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WC England - Overrated?

IndoMike

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At the risk of life and limb I'm wondering if we're getting ahead of ourselves based on two results against two of the weakest teams in the tournament.
We scraped through against Tunisia with a goal after 95 minutes and we beat Panama well (yes, it's not our fault the opposition was weak) but with some lucky breaks.
Sterling continues to disappoint, Loftus Cheek is highly overrated, our defense sometimes is at sea and I still maintain Walker is not a centre back. The goal we conceded yesterday v
Panama was awful. I wouldn't back Lingard, LC or Sterling to beat a keeper one on one and think it is a scandal that Rashford/Vardy are below Sterling in the pecking order.
I don't see our midfield as being technically gifted and don't think we move the ball forward quickly enough.
I honestly cannot be confident about us beating any team of the level of Senegal, Columbia or better. Many teams are more streetwise than we are while our players are naive.
So, of course I will be ecstatic if we can get to the QF but for me that is our limit, even when the opposition is packing their defense
Our one saving grace is Harry Kane, who is dangerous, even when the opposition is packing their defense.
So, don't want to put a downer on things but when I hear pundits like Frank Lampard saying we can go all the way then I reach for the bottle.
Having said all that : Come on England!
 

Antony Moxey

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Half a dozen paragraphs stating why England aren’t that good: ‘scraped through’, ‘lucky breaks’, ‘continues to disappoint’, ‘overrated’, ‘naive’, then finishing up with ‘don’t want to put a downer on things’!

Why even bother then? Why not simply enjoy the wins and see where we go? No-one so far has looked unbeatable, despite our supposedly lucky, overrated and naive team, with plenty stumbling along the way against teams on a par with our opposition so far. We’re just fans, not the England management so why not leave the forensic dissection of performances to them and celebrate our biggest ever win in the finals instead?
 

grecIAN Harris

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At the risk of life and limb I'm wondering if we're getting ahead of ourselves based on two results against two of the weakest teams in the tournament.
We scraped through against Tunisia with a goal after 95 minutes and we beat Panama well (yes, it's not our fault the opposition was weak) but with some lucky breaks.
Sterling continues to disappoint, Loftus Cheek is highly overrated, our defense sometimes is at sea and I still maintain Walker is not a centre back. The goal we conceded yesterday v
Panama was awful. I wouldn't back Lingard, LC or Sterling to beat a keeper one on one and think it is a scandal that Rashford/Vardy are below Sterling in the pecking order.
I don't see our midfield as being technically gifted and don't think we move the ball forward quickly enough.
I honestly cannot be confident about us beating any team of the level of Senegal, Columbia or better. Many teams are more streetwise than we are while our players are naive.
So, of course I will be ecstatic if we can get to the QF but for me that is our limit, even when the opposition is packing their defense
Our one saving grace is Harry Kane, who is dangerous, even when the opposition is packing their defense.
So, don't want to put a downer on things but when I hear pundits like Frank Lampard saying we can go all the way then I reach for the bottle.
Having said all that : Come on England!
I don't think you're saying much there that most don't already realise as individuals but I think the total is greater than the sum of it's parts and we will be able to take on the rest of world with confidence. Will we beat the better sides? Let's see what happens on Thursday against Belgium and we will have a better idea.
But going to your inividual musings, Loftus-Cheek is one for the future. He does have the capability just lacks the experience and is on huge learning curve playing in the World Cup. I didn't think he was as good yesterday as he was against Tunisia. I have to agree about Show Pony Sterling in front of Rashford, most definitely a screaming 'WHY???????'. Vardy however had 25-30 minutes against a beaten team yesterday and barely had a touch in the box. He simply isn't an international striker. His game isn't suited to it. Why are you worrying about Linngard or Loftus Cheek beating the keeper in a one on one situation. They generally won't get that far forward. Linngard showed what he needs to do by breaking from deeper areas and firing in from the edge of the box yesterday.
You say we won't beat Senegal and then call us naïve. Do you watch any of the African/Asian sides? Despite having players like Mane/Kagawa (just two top class players off the top of my head from either region) the squads still as naïve as five year old on his first day at school in general terms across the squad. Moreover, have you seen the Germans? The Argentinians? The Brazilians? Three of the biggest nations in the competition and they are struggling to get out their respective groups. The Germans and Brazilians are in better positions due in no small part to very, very late goals and the Argentinians are still in with a shout because Iceland got done over by Nigeria. And you think we've got problems????
 

Alistair20000

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Why not simply enjoy the wins and see where we go? ....................and celebrate our biggest ever win in the finals instead?
I was going to post something but this says it for me.
 

iscalad

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Far away across the field
Worst thread ever.
 

Grecian68

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Mar 29, 2013
Messages
612
At the risk of life and limb I'm wondering if we're getting ahead of ourselves based on two results against two of the weakest teams in the tournament.
We scraped through against Tunisia with a goal after 95 minutes and we beat Panama well (yes, it's not our fault the opposition was weak) but with some lucky breaks.
Sterling continues to disappoint, Loftus Cheek is highly overrated, our defense sometimes is at sea and I still maintain Walker is not a centre back. The goal we conceded yesterday v
Panama was awful. I wouldn't back Lingard, LC or Sterling to beat a keeper one on one and think it is a scandal that Rashford/Vardy are below Sterling in the pecking order.
I don't see our midfield as being technically gifted and don't think we move the ball forward quickly enough.
I honestly cannot be confident about us beating any team of the level of Senegal, Columbia or better. Many teams are more streetwise than we are while our players are naive.
So, of course I will be ecstatic if we can get to the QF but for me that is our limit, even when the opposition is packing their defense
Our one saving grace is Harry Kane, who is dangerous, even when the opposition is packing their defense.
So, don't want to put a downer on things but when I hear pundits like Frank Lampard saying we can go all the way then I reach for the bottle.
Having said all that : Come on England!
This is England, as Antony Moxey says, just enjoy it while we can.
 

Alistair20000

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Worst thread ever.
I am sure there have been worse over the years.
 

IndoMike

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May 9, 2010
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Touring Central Java...
Half a dozen paragraphs stating why England aren’t that good: ‘scraped through’, ‘lucky breaks’, ‘continues to disappoint’, ‘overrated’, ‘naive’, then finishing up with ‘don’t want to put a downer on things’!

Why even bother then? Why not simply enjoy the wins and see where we go? No-one so far has looked unbeatable, despite our supposedly lucky, overrated and naive team, with plenty stumbling along the way against teams on a par with our opposition so far. We’re just fans, not the England management so why not leave the forensic dissection of performances to them and celebrate our biggest ever win in the finals instead?
Because I don't want to leave it to them. Strangely enough I'm expressing my opinion on an opinion-based website. Still wait for you to start a thread so that others can have the chance to tell you "why did you post that?".
 

IndoMike

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Touring Central Java...
Everyone so defensive and touchy about England. I guess it's lose all sense of reality during WC time..At least it's attracted some posts to an otherwise dead section of Exeweb. Keep 'em coming. Enjoy the matches while you can, hopefully as Frank Lamparx says we can go all the way..:D
 
Last edited:

Antony Moxey

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An opinion that it appears few share. Make sure you police your microscope in time to analyse Thursday’s game.
 
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