iscalad
Very well known Exeweb poster
Center? What sort of English word is that?No, lucky draws were at the center of it.
In the WC 2018, England struggled to beat Tunisia before beating a pub team in Panama. They then lost to Belgium before again struggling to beat Columbia to then get an easyish tie against Sweden.
In the Euros it was much the same. Couldn't beat Scotland at home. A good result against Germany, but then they're showing how far they've fallen. Ukraine were dead on their feet, then they struggled against a mediocre Denmark only getting through on a dodgy pen. Italy on the other side of the draw did the more impressive hard work and deserved to win the Final.
Mancini must've watched England's WC semi vs Croatia many times, because Southgate approached the Italy game in exactly the same manner and was found out. He couldn't adapt to Mancini's superior tacticianship.
England have to beat at least one big team this time to get to the final. No easy draw this time whichever way you look at it. I suspect they'll go out at the qtr final stage, semis at a push.
You can only beat what's in front of you, as the old cliche goes.