England v France - Official Match Day Fred..

Felt England were the better side for the majority of the game, but were undone by some of the worst officials I’ve ever seen and a missed penalty.

France had brief spells in both halves, scored in each and looked average on the night. They’ll be delighted with this result.

Enjoyed England’s run. Said at the start, I think we’ll get knocked out by France in the quarters. Didn’t expect to win tonight but probably should have. Can’t grumble.

 

They edged the first half, we edged the second. Tight margins and they nicked it, we could very easily have nicked it ourselves. That’s football. Knock out football is brutal.

 

josh feeney, tomori, max Kilman, Harewood-bellis, Colwill, ben johnson, livramento all looking fantastic players. Kilman would have been in this England side if wolves were in form from last season. Still have those you mentioned and these lads look like they could be real players in 4 years time mate. Fingers crossed!

 

Too many shots to be us last season!

 

Just on the officials...if that had been the other way round...I would have screaming at the TV and telling us not to be so bloody clumsy.....got away with another 2 pens

 

I just don't understand the negativity of two or three posters on this BB. We lost (someone has to). Both sides had their moments, both played a fair game. The stats prove we were in no way negative or defensive and France were stretched on more than one occasion. Decent game for the neutral. Onwards and upwards.

 

Playing with training wheels on in the first half did us no favours. I just don't understand why Southgate has them playing that way when 2nd half we were clearly far more dangerous. Just showed France way too much respect.

 

Are we talking about football here? There must be thousands of instances over the years of the better team losing. Not saying we were in this instance but France were not better on the night. It is simplistic to say if you are good enough you will always win. Football and many team sports are just not like that.

 

England much the better side. Saka did ten times the damage that Mbappe did. Let down by the usual first half negative tactics then ran out of time in the second. Fine margins. Goal going in off McGuire's head, penalty missed... usual story. On to the next one.

 

If they are some of the worst Officials you’ve ever seen, can I respectfully suggest you spend a little more time at Grove Street watching the Reds!

 

Stretching it to say much the better. Thought Griezmann was class that first half.

 

I have to agree. I thought that the ref tonight was quite good compared to what we've seen earlier in this tournament. Took his time with the second penalty decision of course and was too afraid to make the call without VAR even though it seemed quite clear to me, but in the end he got it right. I don't think that he favoured either side or missed any blatantly obvious fouls.

 

Shows the paucity of the Greed League to me. Doesn't produce top players, vastly overpays mediocre ones, stunts the growth of talents. Telling that England's best player over the tournament, Bellingham, has never played in it. Add in Southgate not knowing how to use Foden and the Greed system's team is once again on it's way home after one game against a top 10 nation.

 

Both sides seemed too afraid to attack! England were unlucky to lose, I think, but France did somehow look a bit more balanced. The game could have gone either way really. England had their golden chances but failed at the critical moment, whereas France were a tiny bit more efficient... or just lucky! I think you can and should be proud of the England team, and I feel that getting rid of Southgate now would be a mistake.

 

That's a good assessment.

Apart from the Southgate bit.

We got stuffed 4-0 by Hungary not so far back. We've gone exactly where we ought to get to in the World Cup. I can't see any extra value from Southgate.

I see our back 4 passing it around all the time without anyone coming to do something with it. We'd be better kicking it away and trying to hit the other side on the break when we take it off them.

If not, play Grealish and Maddison etc. - at least we might progress up the park.

At the end of the day, we've failed again.

 

Feel so fed up ,someone always fecks up,no matter what

 

Is now a bad time to mention that I've got France in the sweepstake at work?

 

I’ll stick with my initial assessment. The first goal should never have stood. Clear foul on Saka in the build up. That the ref (and lino right front of it) and VAR didn’t find any offence, is quite frankly disgraceful to the sport.

Kane was fouled for a penalty, blatantly. This ‘first contact is just outside the box’ nonsense is exactly that - nonsense. He uses his other leg, inside the box to trip him. It’s a cast iron penalty.

There were a number of other ‘decisions’ from the referee that were beyond daft. And all against England.

Ignoring the officials and their performance, I still think England were the better team on the night and are unlucky to be out. But that’s football.

But yeah. The officials involved tonight massively impacted the result with incorrect decisions. That’s not me complaining as an England fan. Whilst I want England to succeed, I don’t feel an ounce of the stress and desire that I do when watching Barnsley. It’s been a couple of hours, I am well over it. Slightly sad at the time, but nothing compared to my anger that the Reds game got pulled at 9.30am this morning once we’d travelled. But again, that’s life.

What shouldn’t be waved off as ‘oh well’ are decisions we saw in a VAR judged game like tonight. No England specs on. The first goal shouldn’t stand. The challenge on Kane soon afterwards was a penalty.

Horrific officials. As I say - some of the worst I’ve ever seen. And I’ve seen loads. And I’ll see even more. Probably next weekend.

 

Well onwards anyway.