[spireitematt]

I support England and I always want us to do well at World Cups and Euro's but I think the level of expectation every tournament is unrealistic. Every time a tournament comes around the media hype the team up which hypes the fans which then puts a tremendous amount of pressure and expectation on the England team itself.

Since 1966 we've only ever made 4 semi-finals 1968, 1990, 1996 and 2018. We haven't made a final for 55 years or won anything for 55 years. I find with some people there is arrogance that we should win something but to win something you have to play and beat the best and let's be honest when we come up against the likes of Portugal, France, Germany, Brazil etc we seem to bottle it and I think that is more of a mental thing.

We've always had good individual players but not necessarily a good team. If those player's can't play as a team then we won't win any trophies. Look at Wales they have 1-2 star players but they play as a team, Scotland is another example they play as a team not as individuals.

Then we come on to the media. Every tournament the media builds England up to them knock them down but not just England, every tournament they seem to single out an individual and hammer them in the press. They did it to Gascoigne, Beckham, Rooney, Sterling and a certain right wing newspaper did it to Kalvin Phillips. When England gets knocked out of a tournament they also seem to call for the manager's head and then start touting who is going to be the next manager and the same process starts all over again. The job has the tag line 'The Impossible Job' well it's only impossible because of what the media do and the level of expectation. Look at Germany's manager he's been there for 16 years and the German FA still stuck by him after a disastrous 2018 World Cup.

People go on about how the best league in the World is the Premier League but is it really? It might be the best brand, the best league for paying overinflated wages but not the best league. Look at Germany, Italy, Spain they probably have better leagues than the Premier League. If you take away all the foreign players away from the Premier League and you just have British players then it's average. It's the foreign players and manager's which make the Premier League what it is not the English or British players or managers. The biggest problem we have in England is lack of young and upcoming managers in the Premier League, clubs seem to be opting for club legends like Arteta or Solskjaer etc while the young English and British managers and coaches get overlooked. Is it do with coaching in England? Maybe. Do we have enough coaches? The answer is no. If you watch Spain, Germany, France, Portugal, Italy they play their own style and brand of football they focus more on ball control, passing and possession where England seem to focus on kick and rush and running round like headless chickens.

Do I want England to do well and win trophies? Of course I bloody do but I won't get my expectations up. I think we need to be realistic.

[WakeyTerrier]

With the amount of attacking talent in the squad we should be capable of beating anyone in these Championships.

Southgate needs to take the handbrake off and tell the players to be a bit braver on the ball in the oppositions half of the pitch. Phillips did it v Croatia and we ended up scoring a goal.

Defensively we are not the greatest and I think we may see Maguire return on Tuesday.

Friday was poor but maybe that's the kick up the jacksie that the team needed, lets see what Tuesday brings

[hibeejim21]

England definitely have some talented players, but there’s just too many problem areas for them to really consider winning the tournament. Those problems start with the goalkeeper, and extend out into central defence, and once Southgate tinkers, you end up short of creative players elsewhere.

There is also a real bottle problem with that team. They didn't really look up for it at all in the last quarter v Scotland, or for parts of the game v Croatia either. I'm not sure I'd trust them when the chips are down.

[spireitematt]

England definitely have some talented players, but there’s just too many problem areas for them to really consider winning the tournament. Those problems start with the goalkeeper, and extend out into central defence, and once Southgate tinkers, you end up short of creative players elsewhere.

There is also a real bottle problem with that team. They didn't really look up for it at all in the last quarter v Scotland, or for parts of the game v Croatia either. I'm not sure I'd trust them when the chips are down.

I agree. We've always had goalkeeping problems, 2 of our best keepers Henderson and Pope are both injured. The defence is a problem because Stones and Maguire work well together with Walker at RB but with Maguire out we've got Mings and Stones, we could play Walker and Stones as CB pairings as it's what Pep apparently does at City.

I thought we did ok against Croatia but know that England can play better than that. The Scotland game was really poor by England, we just didn't look threatening or seemed up for it where Scotland wanted it more. We played two friendlies before the tournament against Romania and Austria and those games were worrying as we only managed to win 1-0 in both of them.

The Czech game is going to be difficult and I reckon that could be another tight close match with maybe a goal or 2 separating the two teams.

[Amelia Chaffinch]

Always hyped up and always disappoint. I do not expect anything from those overpaid prima donnas.

[WakeyTerrier]

Nothing wrong with the fans getting ahead of themselves, come on who's had a look at the draw and not thought if we win the then it's Sweden or Ukraine in the next round and possibly Netherlands or Wales in the Semi Final. Would love a British semi final(as long as we win )

Yes we are likely to fail, but you still can't take my dream away of a Wembley final.

If we fail then I'll be gutted, not because the media have hyped us up. Not because I have unrealistic targets for the team but simply because I care and have dared to dream.


I've been in a similar place before...MAY 2017

[Amelia Chaffinch]

It's about probabilities. No amount of dreams will help that. And, despite the amount of overpaid divas in our team, they do not set the world alight.

[Lord Snooty]

We beat them 5-1 20 years ago. No reason why we can't do it again.

It's coming hoooaaamme!!

[Amelia Chaffinch]

Oh well, if we did it as recent as that....

[1Wattie]

The expectation put on England is well over the top but is primarily down to the media NOT the fans. England are one of the best teams in the world so the fans are hoping to do well in all competitions which we know does not always happen.I'm Scottish and look what our media made of our recent draw at Wembley. All of a sudden we were in the knock out stages and when it didn't happen the media were looking for scapegoats.
Th all you England fans be positive I don't see many teams threatening your team - certainly not Germany, I'll sure the result will not go as far as penalties or extra time England will win by 2 goals.
It seems quite sad when a Scotsman has more faith in your team than some of your supporters.