iwasthere2012 wrote:Dimples wrote:England have not got a hope in hell of winning this world cup. Here is why:
1. The world cup cannot be won without a midfield.
There is one midfielder in the squad - the very limited Henderson
2. The defence is unstable. It will be shredded in the knock out stages by top teams like Spain, Belgium, Brazil, etc...
(The next match against Belgium is a dead rubber. I would read nothing into that result - either way)
3. There are no World class players in the squad.
Pickford, Kane, Sterling, Deli Ali, Stones, Rashford may get there by 2022 - they are not there now
4. Southgate is a weakness at the moment (he has potential, I like the way he is heading but it will be 2022 before he gets there)
Very limited experience, picked an unbalanced squad, had two years to establish a first 11 and a style of play and did not do it.
People can get as excited as they like about scraping a win against Tunisia and hammering Panama.
All I saw was low quality opposition, no English midfield, no creativity in the middle and a defence that is very suspect.
Also, a team that is in the early stages of development. 2022 will be their time.
To me that means England will be dispatched when they face quality opposition in a match that counts i.e. the knock out stages.
That is not being negative, just realistic.
And to be fair Dimples, I would call that a very good summation.
I don’t think anyone on here is expecting England to win the WC. I see as much reason for optimism in your summing up of the team as I do in my own.
We all know the weaknesses but looking at it objectively from the outside I sometimes wonder what some English supporters are expecting.
You’ve said it yourself there. This is a project. At least you have a viable project now. A core of players that want to play proper football and by and large, are not up their own arses.
Be happy and go along with the ride. You could get lucky.
I think QFs are realistic and SF would be a bonus.
But who knows if you got that far anything could happen.
Dare to dream. It doesn’t hurt.
Be gobsmacked if we won the thing or even got to the final. But let’s not forget the dippers somehow got to the CL final. Once we are in the knockout stages strange things can and do happen