[Slick_Footwork]

You make some good points,and I agree southgate was to blame for England's defeat. But I take issue with the "with the players we have we should've beaten Croatia".
Once the Croatian midfield sparked, the English players didn't have the quality to truly compete with them. That's why those players are worth a fortune and play for the likes of Barcelona and Real Madrid and in the second half the gulf in class really showed.

Also going by modric's comments today,the English pundits and media really pissed them off with their dismissive attitude towards them.

England beat no team in the WC that was higher ranked than them in the competition. This view that you should be beating Croatia doesn't hold any water.

I agree that Modric and Rakitic are a step above what we have individually, but I don't believe the rest of the team are up to much. Vrsaljko is a good full back, but then we have some really good full backs too. Mandzukic is a shadow of his former self. Perisic and Rebic are workmanlike, while the defence, Vrsaljko aside, is slow and error prone.

And as we've seen in previous games, where Croatia were fortunate to make it to penalties with both Denmark and Russia, it's about combating the midfielders.

The problem is, unlike Russia and Denmark, we failed to combat Modric and Rakitic.

Henderson has the athleticism to get in and around even the most quality of midfielders, as we've seen for Liverpool this season. He thrives on playing up and at them, in your face, high intensity football. But he needs someone with him.

However Southgate's tactics were naive at best. He decided to try and outplay Croatia, leaving Henderson in midfield on his own against these 2. When our initial tempo ran out of steam, they ran the show. Which was conceivable, with Henderson in there on his own.

This type of game was crying out for someone in there with Henderson to stop these 2 from dictating play. As much as I hate to say it, because he's not the best 'footballer', this is the exact reason why Southgate should've convinced Milner to go to the world cup. Together these 2 have stifled some top European midfielders this season. Especially when you decide to go into the 'see it out' zone.

At the very least, when it's obvious Croatia are starting to control the game, Southgate surely needs to put someone in midfield with Henderson. Despite the fact we can all see the goal coming, we continue with the same open, naive style.

So yes, I believe we had the players to beat them, with better tactics. Croatia didn't even top their qualification group for the tournament.