England v Croatia not so much a Match Preview

[outwoodclaret]

as a reminder that there are more important things out there. Thankfully Christian Eriksen has come through that terrifying scare on the pitch in Copenhagen and hopefully he will make a full recovery. For me the highlight of the tournament so far was the Finnish and Danish supporters in unison chanting his name.

For England there comes this afternoon the opportunity to put that dreadful World Cup Semi-Final defeat in 2018 against today’s opponents Croatia behind them. The Croats apparently used our perceived English arrogance in the Three Lions song “Football’s coming home” as a motivation in that match. How they and England will approach this match is anyone’s guess. Croatian skipper Luka Modric says playing so many matches at Wembley gives England an unfair advantage. Undoubtedly he is trying to use their “underdog” status as motivation this time around. If Gareth Southgate starts with Declan Rice and Kalvin Phillips and sacrifices Foden or Grealish to accommodate them I would assume we are playing not to get beaten. We are at home at Wembley and should be attacking. If he picks Henderson I may well contemplate somnambulism as my new lifestyle. We have some amazing attacking talent Gareth please use it boldly. People may call Grealish a diver but he is a prodigious talent and a real match winner.

I have already received this morning on Facebook the FA’s rallying call for fans to unify behind the players and their decision to take the knee. This was endorsed by a local MP who has urged fans not to “boo our boys”. Here is a message back. The boos were not aimed at the players! Let us see how we go with this unity but calling fans out as racists was not a good start. England doing well in this tournament may go a long way to repairing some of the damage. I hope so. I love my country and its football team. Come on England!

[The Bedlington Terrier]

I had to look up the meaning of somnambulism outwood.

I thought you meant, you and Mrs outwood were in for some new kind of kinky?

[outwoodclaret]

I had to look up the meaning of somnambulism outwood.

I thought you meant, you and Mrs outwood were in for some new kind of kinky?

Sleepwalking. Is that some kind of metaphor for the current state of England? How did my brain seize on this idea? I have no friggin’ idea. Is that some kind of metaphor for the current state of Southgate’s vision of his best team? We are all going to find out soon!

[outwoodclaret]

Phillips AND Rice. Trippier one of the best RIGHT backs in the World selected at left back. Ye Gods. I give up. Beam me up, Scotty.

[kritichris]

Grealish not starting so your prediction of playing not to lose looks odds on today outwood.

[kritichris]

We're creating so few chances they keep having to show Foden's post shot over and over again.

[army88]

We're creating so few chances they keep having to show Foden's post shot over and over again.

We started well and played well first 20 mins but then stopped using the players that matter that can hurt Croatia .
After that we went back to tippy tappy rubbish , looking at the ball over top if Dyche were manager today we’d be 3 up and game would be over ,

[kritichris]

England v Croatia not so much a match ...

[outwoodclaret]

It was a win. Not much more to be said about it. We will need to be a whole lot better to progress in this competition.

[sinkov]

For all the tippy tappy, one forward run, one forward pass, one goal. Will the lesson be learnt ?