The 2018 World Cup, for us England fans

[Acido]

Here you go Sawmiller, Ive created this thread for us and anybody else who is genuinely an England fan, and who is looking forward to this tournament.

I understsand why some fans are so critical of our national team when it comes to constant failures in these summer tournaments. But Im a glutton for punishment and I will support my country every single time, and I like to see other fans think the same when it comes to a World cup.

Now then Saw, Im going to change my avatar to another England badge sticker.. watch this space kid.

[Hazza Has A Gazza]

I think we'll win it..

[Acido]

I think we'll win it..

Of course we will Hazza, and it will be 10-0 on penalties in every single knockout round.
None of us expect a 'win' do we here, but its our team at the end of the day and its a World cup, so theres every reason to be excited again. England will do what they usually do, but Im going to enjoy the tournament as a fan either way.

[animallittle3]

To be honest when fat sam did his usual money first thing It worked out pretty well for the national team .

I wasn't entirely convinced Southgate was all that but to be fair he's gone about his work pretty well .

The current squad look together and want to do well , that seems to come across .

We do have some very talented players and if they perform to their abilities then nobody can ask anymore than that .

We won't win the tournament in my opinion but if they do themselves justice perhaps go a bit further than the quarter final perhaps then everyone should be happy at that .

Then again I don't think the germans are as good as 4 years ago , the brazillians have their usual number of superstars but then again they did four years ago in their own tournament and were humiliated .

No Italy or Holland in a northern hemisphere tournament , France and Spain don't convince me and Belgium never seem to fulfill their potential at tournaments , if Messi turns up for Argentina then they could progress but it looks to me anybody's tournament .

England are very much under the radar , nobody really fears us , if they start well and build the confidence and progress through to the knock out stages and then lets say knock out the Poles then who knows .

Actually win a penalty shoot out in the quarter final and get that monkey off our back it could get interesting .

Lots of if's and buts but this is football , owt can happen .

[Acido]

I had the same feeling back in '12 Animal, when we were virtually new recruits under Roy Hodgson at the Euros, and I didn't expect much from us then in Poland/Ukraine.

I do like Gareth Southgate's style and he really does seem to have a passion for this role, which we have always doubted to begin with haven't we. He covers himself well and I appreciate him now as our national coach/manager, best of luck to him and our lads in this tournament.

[animallittle3]

I had the same feeling back in '12 Animal, when we were virtually new recruits under Roy Hodgson at the Euros, and I didn't expect much from us then in Poland/Ukraine.

I do like Gareth Southgate's style and he really does seem to have a passion for this role, which we have always doubted to begin with haven't we. He covers himself well and I appreciate him now as our national coach/manager, best of luck to him and our lads in this tournament.

The defence does worry me in all honesty , I love our John Stones but sometimes he scares the shyte out of me .

Our keeper is young and relatively inexperienced , two areas there that are concerning .

That said we can create and Kane is a top draw finisher of chances .

Sterling doesn't do it for me but Rashford does , the young Manc has to play before Sterling in my opinion .

Could be a very interesting tournament this .

[Acido]

Hey, can I be honest here Animal and say I don't actually rate John Stones for England, in that role.
How many times have we talked about experience is important eh, as Barnsley fans, and I like Gary Cahill as one of our CB's.
Think back to Terry Butcher & Tony Adams etc, have we really had a big name England CB since them ?.

[Hazza Has A Gazza]

Yes I agree fully that the sacking of big Sam was a blessing in disguise. He was ready to tear up the DNA process that England have been working on for a few years, which has worked very well so far for the youth teams, and stamp his own 'none-of-this-tippy-tappy-bowlax' brand of hoofball and probably set us back years.

I like Southgate, I like what he and his team of coaches are trying to do. I like that there is now a clear route for young players to progress from the youth teams to the first team. We're better at keeping the ball (until Sterling gets it) than we've been for a long time and I honestly see some light at the end of a long long tunnel.

The days of chest beating before tournaments is a thing of the past, thankfully. I don't think we'll win this world cup but I think we have some real talent and as a team, can be greater than the sum of its parts. Keep developing and improving these players and the younger players at youth level and maybe we might reach a final or even win a final in the next six years?

It's astounding that we haven't reached a semi final for 22 years, discounting Le Tournoire which we won.

[Acido]

Hey lads, am I being controversial here when I say I like, and I do appreciate Raheem Sterling for what he does for us.
But I do also like Adam Lallana and think he can do a similar and maybe even a better job to be honest. And what happened to Andros Townsend after he broke into the England scene ?.

[frogmiller]

Finally we have a group of young good players at an age where they are at or before their peak before the next world cup.

Putting a group together and dismantling it every 4 years hasn't paid dividends in the past.

I don't think we will win this time and we'll need to be lucky to ever win it again but every country is the same.

It's going to be a competition of surprises with shock results at every stage.

Personally I think France will win it.