England O/T

[black morse]

OK now our part of the world cup is over I'd be interested to see Morecambe fans view of how they think our team did.

For me, bearing in mind that none of us expected us to get further than the last 16 it was good. Plenty of determination and promise. Despite what has been said before we had the easiest half of the draw but there were some good performances and plenty of good signs.

Well done Gareth

[Freez]

It's a work in progress, trying to play the right way is good. Did better than expected but we still lack that quality midfielder who can place a pass and enough of the eleven need to be more confident in the final third, as we have done brilliantly from set pieces but looked a little devoid of ideas at times in and around the box.
The mindset must be to keep going at teams, with pace and power at a high tempo, that's what our league teams do, but we suffered in the first half at funeral pace, yet when we stepped it after half time today we were a threat. But that lack of international quality in the final third cost us against Croatia and Belgium.
However, it will,come with time and as some new players progress.
At least we look like we have a plan, so let's see it through.

[George Dawes]

exceeded expectations, for once it was nice to see an England manager going into a major tournament with a plan and settled formation what the players believed in.

we just lacked a number 10(playmaker) who can thread forward balls, to much sideways passing with our midfield, need a new Paul Scholes.

Sterling frustrated me playing in a front 2, his postion was only justified because of his pace, but even when he did beat his man and take the ball to the byline, his final ball was poor too.

Kevin De Bruyner best midfield player in the world.

[fulwoodshrimp]

Not sure we were the fourth best team in the tournament but there were some good performances and promise for the future. Maguire looked world class and Trippier, Stones and Pickford did well despite my initial misgivings about the goalkeeper. I agree with freez that midfield was a weakness. Jordan Henderson is a fine athlete and worked hard but he lacks the guile and the ability to play that penetrative pass required at international level and in the final third we lacked something.I was disappointed with Dele Ali's contributions and suspect he wasn't really match fit.Sterling was frustrating too. He can beat a man delightfully but his finishing is poor. I know he will probably win the golden boot but for me Harry Kane didn't look good enough against the better teams like Croatia and Belgium. He missed several clear cut and vital chances. I almost felt he was carrying an injury. If so that could explain his later performances. But all in all the squad return with heads held high and with promise that with one or two additions they could develop into a good international team.

[BerlinWaller]

Hopefully Southgate keeps promoting the youth and we see the likes of Sessegnon and Foden in the squads before the Euro's.

[redrobo]

For me Southgate summed it up perfectly when he said that we fall short against the better teams.
The question therefore is how do we improve the international team to be able to beat the better teams?
For me we have to be radical and demand that every Premiership and Championship game includes no more than 5 foreign players on the field at any one time. This will give the likes of Foden and others the regular platform to compete on a week to week basis against some of the worlds top players. It's ridiculous that some of our top clubs have home grown talent within their structures who have the ability to compete at the highest level but prefer to play overseas players.We need to change the mind set of the Chelsea's, Man City's and Man Utd's and demand that they select home grown talent over any foreign player irrespective of who they are. Others have correctly highlighted areas that the national team falls short in, by demanding that home grown players have preference then it will enable them to progress and provide the English team with the experience needed to compete at world level.

[George Dawes]

For me Southgate summed it up perfectly when he said that we fall short against the better teams.
The question therefore is how do we improve the international team to be able to beat the better teams?
For me we have to be radical and demand that every Premiership and Championship game includes no more than 5 foreign players on the field at any one time. This will give the likes of Foden and others the regular platform to compete on a week to week basis against some of the worlds top players. It's ridiculous that some of our top clubs have home grown talent within their structures who have the ability to compete at the highest level but prefer to play overseas players.We need to change the mind set of the Chelsea's, Man City's and Man Utd's and demand that they select home grown talent over any foreign player irrespective of who they are. Others have correctly highlighted areas that the national team falls short in, by demanding that home grown players have preference then it will enable them to progress and provide the English team with the experience needed to compete at world level.

its the EU whats the problem, legaly speaking.

FL rules is you can have 6 foreign players in your team, however being in the EU and free movement you can have as many players from the EU as you like on top of the 6 non EU foreign players

our own talent doesnt stand a chance, look at Loftus Cheek at Chelsea, or even Rashford at Man United.

theres a lot of talk with this on shows like 5 live, if Brexit ever happens.

[BerlinWaller]

The Premier League is not a national league anymore. The owners will never vote in anything that would damage their product. There is no chance of a strict quota on home grown talent when they can sign foreign superstars who sell shirts all over the world. I think Neville said the English players make up just 30% of PL footballers. That will continue to dwindle and only the real talent will break through in to the top teams with the rest being loaned out every season and ending up at Leicester and co.

They will find a way of granting British work permits to these big earners. 45% income tax on these lads must boost the coffers a bit.

[mrpotatohead]

Coming 4th in the tournament was OK but that's all...let's not kid ourselves that we have the 6 or 7 world class players needed to win a world cup...I hope Croatia win but I think france have too much quality.

[BerlinWaller]

I said before the WC that France could enter two teams and would play each other in the final.

It has been a good world cup for football. We have seen the end of Tiki Tika and the Sweeper Keeper. We have seen well balanced teams with good coaches progress to the latter stages of the tournament. The French will dominate for the next few years.

[black morse]

Coming 4th in the tournament was OK but that's all...let's not kid ourselves that we have the 6 or 7 world class players needed to win a world cup...I hope Croatia win but I think france have too much quality.

I don't think any of us kid ourselves with that Mr P. We still have a way to go to actually win a major competition but we now have a Team and Coach who can compete, play some exciting football and get the country behind them again.

[shrimperteer]

For me Southgate summed it up perfectly when he said that we fall short against the better teams.
The question therefore is how do we improve the international team to be able to beat the better teams?
For me we have to be radical and demand that every Premiership and Championship game includes no more than 5 foreign players on the field at any one time. This will give the likes of Foden and others the regular platform to compete on a week to week basis against some of the worlds top players. It's ridiculous that some of our top clubs have home grown talent within their structures who have the ability to compete at the highest level but prefer to play overseas players.We need to change the mind set of the Chelsea's, Man City's and Man Utd's and demand that they select home grown talent over any foreign player irrespective of who they are. Others have correctly highlighted areas that the national team falls short in, by demanding that home grown players have preference then it will enable them to progress and provide the English team with the experience needed to compete at world level.

its the EU whats the problem, legaly speaking.

FL rules is you can have 6 foreign players in your team, however being in the EU and free movement you can have as many players from the EU as you like on top of the 6 non EU foreign players

our own talent doesnt stand a chance, look at Loftus Cheek at Chelsea, or even Rashford at Man United.

theres a lot of talk with this on shows like 5 live, if Brexit ever happens.

You're having a laugh if you think Brexit will be changing this whatsoever.
The Premier League makes far too much money to start bringing in rules that would prevent it from having the best players. Money talks, things won't be changing.

A top division full of English players is never going to happen again, people need to start thinking of other ideas.

[George Dawes]

You're having a laugh if you think Brexit will be changing this whatsoever.
The Premier League makes far too much money to start bringing in rules that would prevent it from having the best players. Money talks, things won't be changing.

A top division full of English players is never going to happen again, people need to start thinking of other ideas.

No, im not having a laugh.

They wont need to bring in new rules, UK working Visas will still apply in Sport, the EU players will just come into the 6 foreign players quota per team, 50/50% as it is.

And i suspect The House of Lords and Parliament would favour the English FA and successfull England team over the Premier league.

[P/T Indie]

We need an English Christian Erikson.

At times England were like Morecambe they could play for a month and still not score.

However at least this group had the mentality to get the winner against Tunisia and stick it out against Colombia previous teams would have cracked.

I would be worried about this group been built up and expecting the same next time because unless we unearth a couple of jems everyone will be disappointed.