The "England have had it easy" narrative

[Verminator]

I'm gonna bow out.
I'm getting wound up about people having a go at fans of my second team, when I can't stand most of them myself!

Sorry @PieCrust

 

[Loublaze]

Lou. I respect that you make no bones about your bitterness.

Remember England handed that German team their first ever competitive loss on home soil in a a World Cup qualifier 1-5. Good times.

I remember that. It was weird that they wore their green kit for that game at home. Funny enough that loss probably kicked off the rebuilding of German football from the bottom up leading to the new golden generation.

 

[17 Van der Gouw]

You have beaten Tunisia (barely), Panama and Sweden. You scraped past Colombia on penalties. You've done very little.

I don't now why you feel the need to be praised. The excitement of being in the WC semi final should be more than enough without pining for fake praise that you wouldn't extend to any other big football nation who'd beaten those sides.

Nobody's pining for praise, it's just a pity that we can't enjoy supporting our team without the constant drone of 'England don't deserve it' going on in the background.

The whole " bring it home" thing it's so cringe worthy. That alone makes me root for England to crash out.

There hasn't been an easier run to a final than what England has had. They've lost to the only quality team they've faced.

At the same time, that's what the tournament had presented them.

TBF, both England and Belgium played their 'second teams' for that game. It doesn't really mean much.

 

[Random Task]

The whole " bring it home" thing it's so cringe worthy. That alone makes me root for England to crash out.

There hasn't been an easier run to a final than what England has had. They've lost to the only quality team they've faced.

At the same time, that's what the tournament had presented them.

Do you want some cheese with that whine?

 

[ThatsGreat]

A lot will hinge on if England manage to win the entire thing. If they lose in the semi finals or the finals then the narrative will obviously be that they had it easy and lost to the first worthwhile opponent. On the other hand if they win the World Cup you can easily explain their run to the final as beating whoever was in front of them.

 

[Kapardin]

England have had an easy route but the important points are these:

1) If they win the WC, they deserve it as they have beaten all teams they faced.

2) This England team has looked more fresh and entertaining than previous sides which is an important barometer to judge progress.

3) Southgate's management has been impressive irrespective of the opposition being relatively weak. In any case, England will have to play against a strong Croatia and one of Belgium or France, so he will soon face that test as well.

 

[endless_wheelies]

Meh, there's always a team that gets an "easier" route to the semi-finals, ie Italy in 2006 (vs Australia and Ukraine), Uruguay in 2010 (vs South Korea and Ghana), Holland in 2014 (vs Mexico and Costa Rica), it's about time it was England.

However, when you actually look at it, Sweden is the only team we'll have played that's weaker than you could reasonably expect. Colombia were one of the tougher last 16 teams we could have faced, while Croatia beat Argentina 3-0 compared to France's 4-3 win over the same team.

It's not that easy.

 

[Varun]

I don’t get this.

It is obvious England have had a relatively easy route to the semi’s.

Having said that, does anyone care? No. Will anyone remember it in the future? No.

I don’t see why people must try and make the bizarre point that it hasn’t been an easier route. It has. But so what?

It really is this simple.

 

[Random Task]

Should England pull off the impossible and win the world cup, the meltdown in here will be RAWK worthy.

 

[togg]

Should England pull off the impossible and win the world cup, the meltdown in here will be RAWK worthy.

I agree......

But my goodness will I enjoy it.....

 

[PepsiCola]

It's completely true. It's been a very easy route to the semi's. There's no denying it.

But does it matter? No.

You beat what's infront of you. This England team have gotten to the semis, at least. That's something for be proud of, regardless of the route there.

 

[Random Task]

I agree......

But my goodness will I enjoy it.....

 

[Ramshock]

Both teams played their second string and were already through, if England had won that game people would say we only beat Belgium because they rested their best players.

Belgium are the stronger side.

 

[Redlambs]

The whole " bring it home" thing it's so cringe worthy. That alone makes me root for England to crash out.

There hasn't been an easier run to a final than what England has had. They've lost to the only quality team they've faced.

At the same time, that's what the tournament had presented them.

Oh for christ sake are you lot still banging on about that song and the whole it's coming home thing?

Put the lemons down now, let it go ffs

 

[Sterling Archer]

Wow what a collector's find: Antonio Valencia smiling

 

[Moonred]

It’s the correct narrative. However, the constant reminder from either side and a discussion about its validity is unnecessary. It is what it is, nothing anyone can do about it.

 

[Backrow Singer]

Of course it’s true, to play Tunisia, Panama, Columbia and Sweden to get to a World Cup semi is the stuff of dreams. You won’t get an easier route than that. Unless they stormed onto the pitch or spiked the water in the Belgium hotel and beat Brazil instead, there isn’t an alternative though so it’s a non debate.

Croatia will be a tough test this week, playing England will suit them. Win that and it’s one of the two best teams in the tournament in the final.

 

[Acheron]

It's been a super easy route, specially when you see the teams that are eliminating each other in the other bracket, and England has been making the most out of it so congrats on them. Argentina had also an easy route last world cup and look were they are now, so you better enjoy this world cup and your team winning so many matches despite who the opposition is.

 

[Billy Blaggs]

It's coming home and there's nothing you can do about it!!!


IT'S COMING HOME!!

 

[RobinLFC]

Other team’s failures do not prove that England didn’t have an easy route. They have had it “easy” so far and I don’t kno why people go to such lenghts to defend it.

No one cares, it is what it is.

 

[hasanejaz88]

England fans say it is good to have lost because they get an easy draw against easy teams.

Opposition say they are being arrogant because they are ignoring the quality of their opponents.

England beat opposition

Opposition say they were easy teams so England aren't that good.

England fans say opposition are being bitter because they weren't easy teams.


Don't know who to laugh at.

 

[Keeps It tidy]

They did not have an easy route, but, people always ignore the finer margins. If they lose on penalty kicks to Colombia people are making the same criticisms of this English side.

 

[Cheesy]

I mean...they quite objectively have had an extraordinarily easy run so far. It isn't their fault - they can only beat the teams put in front of them, but by every measure they've only played one top team so far, and that top team beat them. They managed to avoid the literal three tournament favourites in the QF and were guaranteed not to come up against them until the final - again, that is the literal definition of having an easier run. Sweden worked well as a team at times, but they were genuinely one of the weakest quarter-finalists the tournament has seen in a good while. Colombia were alright but played quite poorly, and there are obviously several better sides than them.

Mentioning Portugal is also a bit strange because most people in 2016 acknowledged Portugal got a very easy run to the final, and that they were incredibly lucky to even be in the last 16 due to the weird new format. Again, it's not England's fault that Belgium are a better team than them and that they ended up in the easy side of the draw instead, nor is it England's fault that Spain and Germany had awful tournaments. But they've still gotten an easy run. Don't know how that can be denied.

 

[Ananke]

We've had the easiest route possible so far in this tournament, for what we could have had. That doesn't make it 'easy'. The two are different.

 

[Robbie Boy]

I can't speak for others but personally my heart is bleeding to hear of this most unjust of experiences you had to endure. There you were, waiting in eager anticipation of some post match analysis about the game just played only to be met with the insufferably cruel blow of hearing about the importance of that fixture for the country to which the broadcaster belonged.

This is an epic tale of injustice and I personally feel that heads should have to roll after this.

I can only hope that you had a soothing cup of cocoa to hand to help you recover from this devastating turn of events.

You’re so wound up it’s bloody hilarious

 

[FlawlessThaw]

England fans say it is good to have lost because they get an easy draw against easy teams.

Opposition say they are being arrogant because they are ignoring the quality of their opponents.

England beat opposition

Opposition say they were easy teams so England aren't that good.

England fans say opposition are being bitter because they weren't easy teams.


Don't know who to laugh at.

At the Germans because they got knocked out the first round.

Just kidding, Germany won the world cup last time. If England win the World Cup this year, I don't care if they never qualify for the World Cup ever again.

 

[Robbie Boy]

I mean...they quite objectively have had an extraordinarily easy run so far. It isn't their fault - they can only beat the teams put in front of them, but by every measure they've only played one top team so far, and that top team beat them. They managed to avoid the literal three tournament favourites in the QF and were guaranteed not to come up against them until the final - again, that is the literal definition of having an easier run. Sweden worked well as a team at times, but they were genuinely one of the weakest quarter-finalists the tournament has seen in a good while. Colombia were alright but played quite poorly, and there are obviously several better sides than them.

Mentioning Portugal is also a bit strange because most people in 2016 acknowledged Portugal got a very easy run to the final, and that they were incredibly lucky to even be in the last 16 due to the weird new format. Again, it's not England's fault that Belgium are a better team than them and that they ended up in the easy side of the draw instead, nor is it England's fault that Spain and Germany had awful tournaments. But they've still gotten an easy run. Don't know how that can be denied.

Exactly. But you’ll upset the snowflakes with this logic.

 

[FlawlessThaw]

Exactly. But you’ll upset the snowflakes with this logic.

Think most England fans realise they had an easier route to the final. You'll always get a few who give it the big un.

Still a gamble though by Southgate in playing his 2nd XI against Belgium, if England lost against Colombia he would have been criticised to high heaven.

 

[The United Irishman]

Well you didn't counter with anything did you? You repeated the very thing I argued against. You offered absolutely nothing in way of a counter argument to my post. What did you want me to do, just copy and paste the OP back to you?

The only thing you've said is "Croatia are the first test" which is only true if you're happy discounting Sweden and Colombia. Doubtlessly, should England win on Wednesday, they won't actually have been tested until the final because, after all, Croatia needed penalties to see off Denmark and Russia. Given the whole "real test" thing seems based entirely on reputation, the potential scenario of England beating Belgium to win the World Cup will inevitably see people say England won the World Cup without facing "a top team".

England or non-England supporter, if you're only counter is to basically ignore everything I've said in this thread and go "yeah but Croatia are actually the only good team England have faced" then, yeah, jog on as far as I'm concerned.

Hey, maybe you'll get to be the 33rd team in 2026.

All fabricated and codswallop mate(Go back and read what I said)! What exactly do you want from us? To give England unnecessary praise? Why can't you just enjoy it instead of ranting about non England fans stating the obvious. I am having a good laugh at your rants they are very funny, it's like a child in a room full of adults screaming at the top of his voice to obtain attention for absolutely no reason at all.

 

[Sunny Jim]

Christ !

It's been one of the easiest routes to a world semi final in the competition history. Just be grateful that you've made it this far(In fairness most England fans are).

True, but you cannot hold it against Southgate &co. They faced relativelly easy teams and beat'em

 

[Cheesy]

Exactly. But you’ll upset the snowflakes with this logic.

It's a weird one. Saying how you can only beat who's in front of you or how other teams have also had easy runs to the final is being used as logic to somehow determine that England haven't had an easy run, which is bizarre. Again - nothing against them, knockout football lends itself to this sort of thing, but it's a bizarre thing to deny.

 

[Redlambs]

It's a weird one. Saying how you can only beat who's in front of you or how other teams have also had easy runs to the final is being used as logic to somehow determine that England haven't had an easy run, which is bizarre. Again - nothing against them, knockout football lends itself to this sort of thing, but it's a bizarre thing to deny.

England are normally shit. Nothing is easy for us.

But yeah, if you were going to pick some teams to play to get to a final, you couldn't do much better than the lot we've faced so far.

 

[Robbie Boy]

It's a weird one. Saying how you can only beat who's in front of you or how other teams have also had easy runs to the final is being used as logic to somehow determine that England haven't had an easy run, which is bizarre. Again - nothing against them, knockout football lends itself to this sort of thing, but it's a bizarre thing to deny.

Well exactly, it’s like how plenty took the piss about Liverpool getting Porto and Roma on their way to the CL Final and slagged off Portugal for their easy route to the Final of the Euros.

 

[Billy Blaggs]

We have had an absolutely perfect road so far.
We needed the Colombia game just like we needed the Sweden game.

Now is the test of talent and balls. Two games to win and then legends are made.

 

[Random Task]

We have had an absolutely perfect road so far.
We needed the Colombia game just like we needed the Sweden game.

Now is the test of talent and balls. Two games to win and then legends are made.

Ashley Young, world cup winner 2018.

Wow?

 

[InfiniteBoredom]

P

England are normally shit. Nothing is easy for us.

But yeah, if you were going to pick some teams to play to get to a final, you couldn't do much better than the lot we've faced so far.

Not really true though is it?

You lost to the eventual champion in 02, lost to finalist in 04, semi finalist in 06. Only from 08 onwards were you become a bit crap, but generally still good enough to make it out of groups provided you get there.

The country still has a big football tradition, following and infrastructure. Most of your squad ply their trade at top clubs in one of the best league in the world, with regular exposure to CL football. Beating the likes of Colombia and Sweden shouldn’t be seen as some sort of Herculean tasks.

 

[InspiRED]

You’re so wound up it’s bloody hilarious

Not wound up at all.

Just a bit of dry humour twas all

 

[KM]

I don’t get this.

It is obvious England have had a relatively easy route to the semi’s.

Having said that, does anyone care? No. Will anyone remember it in the future? No.

I don’t see why people must try and make the bizarre point that it hasn’t been an easier route. It has. But so what?

This.

You guys are in the SF, the furthest in the last 28 years, its been an easy draw but you can only beat what's in front of you.

Why even try justifying any of that?

 

[Random Task]

This.

You guys are in the SF, the furthest in the last 28 years, its been an easy draw but you can only beat what's in front of you.

Why even try justifying any of that?

Because it gets thrown in our faces at every turn, seemingly with the intent of diminishing the achievement. You really expect England fans to turn a blind eye to it all?

 

[Bear Attack]

The Anti-England brigade:

 

[Un4givableB]

It's

It's completely true. It's been a very easy route to the semi's. There's no denying it.

But does it matter? No.

This

Dead average reach teams like (England & Croatia) can reach cup finals all the time, if the World Cup was held every 2 years we would see it more often.



In the F.A Cup l always hope we can win it by avoiding as many good teams as possible.

F.A Cup finalists of the last 10 years or so Portsmouth, Stoke City, Wigan Athletic, Hull City, Aston Villa, Crystal Palace.