WilliamMunny
Well-known member
Don't believe me, well here are some stats based on the winning teams from the last 3 Euros and last 3 World Cups:
Total number of games played by winners - 40
Total number of clean sheets - 25
Number of games winners scored more than 2 goals - 9
Number of games won by a single goal - 19
Number of knockout games won by 2 or more goals - 7 (out of 22)
Games decided on pens - 3
Number of 1-0 wins - 13
There's been a few mentions on here recently of England trying to emulate Greece, but Spain scored only 4 goals winning their group at WC 2010 before 4 consecutive 1-0 wins made them World Champions. In fact, Spain won 3 tournaments back to back, scoring only 14 goals in 10 knockout games, including 4 in the final against Italy in 2012 (so 10 goals in 9 games before that!).
It's also been mentioned that Portugal won only one game in 90 mins on their way to the Euro 2016 title, but it seems to be overlooked that mighty France beat Australia 2-1, Peru 1-0 and drew with Denmark 0-0 in their World Cup group in 2018 before going on to win the whole thing with a non-scoring striker.
Even in 2014 when Germany won 1-0 AET in the final, the fact that they scored 7 against Brazil in the SF is far more remembered than their 2-1 AET win over Algeria in the last 16 or the 1-0 win over France in the QF (let alone the 2-2 group draw with Ghana and 1-0 win over USA). The Argentina side they faced in the final scored only 1 goal inside 90 minutes in 4 knockout games, but crucially they didn't concede any until extra time in the final. And that's a side with Messi, Higuain, Di Maria, etc.
Now here is the crux of the matter: do I think England are playing as well as they can offensively? Absolutely not. However, no winner of the last 5 tournaments has won all 3 group games and no winner of the last 6 tournaments has won more than 1 group game by 2 or more goals. These games are generally quite cagey and that continues into the knockout rounds. History shows that a team that doesn't concede many wins the big tournaments and rarely do they have a big winning margin in the knockouts.
Personally I think (and hope) England will play better offensively against the better teams, with our strong defensive base meaning that 1 goal might be enough anyway. It often is in the knockout games. Therefore whilst it would be lovely to think we could play 6 attacking players and blow teams away, history suggests that such an approach (see Brazil 2014) is likely to prove suicidal at some point. Therefore 1-0 wins are fine by me as they haven't hurt Spain, Germany, Portugal or France on their way to winning the last 6 major tournaments.
I have nothing further to add.
Total number of games played by winners - 40
Total number of clean sheets - 25
Number of games winners scored more than 2 goals - 9
Number of games won by a single goal - 19
Number of knockout games won by 2 or more goals - 7 (out of 22)
Games decided on pens - 3
Number of 1-0 wins - 13
There's been a few mentions on here recently of England trying to emulate Greece, but Spain scored only 4 goals winning their group at WC 2010 before 4 consecutive 1-0 wins made them World Champions. In fact, Spain won 3 tournaments back to back, scoring only 14 goals in 10 knockout games, including 4 in the final against Italy in 2012 (so 10 goals in 9 games before that!).
It's also been mentioned that Portugal won only one game in 90 mins on their way to the Euro 2016 title, but it seems to be overlooked that mighty France beat Australia 2-1, Peru 1-0 and drew with Denmark 0-0 in their World Cup group in 2018 before going on to win the whole thing with a non-scoring striker.
Even in 2014 when Germany won 1-0 AET in the final, the fact that they scored 7 against Brazil in the SF is far more remembered than their 2-1 AET win over Algeria in the last 16 or the 1-0 win over France in the QF (let alone the 2-2 group draw with Ghana and 1-0 win over USA). The Argentina side they faced in the final scored only 1 goal inside 90 minutes in 4 knockout games, but crucially they didn't concede any until extra time in the final. And that's a side with Messi, Higuain, Di Maria, etc.
Now here is the crux of the matter: do I think England are playing as well as they can offensively? Absolutely not. However, no winner of the last 5 tournaments has won all 3 group games and no winner of the last 6 tournaments has won more than 1 group game by 2 or more goals. These games are generally quite cagey and that continues into the knockout rounds. History shows that a team that doesn't concede many wins the big tournaments and rarely do they have a big winning margin in the knockouts.
Personally I think (and hope) England will play better offensively against the better teams, with our strong defensive base meaning that 1 goal might be enough anyway. It often is in the knockout games. Therefore whilst it would be lovely to think we could play 6 attacking players and blow teams away, history suggests that such an approach (see Brazil 2014) is likely to prove suicidal at some point. Therefore 1-0 wins are fine by me as they haven't hurt Spain, Germany, Portugal or France on their way to winning the last 6 major tournaments.
I have nothing further to add.