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Huh? I think there's a general feeling of being shocked at England exiting the tournament so early. (The earliest ever, in fact) Most would have expected a draw in one of the matches. He's saying we shouldn't be surprised. So if you weren't, you're in agreement... :-)

Agree with the latter. But re: Spain, I think their home-grown players get more opportunities there (even in B teams of the big clubs, they're getting trained the right way), and some go abroad. In England, it's hard for English players to break through, so you get players like Bridcutt being...

And what level do you think we're at, post-1982?

I said it was a good win. It counts.

I'm not saying they were shit. I'm saying they were not a top 8 side going into the tournament. That's a fact.

Yeah, good win. I was there. My God we were lucky...

:lolol::lolol::lolol: Again, a good win, but France were not a top 8 team in 1982.

But this is the default view ("We're really good, we were just unlucky") which, rightly, he is challenging...

Top teams don't get chance to beat us because we get knocked out, you div. :facepalm: Oh, and why are you excluding PKs?!

Maybe he could have said "France were good but not a top eight team going into the tournament" or similar? How many top eight sides have England ever beaten in a major tournament (bar 1966)? Hard to work out, as we didn't have Fifa rankings until recently, but it's clearly not very many.

The Messi reference is clearly a joke. He says the French team of '82 were very good. Regardless, we v rarely beat top teams in competitive international football - and that's a fact.

http://www.espnfc.com/team/england/448/blog/post/1902808/england-have-always-failed-in-international-football Great piece from Nick Hornby. Outside of England, we've only ever won FIVE World Cup knockout matches...

Great feature on that subject: https://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/blogs/world-of-sport/why-beckham-investing-worst-sports-town-america-182639160.html

It was a reference to the order of matches, really. We had our toughest match first.

If we'd played Suarez-less Uruguay first we would have qualified, and maybe finished top... before being beaten in the next round.

The definition of "superstar" is pretty warped, especially in the Premier League, where many players are overpaid and over-rated. Meanwhile, players like James Rodriguez are barely noticed by British fans/press. He was sold to Monaco a year ago for £35m. And let's face it, he's 10x the player...