Overall a decent game played in broadly the right spirit by two pretty evenly matched sides.
Very little of the amateur dramatics that we saw from most of the other quarter finalists, no nastiness even though there were a fair few full blooded challenges from both sides. England just lacked that little bit of guile to break down the French & create any real open play opportunities.
Whilst the ref let the game flow & kept his card in his pocket some of his decisions were perverse & both sets of players got progressively more frustrated with him as the game wore on. I hate to say this but Michael Oliver was by far and away the best of the refs in the quarter finals.
If Morocco can get some of their injury depleted squad back fit they will have nothing to fear from France.
Thought it was wonderful how the French, led by Giroud, went round & commiserated with all the England players, a real touch of class...
Fair summary @Erroll_Sims, we just lacked a transcendent player to unlock their defense. We are what we are, between the fifth and the tenth best team in world football.
Worrying for FIFA tho if todays ref is one of the best in the world. He missed so many obvious things, including a foul in the build up to their first.
He’s been mentioned before in this thread but can we send more prose Jude Bellinghams way? I think it’s easy to forget he’s only 19 when he has performed as well and as assured as he has done this World Cup.
we might be out of the World Cup, but I’m not unhappy because I think we might have 4 or 5 more world cups with him in the team.
Quite an unfortunate defeat for England, as they were the better side for most of the game.
Actually thought the ref was quite decent if a little showy for my liking. He was keen to let the game flow and wasn't fooled by any of the diving from either side. He did miss a couple of fouls on Saka and the foul on Kane. I'm assuming VAR didn't award a free kick because it was outside the area and they can only judge on penalty calls? One of the many flaws of the system. The 2nd penalty is a VAR penalty, in that a ref is never going to give that in normal play. It only looked a penalty when replayed and slowed down. Terrible defending, as Mount was nowhere near getting the ball.
It's a young squad, with plenty of future potential. Hope that Southgate stays, if so there's a real chance of future success.
I think we have an excellent group of young players who would grace any team at the top level. I have my reservations about Mr Southgate but not on last nights performance that was just about France being a little bit better.
Glorious swan-song for Modric? Wouldn’t have said that if we’d been playing them in the final. Croatia do have the Indian sign over England (and a few other countries besides!)
First half we sat very defensive and France let us have the ball in our own half without pressing. Trouble was we had five white shirts in our own half passing the ball sideways frequently just inside the half way line. Then we look up for the forward pass and see our remaining 5 white shirts outnumbered by 11 Frenchmen, that’s not easy to break down. Same for our crosses, did we get many men into their box or did it seem that the French cleared just about everything?
Second half starts and France decided to change it up and press us in our half, a surprise and we had less time on the ball in defence. But that gave us the chance to put balls in behind and find more space for our pacy runners. We were much the better team second half.
Overall a 50/50 game but we can’t take away from the fact that France scored twice from open play and we didn’t. Relying on penalties to equalise is the ultimate ‘playing catch up’.
@Malone Possibly just me! I didn't think it was a penalty at the time, it was only after a couple of replays that it was clear to me he'd taken a big hit and not just a nudge.
It was a soft pen in terms of it being a completely needless challenge on a player who was never getting the ball. But yes, a definite penalty.
Regarding the ref, I'll clarify my remarks. I like the way he controlled the game. Having someone in charge who wasn't going to be conned by players trying going to ground far too easily on both sides was refreshing and made for a good game to watch. That said, there's no doubting he did make mistakes. Not sure I agree with some of the criticism aimed at him though.
We had more possession, 16 shots to their 8, 8 of which were on target to their 5. On balance, I think we were slightly the better team but statistics don't always win you games as Morocco have particularly proved.
Comments
This ref is so far out of his depth is ridiculous.
He’s a rapist.
Overall a decent game played in broadly the right spirit by two pretty evenly matched sides.
Very little of the amateur dramatics that we saw from most of the other quarter finalists, no nastiness even though there were a fair few full blooded challenges from both sides. England just lacked that little bit of guile to break down the French & create any real open play opportunities.
Whilst the ref let the game flow & kept his card in his pocket some of his decisions were perverse & both sets of players got progressively more frustrated with him as the game wore on. I hate to say this but Michael Oliver was by far and away the best of the refs in the quarter finals.
If Morocco can get some of their injury depleted squad back fit they will have nothing to fear from France.
Thought it was wonderful how the French, led by Giroud, went round & commiserated with all the England players, a real touch of class...
England in "losing to first decent side they played" shock.
Oh sorry - a shock to those who think it is a tailored stat.
Fair summary @Erroll_Sims, we just lacked a transcendent player to unlock their defense. We are what we are, between the fifth and the tenth best team in world football.
Worrying for FIFA tho if todays ref is one of the best in the world. He missed so many obvious things, including a foul in the build up to their first.
ITV Curse, innit ;)
England lose to tournament favourites doesn’t seem much of a gotcha.
On another day they would not have scored their first and we would have had another penalty.
The Hernandez penalty could have been a red too.
We played well too and were the better side by a small margin.
I thought the French showed some class at the end of the game, especially Giroud.
That was such a stressy watch i actually misread your post as "transgender", and was wondering what difference that would have made for a second!
But yes, some unbelievable stuff from the ref, to not give that 2nd penalty instantly was outrageous.
Class from the French at the end, and why any decent person in the World will be supporting Croatia, France and Morocco.
Morocco to be the first ever African winners would be quite something.
But France surely are the big favourites now.
I thought we played pretty well tbh, gutted to be out, but not as distraught at going out as usual
France 2.2
Evil 2.75
Croatia 10
Morocco 14
So there is a 36% chance evil will triumph. Trump was a shorter price to become president depressingly...
I’m more disappointed than I was expecting. I didn’t realize how ‘there for the taking,’ France would be.
The older I get the easier it is to take these glorious defeats.
We've had so much practice...
Very true. It's why I gave the game a swerve and took my daughter out in the sunshine rather than get on the predictability train.
If I was over there I would definitely attend the Glorious Failure parade, though. Love those!!!
It's not the strongest France team, but with our history of hard luck story exits I was always keeping the hopes down personally.
Therefore, a bit of time stewing on it now, but then probably realise QF and a penalty related exit was our destiny!
I wanted to point this out but thought I would be hammered for it
made me feel sick hearing the crowd chanting his name.
https://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/cristiano-ronaldo-new-documents-emerge-in-rape-allegations-a-1241349.html
I have idly spent some time wondering how '134 years of hurt' is going to scan properly in the year 2100.
He’s been mentioned before in this thread but can we send more prose Jude Bellinghams way? I think it’s easy to forget he’s only 19 when he has performed as well and as assured as he has done this World Cup.
we might be out of the World Cup, but I’m not unhappy because I think we might have 4 or 5 more world cups with him in the team.
Bellingham is the future for sure - I think he is captain material.
How do Dortmund seem to get every amazing young talent to go through them? They are like the Pied Piper!
Quite an unfortunate defeat for England, as they were the better side for most of the game.
Actually thought the ref was quite decent if a little showy for my liking. He was keen to let the game flow and wasn't fooled by any of the diving from either side. He did miss a couple of fouls on Saka and the foul on Kane. I'm assuming VAR didn't award a free kick because it was outside the area and they can only judge on penalty calls? One of the many flaws of the system. The 2nd penalty is a VAR penalty, in that a ref is never going to give that in normal play. It only looked a penalty when replayed and slowed down. Terrible defending, as Mount was nowhere near getting the ball.
It's a young squad, with plenty of future potential. Hope that Southgate stays, if so there's a real chance of future success.
I think we have an excellent group of young players who would grace any team at the top level. I have my reservations about Mr Southgate but not on last nights performance that was just about France being a little bit better.
Come on Croatia and Morocco
Glorious swan-song for Modric? Wouldn’t have said that if we’d been playing them in the final. Croatia do have the Indian sign over England (and a few other countries besides!)
You're joking on the Mount one.
It was exceptionally obvious at a first view.
You look at Croatia's record and it's incredible. Yet probably most of us write them off each time.
First half we sat very defensive and France let us have the ball in our own half without pressing. Trouble was we had five white shirts in our own half passing the ball sideways frequently just inside the half way line. Then we look up for the forward pass and see our remaining 5 white shirts outnumbered by 11 Frenchmen, that’s not easy to break down. Same for our crosses, did we get many men into their box or did it seem that the French cleared just about everything?
Second half starts and France decided to change it up and press us in our half, a surprise and we had less time on the ball in defence. But that gave us the chance to put balls in behind and find more space for our pacy runners. We were much the better team second half.
Overall a 50/50 game but we can’t take away from the fact that France scored twice from open play and we didn’t. Relying on penalties to equalise is the ultimate ‘playing catch up’.
@Malone Possibly just me! I didn't think it was a penalty at the time, it was only after a couple of replays that it was clear to me he'd taken a big hit and not just a nudge.
It was a soft pen in terms of it being a completely needless challenge on a player who was never getting the ball. But yes, a definite penalty.
Regarding the ref, I'll clarify my remarks. I like the way he controlled the game. Having someone in charge who wasn't going to be conned by players trying going to ground far too easily on both sides was refreshing and made for a good game to watch. That said, there's no doubting he did make mistakes. Not sure I agree with some of the criticism aimed at him though.
We had more possession, 16 shots to their 8, 8 of which were on target to their 5. On balance, I think we were slightly the better team but statistics don't always win you games as Morocco have particularly proved.