England - Is it just me?

Get behind em in any sport. What the hells up wi yer. It’s sport not politics. I don’t give the morons the time of day.

 

Alreight, no need to bang on abart it..

 

I celebrated both goals like I do Barnsley goals.

I’d class myself as a bit of a casual England fan, I only really watch the tournament games or if we’re playing a top side or if I’ve nothing else to do. I suppose with England I’m a bit like the extra 20,000 fans we find if Barnsley’s at Wembley.

I just find the qualifiers dull. You very rarely get a top side in your group so the best 2nd seed ends up been someone like Poland or Slovakia who show with little ambition & then the rest of the group turn up for 0-0’s or to just keep the score respectable.

The breaking up of the Balkan region & the former USSR region has been great for them countries but in a football sense there’s only really Croatia who’ve brought anything to the table.

Belarus, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Moldova, Montenegro, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia etc . I’ve got no interest in watching England play them.

And then you’ve got the smaller countries who’ve got independence & can enter qualifiers who are even worse such as Liechtenstein, the Faroes, Andorra etc .

I don’t agree with pre-qualifiers as I think it’s tough enough for them anyway with small populations & the seeding system but it does make most qualifiers dull to watch.

It’s also the reason so many goals records are constantly beaten. The worst teams in Europe used to be Greece, Turkey, Finland & Norway types & there were only about 20 countries in Europe where as now. Cristiano Ronaldo for example wouldn’t be anywhere near 3 figures in international goals 30 years ago just like Rooney wouldn’t be our record scorer. Anybody starting regularly for a top nation in Europe should have a great scoring record.

 

Pleased for the lads, they look like they care and want it. Worked their socks off last night. Fans are right to celebrate and then some, just cut out the unpleasantness that makes us look like xenophobic 5h1thouses. Only gutted that useless tub of lard, bell-end Johnson is now trying to muscle in on the occasion, thought he said Britain was one nation? Wherever there's a crowd he won't fail to jump in front and pretend to lead or claim credit. "Well done in the rugger chaps what-ho!"

 

I see Liz truss is getting mocked on twitter for tweeting "Its coming home"... with a st georges flag... obviously.

 

Rampant racism? I don’t share the sentiment but the rancid outpourings of some who fake support to pursue their racist agenda is tiring.

 

I've always wanted England to lose.

I've never felt a connection with them, and never understood the fervour about them.

They're London FC, in terms of location, with a history of managers of questionable morals - Hoddle, Allardyce - and a list of players I didn't like. When I was growing up, I was fvcked if I was supporting a team with Wednesday players in it. No chance. Now the England team is built around Man Ci'eh's blood money, and I don't like that. But I would find an excuse to dislike them, regardless, because that's the way I am.

Tournament football is just an excuse for non football fans to chuck beer about, and generally behave like arseholes. Not for me, Clive.

 

For me the older I get the less I care abart England`s fortunes, the Premier league, football in general with the exception of the Tarn, it has just changed too much from when I first started watching and not for the better IMO for youngsters its all new and all that they know so cant knock em for their excitement when tournaments come round, just like me at their age.

Hope England win but wont lose no sleep over it if we lose.

 

If you only supported teams who didn't have its share of morons you wouldn't have a team to support. Everyone has them sometimes even down as low as non league football. At the beginning of the tournament I couldn't get myself that interested in the football as too much going on with work and home and they were the priority.
Work is sorted in my head now as I'm only 13 weeks from retirement and have given myself a good talking to and home has improved too so I've got more into the tournament as a whole over the last week or so
Left work a bit early to catch the 2nd half of the game and then trains from Paddington were at a stand still for an hour due to a trespasser on the line at Hanwell so ended up listening to the commentary on the radio as I drove home
Memo to Harry Kane, please don't score again just as I'm turning off the M4 slip road on to the M25

 

Agree - I'm already planning for the world cup next year. 4 games a day, starting at 10am!!

 

Last night, England played the same basic shape as Barnsley played last season. They did not press with quite so much enthusiasm, but the shape was the same. I watched as Harry Kane was cut off from the rest of the team, just as I watched last season as our central striker was cut off. We had my daughter and her other half over to watch the match and eat pizza. He is a Spurs fan, and I kept asking about the role Kane plays at Spurs. He told me that it was similar because Son now plays further away from him, so it was a mystery why Kane scores soon regularly for Spurs, but rarely looked like doing so for England, with his 2 markers. He did not find any space until after we scored and the game became more open.

Readers will note that I did not enjoy the way that Barnsley played last season, even though it was undoubtedly successful. It looks like England may tell the same story, and I feel the same way about it.

 

I felt the same way, but...
It wasn't as exciting because we set up to play to neutralise the German tactics. Just like Swansea did against us in the play offs. They changed their formation to counter ours and it made for a dull game with minimal goal scoring opportunities. England took theirs, like Swansea, and Germany/Barnsley didn't.
Both Spain and France both set up to win the games in the first half and were ultimately pegged back in the second. Spain came through in extra time, but France didn't.
Austria set up to neutralise Italy and it nearly worked for them.

When playing a team with very talented individuals, or a group of excellent players, it's no good handing the game to them on a plate now we're in the knockouts.

 

I’m not sure I’ve seen anyone excuse fans from other nations if and when they cause bother, whilst simultaneously shooting England fans down for the same stuff. I think most people think footy fans should behave themselves whoever they support.

Anyone who wants to paint a St George flag on their face won’t face any judgement from me. Well, I think adults having their face painted look a bit daft full stop but it’s hardly something I’ll lose any sleep over.

I think people can support (or not) who they want. It’s not even like I actively want them to lose, I just don’t care either way. I don’t see the problem, there’s no obligation as far as I can see. I’m looking forward to the Lions rugby tour this summer. I don’t see anyone who isn’t as being ‘anti-British’. I imagine in most cases they’re just not bothered, which is fine.

 

I’m not particularly patriotic, but England’s local. Better the devil you know. As Kylie once pointed out, with wisdom beyond her years.

 

As well as this... it's one thing to play open attacking football in league games where you end up where you deserve over the course of a season. In a tournament situation it can be just one mistake that puts you out. That could so easily have been the case with Sterling last night, or Spain with their bizarre half-way line own-goal. I think Southgate is doing right by making us very hard to score against.

The other thing with tournaments, to adapt a quote I heard earlier today... tournament football is like climbing Everest - the higher you get the thinner the air is, you need to conserve your oxygen early on if you want to make the summit.

 

Feel the same but noted it only took about 4 post before the left politicised the thread

 

England all the way for me!
They're my home nation...lived here all my life and it has loads to offer. Always a pleasure to return to these shores imo.

 

I have as much passion and pride in following england as I do with barnsley. If anyone has a problem with that or makes me out to be some kind of stereotype that I'm not it doesn't really matter at all to me. Theres way too much unwarranted and unwanted prejudice from a large number of directions. Cue lazy ingurland retorts

 

Imagine being English, liking football, but not wanting England to win. Some very oddball comments on this thread. Not really surprised though.