Brave young lions crash out. Faith restored in England football team. Performed better than expected. Proud of you lads.
Yes yes, we are all proud but I am sorry, but this does not fully wash with me. I was sad, angry and disappointed. This was a missed opportunity. We choked. We should have won. England were the better team on paper. Had more support on the ground and were fresher with Croatia having had to go through another extra time and penalty shoot out against Russia. We looked the part, having bossed the first half. That was the reality. England were the favourites with all the bookies and we carried the favourites tag with aplomb until things started to go wrong.
Hard to blame players as they can only play as well as their skill and stamina allows them. Blame, unfortunately, has to lay with Gareth. He made big mistakes both with his starting line-up and his subsequent in-game subs. Young, 33 year old, tasked with bombing up the field and getting back to defend? After a long gruelling season and 5 games at the WC it was time to give him some long deserved rest. Rose is a better player and a natural left footer, his appearance energised England. He should have started. Gareth should have been more ambitious and daring. Too easy and safe to stick with the same starting 11. If ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right? Not this time. Croatia’s strength lies in midfield. Was it wise to line up Henderson, who is not a natural defensive midfielder? Probably not but we didn’t have much choice. Lingard, who is not a starter for Man Utd and not a natural central midfielder? Dele Ali, a young player who also doesn’t play in central midfield, clearly wasn’t fully fit the whole tournament and who was anonymous during the whole game? Against the mighty Barcarealesque midriff? No and no. We needed more steel. As soon as the lads tired, the momentum switched. It was lost in midfield. England players resorted to kicking the ball out. The equaliser sucked all courage and confidence out of them. Fine, players react the way they do and we cannot control that. We are not there on the battlefield. So, it is the manager’s job to see the emerging worrying pattern and address the root of the problem. The game was dying for Loftus-Cheek not Rashford, who had another disappointing cameo. His powerful frame, slalom runs, silky passes and through-balls, his ability to hold up the ball and draw fouls were all badly needed from 60th minute onward as Croatian momentum was building. Kane clearly didn’t look fit and was probably nursing an injury but still he should have finished the Croats off in the first half. That double miss would haunt him for the rest of his life. Apart from that, there was not much in it. Croatia are clearly a good side and played without fear abetted by English indecision. Qatar 2022 seems far away and let’s be honest, it would have been much sweeter to win it in Russia.
Special mention goes to the Turkish ref: Cuneyt Cakır. I have been watching him officiate for years and years. As always, he left a very negative mark on the game. Not only has he failed to deal with Croatian foals and aggression but he also failed to penalise their fouls. England should have had more free kicks. One of the worst moments that I will never forget is when his colleague failed to award England a corner when the ball had clearly crossed the line. The linesman was 2 metres away from the incident, staring at it clearly going over the line. Then he proceeded to dismissively shake his head at incensed England players demanding a corner. This was bias. Clear and disgusting. It shouldn’t have mattered given our quality but it was there and it affected the game. Cüneyt Çakır – remove ey and you get the sense of him as a person. I always thought that, from the very first game I have seen with him donkey years ago to yesterday’s carnage. I smashed my sofa in fury when I saw he is to referee the game. It was almost destiny. I harbour very dark thoughts when I look at his face. His face. Just look at it. Cunt.
P.S. Where was Theresa May? Macron was there to support France in the semi-finals. He was there to see them win and they did. Jeremy should have went as well. Missed opportunity for the Labour leader.