England relied heavily on getting the ball to Kane in advanced, but not particularly dangerous positions, drawing a foul and trying to score on a set piece – which they were admittedly very good at. The referee in the Croatia game ignored several clear cut fouls and that was the end of England really. With that line of attack muted they could focus on the only other threat which was Trippier. England ended up trying the same ineffective thing over and over after that, drop Harry back to #10 to spring Sterling (which come on, the guy hasn’t scored in 40 something England games) or let Pickford boot the ball up top. When your two most effective attacking passers of the ball are your goal keeper and your striker it’s going to be a bad day. I’m not too disappointed. My best-case expectations for England were making the quarter-finals, so to win a penalty shoot out and make a semi-final was a pleasant surprise. The only disappointment was this was such a golden chance to make a major tournament final, I don’t see it ever being this easy again. Still the U21/U19/U17 have done well the past few years. Maybe one of the youngsters will be ready for Euro 20 and give England a midfielder who can unlock a defense.
Belgian Spurs > English Spurs Harry hasn’t looked right since the Colombia game. I wonder if he’s carrying a knock?
Still concerned about Danny Rose, he really looks like he doesn't enjoy playing football. No suprise when Southgate gave him the hook at HT, he doesn't seem to have recovered from his injury. Would not be surprised at all to see him shipped out. As for the England team, Southgate brought them into the modern era with a ball-playing back three although I would not have played Walker in there, he is still a liability defensively and doesn't have the CB instinct to smell out danger. They will also need to find somebody to play in that left wing-back position, Young is a stop-gap and you already know what I think of Rose. I also think they would have been better off pairing Vardy with Kane, if Vardy had been on the end of some of those Sterling chances, it might have been a different story. But yes, they definitely overachieved, I had them going out at the last 16.
Reading about Rose, he's gone through a personally horrible year or so since his injury. He's suffering from clinically serious depression.