Semi-Finals 2: Croatia v England, 11th July, 7pm(GMT)

[valefan16]

I'm in 2 minds for this one (as usual). One side is confident of a 2-1 win. The other side tells me that Croatia only turn up for the good teams and we'll lose 2-0

Lets see

Are we classing Argentina a good side though or is a lot being made of that performance?

A lot will be down to nerves I think, if we turn up and perform we should get the result we want but we can’t afford an off day or they will punish us. I don’t think they’d handle another extra time judging by how much they struggled the other night and we should be fresher, if we avoid defeat in 90 minutes I think we will progress picking them off in extra time.

Their manager is making a lot of them
stopping Messi in the press today and that means they’ll handle Kane but we’ve more match winners than Argentina and Iceland stopped Messi!

If Kane is there focus then hopefully Sterling and Lingard to can step up and take advantage.

 

[Leo]

Salty reckons Nicola Sturgeon is sexier.

and here he is venturing out with his pet......

 

[Gassy]

Are we classing Argentina a good side though or is a lot being made of that performance?

A lot will be down to nerves I think, if we turn up and perform we should get the result we want but we can’t afford an off day or they will punish us. I don’t think they’d handle another extra time judging by how much they struggled the other night and we should be fresher, if we avoid defeat in 90 minutes I think we will progress picking them off in extra time.

Their manager is making a lot of them
stopping Messi in the press today and that means they’ll handle Kane but we’ve more match winners than Argentina and Iceland stopped Messi!

If Kane is there focus then hopefully Sterling and Lingard to can step up and take advantage.

My gf is Croatian and they've been saying this for years.

A google of their results will back it up in competitive games:
Argentina 2018: 3-0 Win
Spain 2016: 2-1 Win
Portugal 2016: Lost in extra time to the winners

The rest I agree with though. To be honest, I think we're much better than the teams they've faced so far. Croatia's defence is poor and struggles with real movement so we need Lingard/Alli on point. They only have Mandzukic up top who I think Macguire, Stones & Walker should handle comfortably.

The real threats are Modric, Rakitic, Perisic - never mind Kovacic on the bench.

 

[rudebwoyben]

Apropos of nothing really but when the two countries last played each other in 2009 with England winning 5-1 at Wembley, there are no survivors from that England side while Mandzukic started, Rakitic came on as sub and Subasic was an unused sub. Luka Modric did play in the earlier 4-1 defeat to England at the Maksimir.

 

[Gassy]

Yeah I wouldn't really look at a game 9 years ago personally

Still, in 2008 they did stop us from qualifying for the Euros at Wembley. Ah Steve McClaren - that feels a life time ago now

 

[Jockney]

can’t help but think this might be a step too far for us. Plenty of experience in that Croatia squad and this promises to be a cagey game. Think we’ll go out on pens.

 

[markwwfc1992]

If it does go to penalties Croatian goalkeeper Danijel Subasic has saved 20 of 55 penalties he has faced in his career. That is some record.

 

[AFCB_Mark]

The problem for us is that our midfield will give space for Croatia's superior technicians to operate, more so than most if not all opposition they've faced thus far. They will be able to pass around our pressing, and they will find big gaps behind that press. They will be able to execute final balls into the gaps our back 3 will at times leave, and Mandzukic will give our back 3 a hard night.

The problem for them they've experienced a grueling passage through to this point, and our side is full of pace. Second half against Sweden we eased off the gas a little, still haven't used RLC or Rashford much so far, we should be fresher. Croatia looked utterly knackered in extra time against Russia, and looked to have picked up a fair few bumps and knocks.

It's well poised and hard to call. It might be a bridge too far for us. If it goes to Extra Time I'd fancy us, but if it goes to Pens I'd fancy Croatia - if that makes sense.

Whatever happens, it's been a cracking ride and we'll have one more game to play at the weekend. Whatever happens we can proudly say we were there until the end.

 

[valefan16]

The problem for us is that our midfield will give space for Croatia's superior technicians to operate, more so than most if not all opposition they've faced thus far. They will be able to pass around our pressing, and they will find big gaps behind that press. They will be able to execute final balls into the gaps our back 3 will at times leave, and Mandzukic will give our back 3 a hard night.

The problem for them they've experienced a grueling passage through to this point, and our side is full of pace. Second half against Sweden we eased off the gas a little, still haven't used RLC or Rashford much so far, we should be fresher. Croatia looked utterly knackered in extra time against Russia, and looked to have picked up a fair few bumps and knocks.

It's well poised and hard to call. It might be a bridge too far for us. If it goes to Extra Time I'd fancy us, but if it goes to Pens I'd fancy Croatia - if that makes sense.

Maybe we will bring in an extra holding midfielder to counter Modric and Rakatic? in the friendlies last year we played with the idea of being a team that attacked on the break which would be better to control Croatia's threat?

 

[shane]

If it does go to penalties Croatian goalkeeper Danijel Subasic has saved 20 of 55 penalties he has faced in his career. That is some record.

Is that true? Thats ridiculous if so.

 

[markwwfc1992]

Is that true? Thats ridiculous if so.

Just copied it from here

https://twitter.com/x/status/1015694880646057984

 

[Johnnyt]

Hey Salty im watching England in the semi final of the world cup this Wednesday.

Can you let me know if Debbie Dingle gets her bangers out on Emmerdale please.

 

[Johnnyt]

If it does go to penalties Croatian goalkeeper Danijel Subasic has saved 20 of 55 penalties he has faced in his career. That is some record.

Must have played Liverpool a few times.

 

[T.A]

Feeling nervous for this already, hopefully I can get tickets for the big screen in Manchester otherwise it’ll be sweating inside somewhere. Got a feeling Delph or Dier might be brought in to cope with Croatia’s midfield superiority. If we can cope with that midfield we’ve got more than a good chance. On saying that there’s always the worry we’d sit back too much and we can’t handle constant pressure so maybe going with the same team that’s served us so well is the way to go forward.
I think we’ll need to win in 90 minutes as I think Croatia have the stamina and a goalkeeper that loves saving pens.

Either way I’m proud of the lads but I’d be gutted if we didn’t at least make the final now.

 

[Laker]

It’s winnable isn’t it? Although Croatia are very good technically, I’d rather be playing them rather than Russia in Moscow. Their midfield is very good and we’ll need to be on our game. But in a one off match, who knows?

That said, I thought we’d lose to Sweden so I clearly know nothing.

 

[valefan16]

It will be interesting actually to see what Croatia do with their midfield against ours? Its ok saying they will find loads of space but to do that if we play the way we have so far surely it will leave lots of space then for our forward men to get into?

See if either side changes to match up the other.

 

[TomPNE94]

Lot of sensible, humble predictions in here.

5-0 England Kane scoring all 5.

 

[valefan16]

They are all tests, Wales apart from facing Belgium (and they were massively below par on the day) had it easy in 2016.

Lets be realistic, Colombia are not a poor side (actually above Croatia in the rankings) and have some quality players, Sweden have had some excellent results, even Tunisia had shown some decent form up to the tournament but you can only beat what is put in front of you.

Germany, Italy, Holland, Portugal, Spain, Brazil, Argentina are all out, these "poor" sides got further than some of these big names...

 

[GodsGift]

In 1998, Brazil played Scotland, Morocco, Norway, Chile and Denmark to reach the semi final
In 2002, Germany played Ireland, Cameroon, Saudi Arabia, Paraguay and USA to reach the semi final
In 2006, Italy played Ghana, Czech Republic, USA, Australia and Ukraine to reach the semi final

All three look easier or similar to England's route this summer, yet I don't remember anyone bleating about how easy it was for them.

 

[silkyman]

Hey Salty im watching England in the semi final of the world cup this Wednesday.

Can you let me know if Debbie Dingle gets her bangers out on Emmerdale please.

Emmerdale won't be on will it?

 

[SF_]

They get too many penalties,
They don't score from open play,
They're lucky their goalkeeper keeps saving shots,
They don't play good teams,
They're lucky Colombia missed 2 penalties
Sweden didn't turn up,
Everyone beats Panama 6-1,
They only beat Tunisia because of a last minute goal,
Of course they should beat a team with a population of 9 million.

I'd love it if we beat Croatia with a last minute handball.

 

[shane]

No one really gets much of a chance to enjoy anything on this forum do they? I thought it was just the threads for the "big" club sides that get derailed.

 

[SF_]

Anything wrong with our victory over Sweden by the way?

Perhaps it wasn't a corner for Maguire's opener, or Alli headed in the second in an unsporting fashion?

 

[Renegade]

It's pretty incredible that people don't understand why Ireland, Scotland and Wales aren't completely reciprocal in their support for England despite some nice England supporters rooting for the smaller nations. Bitterness over the quality of our individual squads compared to England's or our lack of success in International tournaments aren't really relevant for the most part...

 

[T.A]

INGURLAND INGURLAND INGURLAND

 

[Muller]

2-1 England with Henderson to dominate the midfield.

 

[mistermagic]

Watching england v Panama or watching england in a world cup semi final and potential final. I know what I'd rather be at.

Each to their own then. If your country wins the World Cup you wanna be back home going bonkers. Not with a couple of friends in a faraway land.

 

[JJ1532]

Right, enough is enough. This is just pathetic. Going to have a right old cleanse. Closed for the rest of the day.

 

[JJ1532]

Not sure why my reasoning for locking the thread was deleted, but I'll repeat it. This thread was closed because of the quite frankly embarrassing stuff being posted. There were 5 pages and I had to delete 3 pages of it, because it was unrelated rubbish, the same rubbish that has been flying around on all the other England threads. The same rubbish that forced me to close the Colombia thread.

I'll reopen the thread in time for tomorrow.

 

[TractorBoys]

Chaps I have reopened this but I can see exactly where JJ1532 is coming from. Moderators do not have perms to ban people so locking was a reasonable course of action. Anyone found to be persistently derailing this thread or acting like a twat in general will be suspended until after the World Cup.

Banter is fair enough but if you consistently flood the thread you will be excluded.

TB