Sexydadbod Posted July 7, 2018 Share Posted July 7, 2018 Both semi finals should be crackers because none of the teams are defensive minded. Gary Neville has it spot on, Croatia and England will both be confident. Croatia struggled against Denmark and Russia, teams who played a deep block and put all their men behind the ball. England are more comfortable on the front foot and haven’t really been tested defensively. England will be able to use the pace more because Croatia won’t sit back as much as Colombia and Sweden did. By contrast, will Lingard and Alli be comfortable defending all game? Meanwhile, Croatia are better as a counter attacking team. I know a few on this thread aren’t fans of Mandzukic but when the teams he plays for are set up on the counter attack, he’s one of the best around. He struggles more when there’s less space to use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carnero Posted July 7, 2018 Share Posted July 7, 2018 1 minute ago, Wolfie said: Nope. Me too. Went to watch them play at Euro96 for that very reason & have always had a soft spot for them since. Euro 96 & France 98 were great years for us part time Croats! The names still roll off the tongue - Ladic; Stimac, Jerkan, Bilic; Stanic, Boban, Prosinecki, Asanovic, Jarni; Boksic, Suker (Vlaovic)!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StringerBell Posted July 7, 2018 Share Posted July 7, 2018 5 minutes ago, Carnero said: Euro 96 & France 98 were great years for us part time Croats! The names still roll off the tongue - Ladic; Stimac, Jerkan, Bilic; Stanic, Boban, Prosinecki, Asanovic, Jarni; Boksic, Suker (Vlaovic)!!! What could have been in 92 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carnero Posted July 7, 2018 Share Posted July 7, 2018 1 minute ago, StringerBell said: What could have been in 92 Saw that pic on the rams tv meets Igor. I can pick out (I think) Boban, Suker, Jarni, Stimac, Prosinecki & is it Dejan Savicevic bottom right? My first foreign holiday as a child was to Trogir, Yugoslavia (now Trogir, Croatia) in 1990 not long before the war broke out! Must have been cheap! Hated it at the time (strange atmosphere funnily enough) but would love to go back there now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxjam Posted July 7, 2018 Share Posted July 7, 2018 26 minutes ago, Carnero said: Are there any other weirdos out there like me who always adopt Croatia as their 2nd team every tournament, cos of Igor & Asa? Yup, had a Croatia top when they played for us - used to alternate it with my Derby top for games back in the day. As has just been pointed out by Gary Neville Croatia will play a lot better against us than in their last 2 matches. Got everything crossed that we can cause them just as many problems and make it to the final. Anyone that can't be happy and enjoy the ride really needs to look at themselves. This is once in a generation territory... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GadFly Posted July 7, 2018 Share Posted July 7, 2018 16 minutes ago, Andicis said: Basically, you can't stand to see us being successful and want to see the negative side to our best world cup performance in 28 years. Yeah, I hate winning... Oh wait no, that's ridiculous. It's called being objective. I'm as happy as you are about our performance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddie Posted July 7, 2018 Share Posted July 7, 2018 This is the most enjoyable World Cup I can remember for decades - and not just because England are doing well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
needles Posted July 7, 2018 Share Posted July 7, 2018 It's. ducking. Coming. Home. (until we get dicked by Belgium in the final, but hey ho....enjoy the ride) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
North East Ram Posted July 7, 2018 Share Posted July 7, 2018 I want englandto win but love Croatia too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StringerBell Posted July 7, 2018 Share Posted July 7, 2018 4 minutes ago, Carnero said: Saw that pic on the rams tv meets Igor. I can pick out (I think) Boban, Suker, Jarni, Stimac, Prosinecki & is it Dejan Savicevic bottom right? My first foreign holiday as a child was to Trogir, Yugoslavia (now Trogir, Croatia) in 1990 not long before the war broke out! Must have been cheap! Hated it at the time (strange atmosphere funnily enough) but would love to go back there now. Thats Branko Brnovic. Theres another Croat Ram called Branko I used to like even though he played for Belgium. Another notable player is Mijatovic between Suker and Jarni. I went to Split and Zagreb with university pals, Splits nice, Zagreb just looks like Leeds. I wanted to go over to Sarajevo but couldn't fit it in. My brother was over that way when the UN was there. It's fair to say he doesn't have a great opinion on people from that part of the world though, he couldn't believe some of the things people did to each other. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dog Posted July 7, 2018 Share Posted July 7, 2018 Anyone else thinking about where they were 28 years ago? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxjam Posted July 7, 2018 Share Posted July 7, 2018 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StringerBell Posted July 7, 2018 Share Posted July 7, 2018 8 minutes ago, needles said: It's. ducking. Coming. Home. (until we get dicked by Belgium in the final, but hey ho....enjoy the ride) I've always liked your avatar, but are you you going to change it for a few days? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TigerTedd Posted July 7, 2018 Share Posted July 7, 2018 50 minutes ago, Carnero said: Are there any other weirdos out there like me who always adopt Croatia as their 2nd team every tournament, cos of Igor & Asa? I did back in the 90s. But Igor and Asa were along time ago now. Croatia knocking us out of qualifying is far fresher in the mind. I was watching it in a weird little pub in the arse end of Bolivia (not relevant, I just like to show off every now and then). So Croatia can duck off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddie Posted July 7, 2018 Share Posted July 7, 2018 2 minutes ago, dog said: Anyone else thinking about where they were 28 years ago? No, but I know where I was in July 1966. I was on my settee at home enjoying my first-ever pint of my dad's home brew. A couple of hours and a couple more pints later, things get a bit sketchy, but we had won by then and I was dancing just like Nobby Stiles was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
needles Posted July 7, 2018 Share Posted July 7, 2018 9 minutes ago, StringerBell said: I've always liked your avatar, but are you you going to change it for a few days? In these circumstances...guess I've got to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andicis Posted July 7, 2018 Share Posted July 7, 2018 1 hour ago, GadFly said: Yeah, I hate winning... Oh wait no, that's ridiculous. It's called being objective. I'm as happy as you are about our performance. It's the world cup. We're in the semi finals for the first time in 28 years. If you can't get swept away in positivity and optimism here, you shouldn't even bother watching football, because this is almost as good as it gets. What is the point is whingeing on when we're winning, we look like a collective unit, our players are playing for each other and for us? If there is ever a time to get behind England, it is now. A young squad full of fight,and a great manager. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kernow Posted July 7, 2018 Share Posted July 7, 2018 1 hour ago, dog said: Anyone else thinking about where they were 28 years ago? Not born. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RamNut Posted July 8, 2018 Share Posted July 8, 2018 1 hour ago, Kernow said: Not born. You little squirt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ambitious Posted July 8, 2018 Share Posted July 8, 2018 10 hours ago, StaffsRam said: Amazing to think that already, the current crop, have exceeded the so called ‘golden generation’.... I think that’s down to the management more than anything else. The golden generation had everything but a competent manager, and perhaps a lack of pace.. Southgate has really impressed me. He’s really focused on the strengths of the team, physical and fast... What a chance of a trophy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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