World Cup

[Rebel R's]

Pickford England player of the tournament? ....Rose has made a big difference in extra time

[Rebel R's]

Hard luck to England but great effort and no shame in defeat in a semi final

[lymehoop]

better side won, what we are desperate for is a Gazza or Hoddle. Sadly, we have Henderson

[knocker]

Oh well. We can now focus on next season's relegation struggle.

[Awin]

Mrs (who is Scottish) sincerely said ‘I’m so sorry for you’

my response was ‘don’t worry, I’m used to it, I’m a QPR fan’

[Norths]

Gutted, but I bet that team has won back a few fans that had turned their back on the national team (and there was one or two of those on here).

[hal9thou]

plenty of positives but unfortunately GS's achilles heel was shown up again. No plan B. Even before they equalised we were getting turned over in midfield, writing on the wall. We had a chance to change it up until the beginning of injury time, if only to hold on, and I was amazed we didn't switch to 4-5-1 to counter act Modric and co taking control. We eneded up with 5 at the back but no MF cover out wide, and we've seen this before with Gareth, mentioned it when he got the job. It was naive for an international manager. He's good, but he isn't smart.

The only argument against changing was that whatever they did we were going to score more. But we had no threat after 45m. So why not shut up shop. But we didn't, and that tactical naivety is why we got battered in MF from around 50m onward.

[Joe90]

Bitterly disappointed and feeling conflicted. Supporting England in a tournament is an emotional experience. It's difficult to reconcile my national pride with the obvious tactical failings and realistic expectations. Either way it's been our best showing since Italia 90 and I'm proud of the team.

[acricketer]

What an enjoyable ride. Thank you England.

[1973 ranger]

They have had a very good tournament and last night it highlighted the lack of creativity in the middle of the park. Not sure you can play Lingard and Alli in the same side as it often leaves Henderson exposed. Overall we have to positive moving forward.

[Stanley]

The deeply frustrating thing is with better finishing we had the chance to kill them off in the first half. We could have been 2 or 3 nil up at half-time. I had a feeling we would rue those chances. 2nd half we seemed to run out of ideas and confidence with most of our MF passing going either backwards or sideways. Croatia clearly picked up on that and it in turn gave them more confidence to go after us. TBF their MF is definitely their strongest area and probably our weakest area, and that's what caught up with us in the end. Agree with Hal though about a lack of plan B from GS when we were so obviously getting overrun and on the ropes.

[maverick69]

Looked like rabbits in headlights in many parts of the game. And we should have taken our first half chances. But, it's the first time for a while that I've been genuinely following England in a tournament. Hopefully this will push us on to bigger and better things. Now the dead rubber against the Bells...

[Stanley]

Now the dead rubber against the Bells...

Doubt I could even bring myself to watch such an anti-climactic non-event TBH. People remember the runner-up in a WC final but who ever remembers who came 3rd or 4th? The fact we got a semi-final is of more note IMO.

[hal9thou]

Doubt I could even bring myself to watch such an anti-climactic non-event TBH. People remember the runner-up in a WC final but who ever remembers who came 3rd or 4th? The fact we got a semi-final is of more note IMO.

Tend to agree with the dead rubber vibe, but the fact is everyone in the tournament signed up to it. If we're as professional as GS claims, we start the job right now by winning that game. It doesn't matter if no one cares, it should be a statement of intent. We're just getting started for the next one.

The missed chances cost us but with a bit of simple re-organisation we could have at least had a 1-1. The second half was a tactical meltdown, and the manager was apparently powerless to deal with it. I like him in the job, but the fact is that anyone calling themselves a gaffer at that leve should have spotted the problem and dealt with it. Martinez comes to mind. When push came to shove Southgate blew it, and being a nice bloke can't disguise that.

[QPRDave]

I dunno what’s worse Dave, eating it or going all Welsh and having sex with the bleeding thing.