever, still he provided too much class for the English team and his long balls were key to quickly shifting sides and breaking down the defensive structure.
Modrić - 7.5: controlled most of the game, but gets 1 point taken off because of the foul on Ali. Extremely happy for him.
Rebić - 7: played alone for the first 30min, when he probably gave Young one of the worst experiences in his life when he just abused him down the flank. Fallen off as the game progressed and he messed it up on the follow up shot after Perišić hit the post.
Perišić -8.5: started off bad, but after he scored he was everywhere, if there was more composure he could've had 3 goals.
Mandžo - 9: what to say about him? I mean he is the personification of a big game player and a guy who has no fear whatsoever. Love him to death.
Kramarić - 1: played little, but in that little time managed to leave an extremely negative imprint. His selfishness could've cost us dearly, it's absolutely unacceptable that he shot that in the ET rather than to pass it to Perišić so that he can seal the game, had England scored and won he'd be the main guilty party.
Pivarić - 7.5: the complete opposite of Kramarić, substituted Strinić and in the next half hour played really well. Had a couple of take ons where he made the English look silly.
Badelj - played too little to grade
Ćorluka - played too little to grade
Dalić - 7: rough start, but as the game got on he got the better of Southgate
England:
Pickford -7.5: can't fault him for either goal, saved a couple of good ones, started off really well with the boot, but tailed off as the game went one just hoofing it, but that is on the defenders as well
Walker - 7.5: best English D, I don't fault him for the Perišić goal
Stones - 2: shambolic performance, made so many blunders with the ball in his feet, played the alibi game the entire time by returning the ball to the keeper, displayed horrific spatial awareness on the Mandžo goal, worst player on the pitch for England
Maguire - 7: strong in the air, tried something going forward, showed by far the most ambition of all of English players save for Sterling, Henderson, and Trippier
Trippier - 7.5: scored a brilliant goal, had a nice first half while Perišić was underwhelming, but dissapeared in the 2nd half
Young - 5: dominated by Rebić to a point of abuse, did absolutely nothing the whole game
Henderson -6.5: gets bonus points for effort, as I feel he was let down by his coach's inability to do a damn thing and adjust
Delle - 6: ran a lot, his timely run, in the end, resulted in a goal, but after that, he was most noticeable due to his nervousness, again failed by his coach who didn't do a thing to adjust when he had 3 guys covering the width of the pitch
Lingard - 5: messed up a glorious chance, did nothing of merit other than that
Sterling - 7: gave us fits at the start, pretty much the only threat up front
Kane - 5.5: invisible other than when he bottled his chance, but at least he can console himself that he was called offside there
Dier - 3: did he even touch the ball?
Vardy: did nothing
Rashford - 5: looked lost and in over his head
Rose - 6.5: looked lively and did well in limited time
Southgate - 2: didn't do anything to turn the tide, made subs that made no sense, especially the Sterling one, basically watched his team get played off the pitch after they got scored on without changing formation which clearly wasn't working and left his midfielders out there to be brutalized by the Croatian midfield.
SenorDingDong
Registered User
">It gets even better with the proper view of it... even if it had been a legal play, they still managed to go offside
