The problem for England is that without Arnolds and Hendo, they have nobody who is good at making long balls.
Croatia were crap today but they are still a level above Scotland and Czech Republic. England should be winning both of those games comfortably.
England did well. Deserved win. Not the most accomplished performance but a good start to the tournament.
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As if Trent isn’t good enough for England LOL
I’ve not seen the Czech’s but a Scottish side will be tough regardless. They are the type who take a step up and if Croatia play like that again they won’t be scoring.
Since 2018 surely?
It seems that we’re already looking at a player who’s a lot like Phillips; Neuhaus. From what I saw in that video of him , the two are very similar.
Aww, that’s abit harsh Hope. I find this England lot are more humble and grounded and there is a sense of cameraderie compared to the ’ Golden Generation’.
I remember the 2006 tournament. It was less news about the footie and more about Beck’s new hairdo and the English WAGs dancing on the bar tables in Baden Baden!
The boys were more concerned about their clubs and there were many cliques where they never mixed with each other at meal times and were very cold towards new members selected in the team.
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England will need much better understanding/interplay between Mount and Kane to have any chance of winning. I’d still stick Grealish in next game. Croatia looked poor.
Was the Euros
Thought England played well overall and deserved the win although Kane was poor and one or two others looked below their best.
Sadly Pickford completed 90 minutes without injury.
Harry Kane is so shit, replace him With Rashford they’d be vastly better.
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I believe you hit the nail on the head here. I find this English team far easier to like than the so called Golden Generation, with all that ridiculous glammy baggage.
I also like how Southgate has focused on building an actual team instead of not the usual “throw a bunch of excellent individuals together and hope for the best”, which has been the previous Modus Operandi of England. Imo, Southgate has done an excellent job, building a young team gradually, for it to have a better chance later on (like now) instead of the usual short term team management I have become used to from England (because if English managers fail, they always gets the sack, so you never really build teams for the long term over there).
Golden Generation consisted of some brilliant individuals, but they were individuals.
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What was the Euros?
When I tried to edit my post for grammar, I get a message that I am in editing “conflict” because another user is editing my post at the same time. This can’t be, unless I am hacked or a moderator found issue with my post, which I strongly doubt given the content.
So I assume some forum bug ?
Just want to let you guys know. @Hope.in.your.heart , @Mascot
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Crap performance by Croatia, not a great game overall, but England deserved winners in the end.
Felt it could be a tight one and few goals in it, a minimal England victory was exactly sort of what I expected. It was a 2-0 performance. I think England can be reasonably happy with their first test, considering it was the first game, toughest group fixture, still players/starters to come back.
Dalic again (post-WC18) raised my eyebrows with some of his decisions and then the performance on the pitch wasn’t good enough. Just a bit too pedestrian, not clear enough in what they want to do, you see they’re technically a good side, but lacking direction in the game and players who can hurt with runs in behind. He spent a lot of time after Russia trying some weird stuff at times. You could sense today that the team is good individually, but lacks more cohesion.
He went with Modric in the single #10, almost like a second striker, which meant Kramaric basically played as a right winger, covering for Vrsaljko, who isn’t in great match sharpness anyway. I think whatever Croatia’s game plan is, they need to have their best player in his best position.
The decision to play Gvardiol at LB (who is a natural CB, but able to play at LB and in midfield) didn’t turn out to be good, either.
Pretty easy goal to concede as well, a lot of space, not quite like in the CL final not long ago, but still.
We move on, I’m sure we’ll see England play better and I’ll hope Croatia performs better in the next two games where realistically, they should aim for qualification.
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WTF 
Hope he recovers soon. 
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i thought technically they were well below the bar they have set previously.
some of the key ‘moments’ from the croatian players was simply not up to the standard set previously.
coming fom someone who hasnt seen alot of international football since the last world cup i was really expecting a bit more.
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England good for 15-20 minutes then bored me, Croatia were really poor.
The “haven’t ever won their first game record” it’s the Euros not all major tournaments