Here we go - Come on England

[upthecreekyetagain]

England’s World Cup campaign starts right now - fingers crossed for a good start. 😉

[cee-dee]

I do, but people tempt providence by gobbing off early and look what's just happened? !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[cee-dee]

See, they nearly got another then. Croatia are on top again.

[suzieseaside]

Oh dear 😥 And only 7 mins to go

[cee-dee]

All that bragging, "football's coming home"..... Only ten men now.

[upthecreekyetagain]

Unlucky England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 

Well done lads. 

Nothing to be ashamed about. 

[cee-dee]

The rest of the World will be laughing at all the braggarts now.

It all puts more pressure on the players and soon, the blame game will start. They'd started before the game went to full time by blaming Southgate for not substituting earlier. "Poor management" they said......???? Oh how quickly they turn on someone they'd previously called the hero?

[upthecreekyetagain]

What a load of @%^**

Not one of those players gave less than 100%

We have every right to be incredibly proud of them and their manager.

[upthecreekyetagain]

210 National teams entered the World Cup - England at worst have finished 4th - incredible.

[suzieseaside]

https://goo.gl/images/bJD5bB

Let's hope there's no increase in domestic violence, although the link has been established 😰

[cee-dee]

I didn't criticise the players or the manager. What annoys me is the outrageous bragging by those "observing". It doesn't help the team. Cautious optimism is the way to go.

It was the same at Wimbledon. Federer was "heading for his record ninth title" to hear all the crowing talk. What happened? He was beaten!

[upthecreekyetagain]

Some of us aren’t ‘observers’ - there’s a World of difference between a member of an audience and a fan -you stated earlier in the thread that you don’t watch much football and aren’t a fan - that becomes more and more obvious with every post you make.

[cee-dee]

That's because I'm not blinded by euphoria.

[goldenwonders]

It's a shame, England were well on top for most of the first half. All we needed was that second goal and I think that would have done it.

Kane certainly was not himself - if he was carrying an injury we should not have played him. It should be noted most of Englands goals were scored from set pieces and there was no individual genius to create goals out of nothing.

I think when we lost control of the game it needed a strong captain to get some discipline into the side and keep the ball, slow done the game and stop the Croats getting the upper hand. Kane is not a good as a captain, his job is to score goals, better to have chosen Maguire or someone who is midfield to orchestrate a defensive mind for a period.

We did well and its easy to make judgements after the event, Southgate (who I had no time for) has done well with a team that he can still achieve a 3rd place with - and we would all have accepted that at the start of this competition!

[fallen-archie]

Ok I think we did well and certainly provided a brief respite from all the doom and gloom of the NHS, Brexit, and living with a hung parliament. So before it becomes business as usual spare a thought for England’s youngsters who won the World Cup and who will soon be challenging for a place in the senior squad, seldom can I remember when England’s prospects have been brighter on the football front and that is something to savour 👍😀

[mikes*corvettes]

---

cee-dee wrote:

What annoys me is the outrageous bragging by those "observing". 

---

What makes you think all the other teams and fans are any different ?

[cee-dee]

I don't. It's the British "fans" and media I'm on about. The others can do as they like. They all look stupid after all the mouthing off and then the team failing to deliver on it.

[goldenwonders]

---

@cee-dee wrote:

I don't. It's the British "fans" and media I'm on about. The others can do as they like. They all look stupid after all the mouthing off and then the team failing to deliver on it.

---

Every real fan of every football club in every country ALWAYS believes their team can win - against the greatest odds, ...and it's always possible  ...but sometimes unachieveable! As an ardent Wolves fan I know thats true!

[cee-dee]

I think all the bragging by "the fans" and media only add more pressure and expectations to succeed on the players, pressure they don't need.

[goldenwonders]

They are footballers, they earn great amounts of money, pressure is on them at every game - some games far more than others. They were in a world cup and before they kicked a ball they were under pressure. To create a belief that they could win is good - helps them to believe that it is possible and not an impossible task. Belief makes good players better players.

In Englands case this time the only things lacking was ... a true goal creator and a solid experienced captain. They had neither this time, thats not to say in two years time at the Euros they may have both!

[upthecreekyetagain]

Well said - have it CD’s way and every team would be going into every game with their fans expecting them to lose - that would really make them feel good, not.

Football fans support their team no matter what, the highs including the lows - like you I’ve experienced both, possibly more so.

As a Brighton season ticket holder it’s easy to forget that just 20 years ago we had lost our ground, (sold by that carpet bagger Archer), and were facing Hereford in a game which if we lost would see us drop out of the Football League.

We had to travel to Gillingham for our home matches until we arranged the use of Withdene athletics stadium - standing in the open no matter the weather to watch legends for the club such as Bobby Zamora.

Thanks to Tony Bloom’s support we can now boast a state of the art stadium and a team playing in the Premier League.  It’s been a long journey but not one I would have missed.

I’m already looking forward to Euro 20 which of course England are going to win!  Football’s Coming Home.