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World Cup 2018 Semi Finals

Gutter Boy said:
I think Giroud is the ideal #9 for them. He's the workhorse who allows Mbappe and Griezman to play.

It's kind of like how the Stone Roses needed Ian Brown, rather than a better singer

I see Pogba and Deschamps' poor coaching as their weaknesses
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Agree, it strange how even "experts and ex pros" can't see that a team made up of people who bring different talents to the table. It's like the weird BBC team of the weekend where right wingbacks get put at left back and strikers on the wing.
 
Not surprised to see France go though.

Genuinely think England can beat both Croatia and France, but of course "can" and "will" are often very different things.

Southgate will predictably play exactly the same team as he always has, Croatia will know this, so itll be interesting to see how they set up to counter it.

If I could make one change Id haul off Young and have Delph/Rose on and actually get us a functional left wing - I genuinely think it would be transformative.
 
I think England will just edge the game against Croatia. Croatia will dominate midfield, but England have pace to trouble their defence, especially if they have to start Corluka at right back. And then you have England's set pieces against Lovren. The two long tense games might catch up with the older Croatia team.

France will be a clear favourite against either, but once you get to a one-off final anything can happen.
 
LemonadeMoney said:
If we do get through, we ain't gonna be favourites.
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I think that would suit us, playing the underdog and all that.


jts1882 said:
I think England will just edge the game against Croatia. Croatia will dominate midfield, but England have pace to trouble their defence, especially if they have to start Corluka at right back. And then you have England's set pieces against Lovren. The two long tense games might catch up with the older Croatia team.

France will be a clear favourite against either, but once you get to a one-off final anything can happen.
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Croatia look very beatable to me. They play within themselves and in the last few games its as if the occasion has got to them.

Russia, ranked 70th in the world, really could have beaten them - and did get them to extra time.

Croatia remind me of Belgium, so much talent but cant seem to really make it count.

Of course, famous last words and that - theyll probably be brilliant now Ive gone and said that, but even so - I think England can beat them.
 
nayimfromthehalfwayline said:
Not surprised to see France go though.

Genuinely think England can beat both Croatia and France, but of course "can" and "will" are often very different things.

Southgate will predictably play exactly the same team as he always has, Croatia will know this, so itll be interesting to see how they set up to counter it.

If I could make one change Id haul off Young and have Delph/Rose on and actually get us a functional left wing - I genuinely think it would be transformative.
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I'd do Rose for Young

But also Dier for Sterling. Modric and Rakatic are going to murder us unless we sure up our CM
 
Gutter Boy said:
I'd do Rose for Young

But also Dier for Sterling. Modric and Rakatic are going to murder us unless we sure up our CM
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If Sterling plays Id be inclined more to Delph, hope for some ready made chemistry from City.

This might be a game to give up the midfield more and just get on top of their defence. With Delph (/Rose) we will really be able to stretch them and put them under pressure.

Their back line isnt all that.
 
Gutter Boy said:
I think Giroud is the ideal #9 for them. He's the workhorse who allows Mbappe and Griezman to play.

It's kind of like how the Stone Roses needed Ian Brown, rather than a better singer

I see Pogba and Deschamps' poor coaching as their weaknesses
Click to expand...
I heard him sing in tune once. In Brighton on the Second Coming tour. Never saw it before or after though.
 
jts1882 said:
I think England will just edge the game against Croatia. Croatia will dominate midfield, but England have pace to trouble their defence, especially if they have to start Corluka at right back. And then you have England's set pieces against Lovren. The two long tense games might catch up with the older Croatia team.

France will be a clear favourite against either, but once you get to a one-off final anything can happen.
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Yeh I see it the same, I think England back themself to forge chances and I think we beat Croatia.

France man for man I think its a flip of a coin game, yeh they have some talent but we do too. Kane, Alli, Jesse, Sterling will worry most teams, hell Kanes the best striker in the world so they woll worry about us as much as we would them, I am sure.
 
Gutter Boy said:
I think Giroud is the ideal #9 for them. He's the workhorse who allows Mbappe and Griezman to play.

It's kind of like how the Stone Roses needed Ian Brown, rather than a better singer

I see Pogba and Deschamps' poor coaching as their weaknesses
Click to expand...

I agree but also defenders will love to have him up front and keep him 25 yards out with his back to goal because he is not going to cause you many issues as a goal threat, yes his link up play is decent and he works hard but he is not the threat that defenders worry about one on one. His presence make it more of a team effort to control the game, win the second balls rather than him being individually brilliant.

Added to that his link up play is an asset when Mbappe and Griezman show more than they have in alot of the games, Griezman particularly has not done what was expected.
 
Gutter Boy said:
That's kind of it for Belgium. Most of that team will have long retired by the next world cup.

I think poor coaches have cost them the most. And the Flemish/Walloon division issue
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If they sack Martinez now they could still make an impact at the Euros in two years.
 
So, this will be England's first World Cup semi final since 1990. England has not been fully tested so far as they have managed to avoid all the big teams until now. Croatia have always been an over rated team for all their quality players. Croatia won against 3 poor teams in the group stage including Argentina but were very poor in the knockout stages. They were very fortunate to beat Denmark and Russia on penalties in the knockout stages.

Want to see a big scoreline in this match, just to improve the overall goal tally of this World Cup. Kane has 6 goals now and looks like will become the top scorer of this World Cup. Kane has a chance to equal or overtake Ronaldo's record of 8 goals in the 2002 World Cup. Hope Kane can score at least 2 goals in this match.

England have been very fortunate to avoid all the big teams from the qualifying right until now. This is England's best chance to reach their first World Cup final since 1966. England won't get a better chance than this. They will only have themselves to blame if they don't make use of their golden chance to reach the World Cup final.

Want to see this match settled in normal time. But there is a chance it might goes into extra time and penalties. England did well to win their first ever penalty shootout against Colombia. But all the 4 teams who have taken penalties first have lost the shootout in this World Cup. So, whoever asked to take the penalties first either should refuse to take it or should just give the walkover to the other team ! It will save the disappointment of losing the penalties !
 
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