It came home. Hope, hope came home

[Divinity]

As a neutral party, at some point England need to identify how to break down decent teams and score from open play. Would be typically England now to have a repeat of the 1994 qualifying campaign.

[warlock]

On the plus side, we can put the waistcoats back in the wardrobe.

[HOORAY HENRIK]

It’s really bemusing why us thick irrelevant jocks don’t lend support to England. You’re such lovely people.

[skybluedave]

4 hours ago, HOORAY HENRIK said:

It’s really bemusing why us thick irrelevant jocks don’t lend support to England. You’re such lovely people.

Dude. It's just Ryan. You see him after the CL final? Just ignore him. I still love you. 

[Darius1998]

21 hours ago, DB08 said:

It was never going to happen after this, unfortunately.

[Tony7]

I can’t belive how one of the worst England teams in recent times is getting so much praise from the media and many of the fans 😂

[Baptista_8]

6 hours ago, JDownie said:

Shoutout yeeeaaaaa boiiii.

but seriously I hope Foden is your answer too. 

Grealish is an interesting suggestion too, always thought he was more of an attacking mid? Certainly still what England need, but someone who can spray passes from midfield who can actually connect attack and defence instead of trying to ask Henderson to do a 2/3 man job is much more needed than an upgrade on Dele. But yeah Grealish will no doubt have an England cap by the next WC. 

He probably is more of a no.10 (he actually says himself that his fav position is on the left or a front 3), but he's played slightly deeper than a 10 this season for us and been fantastic.

[Wiggins Top Boys]

Lads, look at the use of emoji, Tony is literally in tears wondering why England fans are proud of their team for reaching a completely unexpected semi final. I for one have had a eureka moment, why did we bother? Tony is right, and my only regret is not discovering this sooner. Delete the thread please admin. Football hasn't come home, it's gone to live on a farm with Boots and Mr Ruffles.

[westy8chimp]

13 minutes ago, Wiggins' Young Boys said:

Tony is literally in tears wondering why England fans are proud of their team for reaching a completely unexpected semi final

But it was only unexpected before a ball had been kicked. As the World Cup played out... We didnt come up against anyone we wouldnt expect to beat, and beat them to get where we did.

When the group was drawn i expected us to get through. 

When we drew Colombia in second round i expected us to get through. 

When we drew Sweden in QF i expected us to get through. 

Croatia were the best team we met (forgetting the rubber duck vs Belgium)...it was a 50/50 game on paper... We lost. 

At no point as the WC unfolded did we excede expectation. Results wise were bang on par. Performance wise, imo, we were below par. 

[ham_aka_stam]

How is it so hard for people to realise the "it's coming home" thing was a massive ironic ****-take?

[Wiggins Top Boys]

8 minutes ago, westy8chimp said:

But it was only unexpected before a ball had been kicked. As the World Cup played out... We didnt come up against anyone we wouldnt expect to beat, and beat them to get where we did.

When the group was drawn i expected us to get through. 

When we drew Colombia in second round i expected us to get through. 

When we drew Sweden in QF i expected us to get through. 

Croatia were the best team we met (forgetting the rubber duck vs Belgium)...it was a 50/50 game on paper... We lost. 

At no point as the WC unfolded did we excede expectation. Results wise were bang on par. Performance wise, imo, we were below par. 

you say 'we' a lot for a person who didn't want England to win any of the matches

[Anti Spiral]

Best world cup since 98 for me.  Really enjoyed it  

[skybluedave]

Yeah once the disappointment dies down. I'll look back fondly here. The ride was great. Christ. Just remembering the Colombia game. That's up the top for England moments for me.

[Tony7]

England played Tunisia, Panama, Belgium, sweden, Colombia and Croatia kept an amazing 1 clean sheet in them 6 games games and won 3 of the 6 games during 90 mins Tunisia, Panama and Sweden well done guys that’s amazing much better than 86 team losing to Argentina via a handball or against Germany in 90 losing on penalties or losing to a freak goal in quarter finals against Brazil 2002

wilkins, robson, walker, gerrard, scholes, ince, butcher, Shilton, seaman, shearer, linekear, lampard etc are not even close to this lot of players 

Kyle Walker £50 million full back playing centre half ahead of a natural centre half  in cahill. Kane who scored 6 goals 3 of which were penalties I think the others were goals from corners and in the 3 knock out games he scored 1 goal which was a penalty.

england were negative looking to hit on the counter using the pace of sterling Kane was isolated in most of the games apart from Tunisia and panama and midfield never controlled he game they need to learn to be patient and just keep the ball.

Rashford, lingard and loftus cheek did ok. Henderson, pickford, maguire and trippier were excellent the rest were poor. But well done boys you done 5e nation proud beating panama, Tunisia and Columbia on penalties when is the parade?

[Wiggins Top Boys]

3 minutes ago, skybluedave said:

Yeah once the disappointment dies down. I'll look back fondly here. The ride was great. Christ. Just remembering the Colombia game. That's up the top for England moments for me.

Completely agree. Hell even now I can still watch this and get that spine tingling feeling

 

[Coulthard's Jaw]

Considering how patient we all are with the utter **** you usually post Tony it's a bit much you coming in here gloating. Shouldn't you be too busy triple pre ordering some terrible AAA game that you will only play 10% of?

[Anti Spiral]

Yes this tournament was better than the 2002 Quarter Final defeat for England.  England did things as a national team they haven't done before (in my lifetime)   Play well against the "bad" teams.  Yes we absolutely should have beaten the teams we beat, but I have memories of England failing to beat Nigeria and Sweden in 2002 and scraping through the group.  Even 2006 when we won against poor opposition we didn't make it look comfortable.

The Quarter Final against Sweden was boring, comfortable and it was great!  Time and time again we've been let down by "golden generations", we come into this tournament with no expectations and get to the semi finals.  

[Russell10]

Never in doubt.

 

[Tony7]

13 minutes ago, Coulthard's Jaw said:

Considering how patient we all are with the utter **** you usually post Tony it's a bit much you coming in here gloating. Shouldn't you be too busy triple pre ordering some terrible AAA game that you will only play 10% of?

Not gloating just don’t understand why Fabio capello, Sven Goran Eriksson and glen hoddle even graham Taylor were mocked by the media for losing to better teams and very unfortunate to do so and why players like scholes, lampard, gerrard etc are also criticised why can’t they play as well as they do for their clubs are they really that good etc and this lot with harry Kane 6 goals 3 of which are penalties and 1 goal in knock out stage via a penalty are all praised how great they were 

I’m not gloating I’m just putting things into perspective but if you want to congratulate the team and think they were great etc then fair play it’s probably that mentality which has prevented England being winners 

[Astafjevs]

1 hour ago, ham_aka_stam said:

How is it so hard for people to realise the "it's coming home" thing was a massive ironic ****-take?

Not for everyone. Which is why you get the people here gloating. 

[Wigmore]

Sigh.

[Wiggins Top Boys]

3 minutes ago, Astafjevs said:

Not for everyone. Which is why you get the people here gloating. 

i'm 99.998884% sure that people would be gloating regardless 

[Darren Moores Mum]

Gutted this morning. Had to tell my daughter as she had only watched up to 90 minutes. She was devastated. :**(

[Russell10]

I didn't want England to do well, but the 'coming home' stuff started as light hearted and took off massively, was quite funny.

England fans are right to be proud of the team and what they achieved, even though they didn't beat many decent teams, it has been a world cup of shocks and they done well to beat Colombia & Sweden.

 

They went into the tournement with no big build up full of hope like usual and they done well.

I think Southgate inexperience showed last night, he should have changed the system maybe have went to 4 at the back, I think they should go out to finish 3rd as it will do wonders for him. Seems a decent guy.

[Semi Skilled Milk]

12 minutes ago, Tony7 said:

Not gloating just don’t understand why Fabio capello, Sven Goran Eriksson and glen hoddle even graham Taylor were mocked by the media for losing to better teams and very unfortunate to do so and why players like scholes, lampard, gerrard etc are also criticised why can’t they play as well as they do for their clubs are they really that good etc and this lot with harry Kane 6 goals 3 of which are penalties and 1 goal in knock out stage via a penalty are all praised how great they were 

I’m not gloating I’m just putting things into perspective but if you want to congratulate the team and think they were great etc then fair play it’s probably that mentality which has prevented England being winners 

You are exactly what England don't need right now tbf. We're finally at a point where representing the national team can be a positive experience for the players instead of a completely thankless task, and now when they get back they're going to be met with the same old **** from the likes of you constantly criticising and refusing to acknowledge anything positive.

Turns out winning a world cup is pretty difficult, hence why only a handful of teams have ever done it, but yeah, let's just slag them off. You know, you're allowed to be disappointed that we went out without going on about how **** they were all along.

[Coulthard's Jaw]

13 minutes ago, Tony7 said:

Not gloating just don’t understand why Fabio capello, Sven Goran Eriksson and glen hoddle even graham Taylor were mocked by the media for losing to better teams and very unfortunate to do so and why players like scholes, lampard, gerrard etc are also criticised why can’t they play as well as they do for their clubs are they really that good etc and this lot with harry Kane 6 goals 3 of which are penalties and 1 goal in knock out stage via a penalty are all praised how great they were 

I’m not gloating I’m just putting things into perspective but if you want to congratulate the team and think they were great etc then fair play it’s probably that mentality which has prevented England being winners 

I don't really understand what you are trying to say here. Taylor failed to qualify for a World Cup, obviously he is going to be slaughtered by the press and fans  

And you seem to be saying this is the worst England team ever and then having a go at people being happy this terrible team has reached the Semi Finals. Baffling.

[Bigwig]

9 minutes ago, ginnybob said:

Gutted this morning. Had to tell my daughter as she had only watched up to 90 minutes. She was devastated. :**(

Mine watched to 45mins before bedtime so went to bed thinking we’d go on to win it. Don’t think she believed me this morning when I told her we’d lost. 

[Coulthard's Jaw]

You guys inflict some really harsh bedtimes  

[Bigwig]

The ‘it’s coming home’ stuff was great. Was never meant to be taken seriously and was a refreshing change to see some positivity rather than the usual descent into jinxing and anti-jinxing. 

You only need to look in the club threads to see this. ‘You have to be favourites for this game’. ‘No. YOU are favourites going into this one.’

[Bliss Seeker]

17 minutes ago, Wigmore said:

Sigh.

Oh mate, that's like a brick through my heart

 

[Tony7]

3 minutes ago, Coulthard's Jaw said:

I don't really understand what you are trying to say here. Taylor failed to qualify for a World Cup, obviously he is going to be slaughtered by the press and fans  

And you seem to be saying this is the worst England team ever and then having a go at people being happy this terrible team has reached the Semi Finals. Baffling.

Taylor lost to Holland a great free kick by koeman who should have been sent off prior to that. My point is the headlines that hounded him and other managers out of a job but praising the current players and manager when they did what was expected and nothing more

if the media and fans had praised previous managers and players and said we was really unlucky we took them to penalties or lost to a freak goal rather than criticise them then I wouldn’t be writing this but some people are saying this is best England team for years and calling them heroes that’s what my issue is and causing me to rant well hang on  previous England sides played better faced tougher opposition and all we heard was it was managers fault why does he play better for club than country and we need winter break and more funding at grass root etc

[Russell10]

2 minutes ago, Tony7 said:

Taylor lost to Holland a great free kick by koeman who should have been sent off prior to that. My point is the headlines that hounded him and other managers out of a job but praising the current players and manager when they did what was expected and nothing more

if the media and fans had praised previous managers and players and said we was really unlucky we took them to penalties or lost to a freak goal rather than criticise them then I wouldn’t be writing this but some people are saying this is best England team for years and calling them heroes that’s what my issue is and causing me to rant well hang on  previous England sides played better faced tougher opposition and all we heard was it was managers fault why does he play better for club than country and we need winter break and more funding at grass root etc

Tony they got to a semi final, if they finish 3rd it is the best they have done since 1966!

what are you expecting?

[Bigwig]

They didn’t do what was expected though. Previous tournaments have shown that England historically choke against the games where they’re favourites so to see a side winning these kind of games is a nice change. 

He rest is just hyperbole. I don’t see anyone saying this is the best team for years.

[forameuss]

1 hour ago, ham_aka_stam said:

How is it so hard for people to realise the "it's coming home" thing was a massive ironic ****-take?

To most, absolutely.  But you're always going to get the mouth-breathers that take it far too seriously.  But then to a lot of the bitter ones, everything would seem like too far, ignoring the fact that if Scotland made it that far, we'd be absolutely ripping the heid off it with glee.  

Encouraging signs, didn't look like the usual England.  Should enjoy it before the usual partisan club football returns with the spectre of Sky ******* all over it.  

[Coulthard's Jaw]

There was more to that qualifying campaign than just the final Holland game, were a whole bunch of really terrible performances and results. And this was on the back of a really poor Euro 92 campaign as well. You look like someone who has read an article and is going off on one rather than actually having any knowledge from that era.

 

 

[Coulthard's Jaw]

4 minutes ago, Bigwig said:

He rest is just hyperbole. I don’t see anyone saying this is the best team for years.

I think it was the best team for years in terms of the team being greater than the sum of its parts. For sure previous England teams have had better individuals but you have to go back a long time to find an England team with such a good spirit.

[toon_84]

Publicly the expectation would have been q/f with an unlucky second round defeat acceptable.

Quietly I bet they were thinking bit of luck a semi.

Let's not forget the last few tournaments have been shocking. The last time they came home with their heads held high was 2004.

The rest of them somebody (cough Rooney) has either ruined the party, they have been unlucky or the manager just wasn't good enough.

This ranks very highly with 90, 98 and 02 where you look back and think what might have been with a bit more luck.

[Barry Cartman]

1 hour ago, Tony7 said:

England played Tunisia, Panama, Belgium, sweden, Colombia and Croatia kept an amazing 1 clean sheet in them 6 games games and won 3 of the 6 games during 90 mins Tunisia, Panama and Sweden well done guys that’s amazing much better than 86 team losing to Argentina via a handball or against Germany in 90 losing on penalties or losing to a freak goal in quarter finals against Brazil 2002

wilkins, robson, walker, gerrard, scholes, ince, butcher, Shilton, seaman, shearer, linekear, lampard etc are not even close to this lot of players 

Kyle Walker £50 million full back playing centre half ahead of a natural centre half  in cahill. Kane who scored 6 goals 3 of which were penalties I think the others were goals from corners and in the 3 knock out games he scored 1 goal which was a penalty.

england were negative looking to hit on the counter using the pace of sterling Kane was isolated in most of the games apart from Tunisia and panama and midfield never controlled he game they need to learn to be patient and just keep the ball.

Rashford, lingard and loftus cheek did ok. Henderson, pickford, maguire and trippier were excellent the rest were poor. But well done boys you done 5e nation proud beating panama, Tunisia and Columbia on penalties when is the parade?

Lets remind ourselves what the likes of Gerrard did at World Cups

Although tbf he did score against football giants like Trinidad 

[themadsheep2001]

The irony of Tony trying to give anyone in here "perspective"

[Barry Cartman]

We really must have the worst set of 'fans' in the world, couldn't wait for us to be knocked out so they can say how **** we were, but at the same time would have been celebrating had we won it 

[Semi Skilled Milk]

3 minutes ago, Barry Cartman said:

We really must have the worst set of 'fans' in the world, couldn't wait for us to be knocked out so they can say how **** we were, but at the same time would have been celebrating had we won it 

Other countries must have this though, right? I mean we can't be the only ones with an insufferable bunch of numpties who do what you said. Maybe we just don't hear about them?

[Coulthard's Jaw]

1 minute ago, Semi Skilled Milk said:

Other countries must have this though, right? I mean we can't be the only ones with an insufferable bunch of numpties who do what you said. Maybe we just don't hear about them?

Seen a few of them in this thread to be fair  

[forameuss]

2 minutes ago, Semi Skilled Milk said:

Other countries must have this though, right? I mean we can't be the only ones with an insufferable bunch of numpties who do what you said. Maybe we just don't hear about them?

*Waves from beyond the wall*

[westy8chimp]

We must also have the only set of fans that think beating Panama is an overachievement and some reason for national pride. 

[Guest]

Same at club level, all fans love to celebrate success while being quick to criticise.

I dare say everyone who has posted in this thread has been guilty taking a smug delight in being proven “right” when their club side has a poor performance.

[RedNomad]

3 minutes ago, Semi Skilled Milk said:

Other countries must have this though, right? I mean we can't be the only ones with an insufferable bunch of numpties who do what you said. Maybe we just don't hear about them?

In my experience English fans (in all sports) can be pretty... unstable (compared to other country's fans)? Not sure if that's the best way to put it (and I mean no offense - I know/hope that the ones I'm  talking about are in the minority), but y'all seem to fluctuate between a massive sense of entitlement (eg. "it's coming home"  as soon as they've beaten Tunisia), and being hopelessly pessimistic and defeatist. I mean, jeez, your country's team just made it to the semis of the Football World Cup - they were big underdogs to do that, and they're a young squad with bucket loads of potential. 

[Andrew_]

It feels like Christmas is over. Will put away the Christmas song for 4 years.

[daylight]

8 hours ago, james95 said:

All trolling aside

Wait, what? I didn't agree to that!   

[Wigmore]

34 minutes ago, RedNomad said:

y'all seem to fluctuate between a massive sense of entitlement (eg. "it's coming home"  as soon as they've beaten Tunisia), and being hopelessly pessimistic and defeatist. 

In general I have no option but to agree, but the important missing piece from this year's puzzle was that the "it's coming home" sentiment wasn't entitled like it has been in years gone by - it was ironic.

And it almost happened in spite of that!

[Wigmore]

The other thing to note is that defeatism seems to be significantly reduced. The "oh we were ****", "we've done it again" school of thought seems to be in a minority for once. Most people I've spoken to today, myself included, are more just disappointed but appreciative of the fact that we had a real good go at it when we were generally considered no-hopers at this tournament.