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I can't remember why I hate him currently, probably to do with his racism hypocrisy on Twitter, but I think one of my main reasons for not wanting England to win is so that David Baddiel stops milking "It's coming home" and misses out on more royalties from it.

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Ha! I did have second thoughts when I typed it. Took the risk and went for it.

Edit: and balls to neil for being able to live chat! He did it during Euro 2012 or something and I jokingly reported him...I got suspended for it :(

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Feeling quite ok about it really. The general anxiety hanging over my head all week has lifted because I don't need to worry about it, and although we weren't perfect tonight, we still put in a decent shift and no one really let us down in any major way. Croatia were always going to score goals, we just didn't take our chances when we had them.

What a fucking free kick though. Absolute belter, that will live long in the memory for me.

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I wasn't keen on Southgate's "keep the same first XI regardless" approach after the 2nd round. It's hugely reminiscent of the cricket selectors approach, hoping that momentum alone will get you over the line despite consistently under performing individual players. 

I admire Sterling for what he's had to overcome personally to achieve so much, but his decision making in the final third was so consistently bad in this tournament. Yes, he creates space for others, but why bother if you can never actually do anything yourself? It's the footballing equivalent of a pacemaker. 

Lingard and Alli, too. One goal from 5 games each but they offered so little. Lingard's profligacy was particularly frustrating, almost Lampard-esque accuracy with the amount of shots he dragged wide. Alli didn't have the same opportunities but seemed off the pace generally. 

Having said all that, I think we've simply lost to a better team, and it wasn't by much. Croatia were in control from the 2nd half onwards and England looked more and more feeble as time went on, resorting to long balls or hoping that a moment of magic from Rashford or someone would be enough. Tactically, Southgate needs to be more astute. 

We've had fun. We can still improve. I'm gutted, but there's a kernel of optimism. Let's hope Euro '20 goes better as a follow up to a WC semi final than Euro' 92...

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59 minutes ago, hallicks said:

I admire Sterling for what he's had to overcome personally to achieve so much, but his decision making in the final third was so consistently bad in this tournament. Yes, he creates space for others, but why bother if you can never actually do anything yourself? It's the footballing equivalent of a pacemaker. 

He was by far our most dangerous player on the pitch until he went off, opened up a lot of play for the team and Vida in particular was shitting himself every time he ran at him. Kane on the other hand wasn't in the game at all. In the second half, he was practically a central midfielder whereas others were in front of him. His touch was off. Dele had bright spots in the first half and Jese wasn't as good as he has been.

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Now we have a bit of perspective, Kane seemed to die off in every game he played. No idea if he's carrying an injury, but if the referee played any more injury time, he'd have dropped behind Jordan Pickford. He's looked knackered for a lot of this tournament after starting bright in most of the games. The Columbia game, he played so deep in the second half.

Should have squared it. Honestly reckon he'd have steam-rolled them if we'd have scored that chance he had.

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