Is it a typical English thing to find a grey cloud in a silver lining? Congratulate your team, appreciate all their efforts without finding players to put the blame on.
Sterling , Alli and Henderson were picked for all of the competitive games in this tournament by Gareth Southgate; and it's been generally accepted that he knows what he's doing.
From an outsider/neutral, Southgate had a plan, executed it to perfection with the players available using and making the most of the talent he had available.
For me Southgate took sterling off too early the only player that went psst the Croatians and our only threat from open play.
Personally i would have brought on loftus cheek or delph for Ali before taking off Sterling.
Overall we got to the semi finals and looked a good decent young team although lacking like we have done since Gascoigne a special midfielder who has a bit of magic in him. Obviously they dont come along too often but at least we have a core of likeable very promising players with more to follow if they develope and more importantly are allowed to develope.
Also feel that Croatia and France have been the best most consistent teams from the beginning. Lastly how pointless is the 3rd place play off?
I think Southgate made a tactical error in the first half last night by playing Sterling right up front and feeding him with long ,high balls direct from defence. If we are going to play that sort of game then Carol should be playing up top.
Sterling is 23 and Alli 22 and you're writing them off?!
That's why we got Cairney as he had been written off by Prem Clubs at that age. Their performances in the Prem last year merited their inclusion in the squad.
Still Sess for Young/Rose is the way forward - need a Fulham player in the squad to win it.
Sterling had a better game last night, as the OP said we lost any spark once he was off.
Croatia were certainly beatable but they put in a dgged performance and it paid off. Much the same as their last two matches.
The only thing that upset me last night was the way our heads dropped when they equalised. Having seen a lot f resilient performances from Fulham last season it was disappointing to see us lacking in the belief and mental strength to get back in front.
Sterling might not be scoring goals for England but he was at the centre of every attack and his pace terrified defenders.
It would be nice if he had an end product at times, but I really don't understand all the bad feeling towards him.