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WHAT ON EARTH JUST HAPPENED?!

Worst England squad since WWII struggles against a bunch of South American no hopers who got beat by Japan and now they are world beaters. That's after struggling against Tunisia (injury time winner) and beating a team that even Scotland would have battered.

I think everyone needs to get a bit of perspective. They've not met anyone yet apart from Belgium's second string in a dead rubber.

Worst England squad since WW2!? Hyperbole much?

Haldamir319 wrote:Worst England squad since WW2!? Hyperbole much?

Yeah we all remember watching the 1950 World Cup, this team is much worse.

Ghost wrote:

Haldamir319 wrote:Worst England squad since WW2!? Hyperbole much?

Yeah we all remember watching the 1950 World Cup, this team is much worse.

It's correct though. How many of this team has actually won anything or are even regulars at their clubs? Even Harry Kane (probably the best current player) wouldn't have got in most previous England squads.

Even in the years England didn't qualify they had better players. Look at the players available in 1974 and 1978 and tell me this lot is better. You can't, because they aren't.

Are they better than Stanley Matthews, Tom Finney, Wilf Mannion, Jackie Milburn, Stan Mortensen, Alf Ramsey, Billy Wright, etc. who all played in 1950? Most of those had just come back from a war. No way.


If you think they are then you need to read a bit about football history. It didn't start when the PL was formed.

Funny how all the "experts" on football appear when there's a World Cup on...

Worse than the squads that didn't even qualify for the 1974, 1978 or 1994 world cups? Ok then...

As much as I'd love us to win it, I don't think we will. But on the other hand there's no need to get depressed about having a 'poor' team. Nothing can take away from the fact we won yesterday in possibly the most tense and thrilling way possible. It was a great experience and if you can't enjoy football when you've won because you're too worried about the future, you'll never enjoy it!

I think people are excited because of the draw - even this "worst ever" England team has more than enough quality to get past Sweden, then Russia or Croatia and get to the World Cup Final for the first time since 66, right? That's assuming they don't completely cock it up of course, which they probably will, probably against Sweden.

I don't think the team is 'poor' at all. Sure, it's has less virtuoso / individually brilliant players. However, I think there's more unity with team, and certainly less ego. They also seem relatively fearless. Sure, we rely on Kane a fair bit (probably too much), but you make do with the tools you have.

Also, as Skippy said, this half of the draw is winnable. We shouldn't take Sweden likely though (we have a poor records vs them), and whilst Russia / Croatia won't be like facing 70s Brazil, they are more than capable. Cautious optimism at this point I think.

bloodofthekings wrote:Worse than the squads that didn't even qualify for the 1974, 1978 or 1994 world cups? Ok then...

Don't forget when the Golden Generation didn't qualify for Euro 2008.

This England squad probably doesn't have the same level of quality as the squads from the 00s, but there does appear to be less of a circus surrounding this group. Think back to the 90s with Gazza, the celebrity lifestyle and popstar wife of David Beckham, the adulterers Ashley Cole and John Terry. I wonder if the core of Manchester United players (Neville, Scholes, Ferdinand) dominated the dressing room a bit and if this caused some friction between them and the Chelsea/Liverpool players. Remember when Gary Neville tried to organize a strike of the England squad in protest over Rio's ban for missing a drug test? Then there was Wayne Rooney of course.

The current England squad seem a bit boring in comparison. The most controversial they get is giving each other the middle finger to say hello during matches. Being boring is probably a good thing for them though.

Sadly England do have a good shot at reaching the final. I can't say I know much about Sweden but they are very difficult to break down - just ask the Italians, Germans and Swiss. It should be noted that England weren't exactly put Tunisia away efficiently and Colombia were very poor for 75 minutes and England should've done better. Both Croatia and Russia will be tough opponents in the semi-final. Croatia's midfield (Modric and Rakitic) are miles ahead of England's. Jordan Henderson is a good box-to-box player but he's nowhere near the quality of those two. Russia will have home advantage of course, and I'm a bit worried about what could happen in a Russia vs. England semi-final though with the problems from Euro 2016 and the political tensions surrounding the Skripals' poisoning. There could be a nasty atmosphere if that match comes to pass.

Whoever gets to the final from the bottom half of the draw will be a massive underdog anyway. Unless Uruguay somehow get past France then Brazil or Belgium.

Black Wizard wrote:The current England squad seem a bit boring in comparison. The most controversial they get is giving each other the middle finger to say hello during matches. Being boring is probably a good thing for them though.

Don't forget Sterling and his fun tattoo

Speaking of which, how long will he be in the starting XI? He does nothing but give the ball away running into someone or just squander opportunities because he selfishly wants the glory himself. Just put Rashford or Vardy on instead, they may offer nothing either but at least they play as part of the team.

Well, back to earth with an abysmal second half/extra time performance. Only one team even tried to win that and they deserved the win. Huge questions over Sterling, Kane, Alli, Walker after today.

Good enough run but let's not pretend it wasn't because of the piss easy run through. I doubt Southgate will be anywhere near the squad by the time we get anywhere near the semis again.

Well, I got to see England get to a WC semi final, win 6-1, finally win a penalty shoot out and not embarrass ourselves; all in all I'm happy enough.

Went in just hoping we didn't do a Germany and my expectations were met and then some. It's a big if but if we can build on this then there is potential we could go toe to toe against the bigger teams rather than drift in and out of 2/3rd rate team level.

Well that was a relief. Mario Mandzukic is my new hero.