WC 2018 | Semi-Finals | England vs Croatia

Not necessarily Robes.  In terms of talent, Mandzu, Perisic, Rebic and Kramaric is more talented than Kane, Sterling and Lingard.  Far far more technical even with Mandzu there. Defense is about even... they're both very average.  Midfield belongs to Croatia.

So far, England hasn't played anything near a good midfield to expose them there.  Belgium's midfield is crap.  Colombia lost its edge there with James injured.  I get the feeling that England's team will be cut in half because the middle of the park will belong to Croatia.

But it also depends if Croatia decide they want to play.  They can sleep walk through games.

^ A very nice post. Croatia's attack is very underrated. Players such Mandzukic and Rebic have done very good while they got Kramaric Perisic and Pjaca. All their attacking options are very hardworking players and very strong physically. I'm pretty sure they will give them much more trouble than Colombia's strikers did.

Mandzukic and Rebic are sure to start while Perisic has been mediocre. I wonder if Pjaca is in good shape after not getting much playing time this year. He is surely talented.

Croatia's modfield is much better and I guess all agree. Modric has been excellent and they have Rakitic plus good options on players such Brozovic and Badelj.

Bith defenses are quite average. I think Lovren has done good so far but can't really rely on Vida.Somehow Vrsajlko being good defensively has helped them a lot. The left wingbacks are awful however (Strinic and Pivaric)

If you take Kane out of England's game then they will look toothless. Sterling is more wasteful than Cuadrado and Dele Alli will probably get limited by Croatians midfield.That's why I said earlier England must hope for Kane to have a great game and be as clinical as he can get.

Croatia's injuries and playing extra times really do also add to the english chances.

A reminder that Kane didn't even have a shot on target against Sweden, yet we won 2-0.

Kane (25/29/ 30 goals in last 3 Premier League season .)  is better than Mandzukic though .
I wonder who'd have swapped Sterling with Rebic ( never mentioned) before WC
About Perisic- Lingaard, Perisic was disappointing in last months and I must include also Inter matches.

About defence, England  defence aren't particularly strong, but I feel Vrsaljko Lovren Vida Pasavic would be the worst defence lineup to win a WC

But this is the historical Croatia lack. Even Croatia 98 had great talent ( better talent imo ) but their defence wasn't comparable with the rest ( Bilic,Simic,Jarni.. ) . I can't remember good Croatian defenders.

Croatia are rated because they have best midfielder in the world, the Croatian Pirlo, another top midfielder (Rakitic) and the other one is good too ( even if not same level but I rate Brozovic)
And they are a squad , assorted very well ( they have not "duplicates" . they have exactly what a team needs of go on . A regista, a DM,etc ), not because they have 11 "top players"

England to knock out them would not be surprising though.

You make good points, Robes, and it's true that it's the midfield that's attracting, and maybe deceiving, the eye in that Croatia team.
Midfield is one important part though, and Rakitic and Modric are the very best.
I'll also say that Mandzukic remains a hugely underrated player and striker, despite scoring in 2 CL finals.

More talented lmao.

The only talent Croatia has of note is Modric and Rakitic, while it's true both would walk into our team and they could easily win the game for them but we need to stop acting like they are some stacked team.

They are not, they are an average football team held up by  Barcelona and Real Madrid midfielders

You can see it in how they play, they look for Modric and Rakitic to do everything for them.

I do find it funny that this team is supposed to be so talent rich yet they rely so heavily on two players and we are scrubs yet somehow we don't rely on anyone

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:More talented lmao.

The only talent Croatia has of note is Modric and Rakitic, while it's true both would walk into our team and they could easily win the game for them but we need to stop acting like they are some stacked team.

They are not, they are an average football team held up by  Barcelona and Real Madrid midfielders

You can see it in how they play, they look for Modric and Rakitic to do everything for them.

I do find it funny that this team is supposed to be so talent rich yet they rely so heavily on two players and we are scrubs yet somehow we don't rely on anyone

Perisic, Mandzukic, Lovren, Subasic, Vrsaljko, Kovacic, Brozovic. All players who play for top European clubs.

Modric and Rakitic can't win games on their own lmao, not even Messi or Ronaldo can do that.

I wouldn't say they are more talented than the English squad, but they are a talented team and don't rely on two players.

Imagine claiming in 2018 that Mandzukic is not a talent 'of note'

urbaNRoots wrote:

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:More talented lmao.

The only talent Croatia has of note is Modric and Rakitic, while it's true both would walk into our team and they could easily win the game for them but we need to stop acting like they are some stacked team.

They are not, they are an average football team held up by  Barcelona and Real Madrid midfielders

You can see it in how they play, they look for Modric and Rakitic to do everything for them.

I do find it funny that this team is supposed to be so talent rich yet they rely so heavily on two players and we are scrubs yet somehow we don't rely on anyone

Perisic, Mandzukic, Lovren, Subasic, Vrsaljko, Kovacic, Brozovic. All players who play for top European clubs.

Modric and Rakitic can't win games on their own lmao, not even Messi or Ronaldo can do that.

I wouldn't say they are more talented than the English squad, but they are a talented team and don't rely on two players.

Yeah , that is sure

To be clear I'm not saying they are scrubs, that's what you guys do for English players tbh.

But this idea that they are super talented is utterly ridiculous, you guys acting like they have elite talents everywhere you look when the reality is they have two at best.

Only English players can score 23 goals and 17 assists, 30 goals for 4 seasons running, out perform Pogba at club level and have a reputation of one of the best goalscoring midfielders in Europe and lack talent (:

Not all luckily, I think it as you

Croatia are jaded and worn out but I have no doubt that they are a better team than England. I hope they will be able to recharge their batteries fully and their superior quality will win out at the end.

2-1 to Croatia

Let's be real. Croatia has a defense lead by Lovren. They won't be able to stand up to Kane, he will have a field day. Croatia's only hope is to control the match so that Kane doesn't even get the ball.

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:To be clear I'm not saying they are scrubs, that's what you guys do for English players tbh.

But this idea that they are super talented is utterly ridiculous, you guys acting like they have elite talents everywhere you look when the reality is they have two at best.

Only English players can score 23 goals and 17 assists, 30 goals for 4 seasons running, out perform Pogba at club level and have a reputation of one of the best goalscoring midfielders in Europe and lack talent (:

Noone in their right mind would say England's offense lacks talent.
BTW, the people who are mostly, and most vocally, complaining about Lingard's supposed lack of talent are Man United fans themselves.

England's offense consists of Kane... that's it. Kane is very good; but you cannot say England has a good offense.

Sterling has everything but a final product. So he's an incredibly hard player to rate for effectiveness despite looking the part. Lingard is a good lad.

Btw, this match will feature the worst set of fullbacks in WC semifinal history imo lol.

sportsczy wrote:England's offense consists of Kane... that's it.  Kane is very good; but you cannot say England has a good offense.

Sterling has everything but a final product.  So he's an incredibly hard player to rate for effectiveness despite looking the part.  Lingard is a good lad.

Btw, this match will feature the worst set of fullbacks in WC semifinal history imo lol.

It's just not true. Sterling for example has played a great season for Man City, scoring many vital goals. Alli, while I dislike that little POS, has been an effective and dangerous young player without a doubt.
Hell, even Vardy is a good and dangerous striker who holds the record of goals scored in consecutive games in the PL over van Nistelrooy. Let's not act as if he's nothing.
Germany would kill to have such strikers.

Aye it's complete nonsense tbh, we are a team. We don't need Kane for the offence to operate.

Against Sweden he barely did anything offensively and we created enough chances to score half a dozen goals.

Kane is fantastic, he's our finisher and our focal point but Sterling and Lingard are way more important for the offence to work efficiently.

As I said earlier Croatia rely on Modric way more than we do Kane, you only have to watch the two teams play to see that.

This is what I was talking about though.

Sterling had 23 goals and 17 assists for City.

Lingard arguably was better than Pogba for Man Yoo this season.

Kane has done something only Henry and Shearer has achieved in the PL

Alli has a rightful reputation as one of the best goalscoring midfielders in Europe.

But we suck (: and you wonder why I'm so defensive.

You're defensive because your inferiority complex clashes with your superiority complex

Nah it's because this entire forum acts like our players are utter bums and then at the same time act like decent players like Kramaric are superior to people who start for one of the best teams in the world.

It's getting annoying tbh, if any other team had players that achieved the things some of ours have then you'd all be losing your minds.

As is it is they are shit (: Don't know why people hate England so much but it's clear that they do, it's the only way to explain such emotions.

BarrileteCosmico wrote:Let's be real. Croatia has a defense lead by Lovren. They won't be able to stand up to Kane, he will have a field day. Croatia's only hope is to control the match so that Kane doesn't even get the ball.

That's not difficult the way the English midfield is set up. Kane hardly got the ball against Sweden

There is almost no talk of anyone hating England. Not more than an odd post and certainly not more than common hate on any other footballing country here.

People here constantly shit on every country worth anything in the football world much more. Brazil, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Argentina, Portugal, etc all circle around being the focus of the country/players to be signalled as frauds, clowns, poor, scrubs, etc and those have a actually had more success than England in international football.

More talk is defensive posts of "hating that posters are hating on england" than anything else.

Half of the regular posters that aren't English are even supporting England. Most others are neutral towards them.

CBarca wrote:

BarrileteCosmico wrote:Let's be real. Croatia has a defense lead by Lovren. They won't be able to stand up to Kane, he will have a field day. Croatia's only hope is to control the match so that Kane doesn't even get the ball.

That's not difficult the way the English midfield is set up. Kane hardly got the ball against Sweden

Exactly. With Croatia dominating the midfield he might not even see a good chance for him unless from corners or free kicks.

I would say Kane is the only true threat to Croatia.He's the only true world class player in a team that tends to get overrated because they all play in EPL aka best league in the world.
Sterling is selfish and wasteful af while Lingard is damn average.

They have mr.50m Stones leading their defense.I feel Mandzukic will be a nightmare to him.

The only chance for England will be counters and having in front a tired and injury plagued Croatia.And again they should hope Kane really shows his class by being clinical as he might not get much chances of Modric & Rakitic will dictate in midfield.

On a good day for both teams I think Croatia will pass this 7/10 times. but right now it's 6/10 around 60% chances for Croatia to win imho.

Btw no hating on english players and fans. I might be totally wrong but thats my honest opinion and I didn't built it in a day.
Again I would be totally OK if English NT group of players prove me wrong. Wouldn't mind them even winning it.

It is not matter of GL . the anti English narrative exists really  , for example  it's good for you if you can't lurk on Italian twitter where it is full of annoying people (even for me born and lived in Italy ) that prefer anyone but not England. that's why they hate that " rhetoric" of premier league  as best league in the world etc etc  but they sound as particularly annyoing for me ( ffs  I don't get reasons for going against England. Never   been a rival as Germany or France. Just envy imo) .  it is another reason because I want - really- football to come home.
This England NT hasn't even a clown on bench as it 's happened  (often) in past.

Anyway TBH you have to admitt that not even you English ppl rated their NT before WC.

I remember to have asked here what was the lineup under Southgate but no response because " Does it matter? This is the worst England team that I remember. "  "Another reason to hate Southgate tbh." "It's going to be a nightmare." "It's the worst England team in my lifetime. I think the majority of fans will be happy just to make it out of the groups. I expect nothing more."

I don't know if it was reverse jinx, but English ppl were the first ppl to not rate their NT , that's a fact

If you say so.

The actions of many betray that viewpoint, it's quite obvious the large majority have wanted us out since the group stage.

Many are desperate for it, you can see it in the tone of their posts.