That 3rd/4th place play off is so pointless. No team wants it and they are usually nothing affairs.What a 3 week though. The nation was swept up in the joy. We play Belgium in another dead rubber.
We certainly did have a favourable draw but you can only beat what is in front of you. However we showed more heart and togetherness than an England team has shown in many a year. I think that will give us a good basis in the future. I don’t think this team is amazing but sometimes being a team counts for a lot.Ultimately on reflection I think I have these things to say. Some won't be popular but that's how I see things.
This team brought a nation together at a time when the countries future is uncertain. With everything going on in the world of politics we needed a lift and this team gave that to us.
They overachieved and gave us genuine hope for the first time in a long long time. Some of those players raised their game to new levels and they should be proud. And we should be proud of them.
But this isn't the dawn of a new era for England football. This is a limited team who overachieved and got a favourable draw. This is a team who are still technically not good enough and who get found out. The defense is shaky, we knew that, the midfield is workmanlike but not good enough to create.
Alli and Sterling are not good enough at this level. They aren't the first to be really good for their clubs but be unable to replicate that at international level and they won't be the last either.
We had a glorious opportunity that unfortunately we couldn't take. We should be proud in defeat but know that we aren't likely to get a better chance. So people shouldn't think 2022 is a great chance.
We certainly did have a favourable draw but you can only beat what is in front of you. However we showed more heart and togetherness than an England team has shown in many a year. I think that will give us a good basis in the future. I don’t think this team is amazing but sometimes being a team counts for a lot.
I still refuse to believe that Alli was not carrying an injury. He was awful in the majority of the games and again he was missing last night. As for Sterling, I’ve shared my views on him for a long time, he’s got quality but he’s brainless and in front of goal he has no composure. Sadly his replacement Rashford shares similar traits so I can see why Gareth persisted with him.
We need to get more English players into the top level clubs, all the lads at under 20's etc need to play, Maguire needs a move, Pickford etc so they can play CL semi's etc.
But what this really needs is to find someone for the Henderson role who can really pick a forward pass
It woud be great if some of our youg players played abroad, maybe foreign clubs will now look at our young players.
the ref was and linesman were awful, but I didn't want to sound like sour grapes. Twice I noticed the ball went out of play and we didn't get the corner and loads of fouls we didn't get.
I was reading about the ref before teh game yesterday, Fergie didn't like him, sent off Nani in the CL semi against Madrid. Apparantly is card happy especally towards the English teams in the CL.
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