The aftermath of the defeat to France was dripping in arrogance and soured the occasion, but it shouldn't have been unexpected. This is England after all, and being sour is what they English do best. All the excuses amid proclamations that the better team lost sounded all too familiar to me; it sounded like another Bokke excuse preceding an Erasmus tantrum. It was all the referees fault, that England played the better football. They lack something that I have been seeing among our own punditry: An ability to put the performance in context or to fathom any degree of mature analytics.
I anticipated that France would be vulnerable at the back, as I'm sure most people did, and we knew England would have their chances, but it was also expected that the French would have the clinical edge to take the game away from England, and that they did. To be perfectly honest, the French themselves missed several quality chances to pile on a heavy defeat in that second half. For me, it all comes down to how England approach the game. It's about direct speed in what amounts to a simple game. If they play a team who will commit numbers forward, there will be space for them to run into. England do not possess the ability to unlock a good defence. All this talk of this being the greatest ever England team underscores the delusion of these people. Why? Because they cannot put performance in context. It all goes back to 2018, they defeated Tunisia and then hammered Panama. After the latter, the expectations grew out of control, yet they were comfortably beaten by Belgium. They needed a penalty shootout to defeat Colombia, and then defeated an average Swedish side before losing to Croatia, who were comfortably the better team. They lost again to Belgium. This was not the mark of a great side. The EUROs saw something similar, beating teams who were not in great form, or who were simply very average on their way through a very simple draw. They were very obviously inferior to the Italians, who showed again that the English cannot play sophisticated football. Their primary weapon is speed in space, and if that doesn't yield any returns, they dive, and they dive a lot.
So, in context, this England team has been grossly overhyped. This is certainly not the best England team to ever play the game. There are similarities to the current Bok setup which wreaks, and we all know the lessons that are there to be learned will be brushed under the carpet. English football is too high on itself to see truth. But, be that as it may, they are out, and good riddance to them.
Pro2,355 posts
11 Dec 2022, 09:47
#1
11 Dec 2022, 09:47#1