FT: CROATIA 2 - 1 ENGLAND. Match thread

[the other bob wilson]

That midfield three of Alli/Henderson/Lingard has a little bit of not much at all.

Do you think it was a midfield three? It always struck me as a midfield one - Jordan Henderson was faced with an impossible workload once England started playing against sides who were contenders to win the tournament and I presumed one of the more attacking players would be left out to accommodate a "proper" central midfielder. In Southgate's defence, he's hardly spoiled for choice in that part of the field (although Der Kaiser is right to point out that may well change in the not too distant future) as is proved by how close Jake Livermore got to making the final twenty three - would Aaron Ramsey and/or Joe Allen have started last night if they were English, I reckon they would have, but possibly Southgate was so wedded to the system he played that I'm wrong?

Having tipped France and England to progress against opponents that were more tired than them, I was congratulating myself halfway through the second half for getting things right. I don't agree with the argument that Croatia were England's equal, or better, in the first half and I thought they were pretty comfortable until they conceded the equaliser, but once that went in there was only one team in it. Huge credit to Croatia for being the fitter, bolder and committed side for the last hour of the game, but Modric and Rakitic and the rest were helped because they suddenly had so much more room in the middle of the park as England's lack of specialists in there finally told against them.

As for England, I was surprised to feel quite sorry for them at the end, but that didn't last too long because, in essence, what was being said about them by some beforehand (things would look different when they faced a team of true quality) was proven to be the case - England were probably one of the weakest teams to have made a World Cup Semi Final in truth.

[lardy]

Do you think it was a midfield three? It always struck me as a midfield one -

Yeah that's pretty much what I'm getting at. Alli plays off Kane at Spurs but Sterling is already in that position, albeit a little wider. I don't really know what Lingards best position is. Maybe all three play between the lines and that's too many. I made the very easy prediction that good midfielders would destroy that England midfield and so it was.

I don't rate Dier that highly but he should have been in for Lingard to give some kind of stability and base, particularly with a back three that can easily get stretched and leave holes.

In the past England have been too regimented, but this team is too naive. A lot of flair and creativity but nothing produced and most of the goals were set pieces.

Away from tactics, I think a lack of big game experience did for them. Henderson in a CL final - who else has played really big semis or finals? Has Pickford (who had an excellent tournament) even played in Europe? Up against Modric with four Champs League winners medals.