Exquisite England Hammer Calamitous Croatia

The Rest Is Football

The hosts analyze England's emphatic 7-0 Nations League victory over Croatia, highlighting the team's dominant high press and collective defensive solidity.

Key takeaways

• England delivered a commanding 7-0 away win against Croatia, showcasing exceptional energy, pressing intensity, and defensive organization that left the hosts calling it near-perfect.
• Alex Scott earned widespread praise for his assured debut start, providing midfield control and spatial awareness that immediately creates selection dilemmas for manager Thomas Tuchel regarding Declan Rice's starting role.

Main topics

• England vs Croatia Nations League match analysis
• Jude Bellingham's career trajectory and historical standing

Notable quotes

"I thought every player more than played their part... Every player was an eight or nine out of ten."

Conclusion

The episode provides a comprehensive tactical and cultural assessment

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:11) and welcome to The Rest Is Football with Alan Shearer, Micah Richards and me, Gary Lineker. England have won by seven goals to nil away from home from a top 15 team in the world. What a wonderful place it is. We'll discuss the football at the moment, but Alan, where are you? Speaker 3 (0:28) Yeah, I'm still in Portugal, guys. Still playing terrible golf. Do you know what? I was on the range the other day, right? And I was hitting it so well. I think, yeah, I've got it. I've nailed it. And I walked to the first tee box all cocky thinking, yeah, I've got this. I pushed my ball that far. I lose my fucking ball on the first tee. I was like, I hate this Speaker 1 (0:49) game. Did you know in America they have like, well, I think they call it a breakfast ball. You get another go if it's the first tee. I think that's what they call it, breakfast ball. I mean, you epitomize my whole golfing career and one of the reasons why I had to, my mental health wasn't good, so I had to give up. Because I would absolutely stripe it. And I know this is the rest is football, not the rest is golf, but I would absolutely stripe it down the middle on the range. 15, 20 drivers. That first tee, I'd either block it completely right or duck hook it most times. Speaker 3 (1:23) I know. I never pushed one on the range. Never pushed one right on the range. Speaker 1 (1:27) No, no. Micah, let me give you one piece of advice in life. Go on. Whatever people say. don't start playing golf. Speaker 2 (1:35) I won't. I've not got the time. I've not got the patience. I've got a better thing to do in my life. Speaker 1 (1:40) There are good things about it. It's a lovely walk. It's a lovely walk. Looking for your ball in the rough all the time. Speaker 2 (1:50) What have you been up to, big meeks? I actually was doing some work with Kevin Sinfield. You know, running seven ultra miles in seven days for MND. How much every day? I think he did seven ultra marathons. Seven ultra marathons in seven days. You have? Not me. Not me. Kevin Sinterkiel. Not me. I Speaker 4 (2:15) was Speaker 2 (2:15) going to say, how did you miss that? I saw you cycle. Speaker 3 (2:20) Did you cycle a Mylan maker? Speaker 2 (2:22) Did you? Honestly, it was, I felt so embarrassed, lads. They get the email, don't they? And you say, oh, would you come and support Kevin? Great course for Rob Burrows. Yeah, Speaker 1 (2:33) it is a good course. Speaker 2 (2:34) So I go down and we start, because I'm a Leeds lad, started at Headingley. They spoke to our manager and said, oh, is he going to run it? Is he going to cycle it? So I said, my knee's bad. I've obviously got to cycle. So then I get in the dressing room and I see all these inspirational humans about to take on. some unbelievable task and I'm on an electric bike. I've never... Speaker 2 (3:04) No way. On a fucking line bike. Oh, Speaker 1 (3:07) it Speaker 2 (3:07) was so embarrassing. Oh, no. And they're dripping and sweating and doing it all for the cause. And I'm just there smiling. And to make it even worse, so I've not, when I ride a bike, I don't wear a normal helmet. So back in the day, you know, like mopeds. So for whatever reason, I used to have a quad. Years and years ago, but I've got a quad helmet. Yeah, yeah. So I've gone there. I've gone with my Harley Davidson gloves. I've got my motorbike helmet. I just looked a shambles to ride on an electric bike. I just, honestly, I just, I had to question myself. All these men doing inspirational stuff. Hang on, can I Speaker 1 (3:49) ask you a question? Obviously when they asked you to do it, they must have said, we'd like you to, you know, if you could join in for a little, did you get all precious? I said, I'm only doing it if I get an electric bike. Speaker 1 (4:00) Is that, is that, is that? I can't believe, I can't believe you've Speaker 3 (4:06) got there and they've given you, you should have just said, no, it doesn't matter about my knees. I'll just have to run it. And there's no way I'm getting on an electric bike when you guys are running. But Speaker 2 (4:14) the thing is, so they start different places. So they do 7k in one part of Leeds and then they ended up in Bradford. And I seen the time that they was doing the 7k. So I thought if they're just plodding, maybe I could just plod along with them. But when I saw the time that was doing it, I was like, there's no chance. Honestly, I've never been so embarrassed in all my life. Speaker 1 (4:36) Alan, why are you in a sauna? Sorry about that. It's not that hot in here, it's fine. Speaker 2 (4:43) That's good. Speaker 1 (4:45) What did you do, Gus? Come on, what have you been doing? New kitchen's up and running. So I've been cooking a bit and look, I don't know if you can see it, but I managed to burn myself quite badly. I had an argument with a deep fat fryer and I dropped the chips in and they bounced up. And as I went to protect my face, it went all over my hand, which is probably preferable, but it was quite a bad one. Ouch. And watching, you know, watching England. England, I mean, absolutely battered them, really. I mean, obviously Croatia were really poor on the night. particularly defensively from any cross that came in. They didn't seem to have anyone anywhere near the middle of the goal, which was quite baffling. Having said all that, it was an experienced Croatian team and I think it's pushing their experience a little bit now. Speaker 4 (5:35) But Speaker 1 (5:36) England were really good. Their energy was high. They pressed and pressed the whole game. They won it back very quickly each time. Yeah, much to enjoy, I thought. I Speaker 3 (5:46) agree. I thought they were outstanding from start to finish. I thought their energy, everything about their game, I thought was brilliant. We said it the other day, you know when you're going into tough places that it's not always easy to get a result, but they made it look very, very easy last night. They were comfortable in everything they were doing, scored some great goals, scored seven, could have been 10, 11, 12, couldn't it? They missed some chances as well, but I thought it was impressive from everyone. Speaker 2 (6:12) This is a performance where, yes, it was against Croatia. Some of their players are coming to the end, especially Modric. At times, he looked a little bit old, but he's still a top-quality player. And they've got some really good players, Croatia. Baturina, I really like him. He was at Como, but he couldn't really get into the game. But you know when we talk about England being on the front foot, Al, this is exactly what we're talking about. And I'm not just talking about midfield and forward. I'm talking about the defence as well. The first goal, you see where Gahee is. That is being brave. It allows a team to go up the pitch and then they go and score the goal. I just thought every player was outstanding. How many times have you said that about England? Every single player on the pitch was amazing. Even Pickford. There was one time when it went through, like his timing to come out and the position that he showed. It filled me with confidence and I don't want to say, oh, we're going to go win the Euros. But if they play like that in the Euros, they will cause teams problems. I Speaker 1 (7:09) can't remember the last time we played as well as that over a sustained period of a match. It's Speaker 3 (7:14) very rare, in fact, where you can say it was almost the perfect performance. I thought every player more than played their part, did their job. Every player was an eight or nine out of ten. Speaker 1 (7:25) Seven nil away from home, it's quite a staggering result. We did a bit of research. England's biggest wins under when we've actually played. What was yours, Al? Do you know it? Was Speaker 3 (7:37) there a seven as well? I mean, I'm assuming you're not making it away from home. Home or away, I think. No, it's a home or away. Did we, I think we scored seven once, did we? England at Wembley. Speaker 1 (7:49) Six against Luxembourg and someone. How many did you get, Al? Hat-trick? Was that you won an only England hat-trick, wasn't it? Against the mighty Luxembourg. Yeah, you know what's coming next. No, no, no, no, no. Micah, your biggest win? 4-0 probably. You had a 5-0 against Norway for the under-21s. And I mentioned that because you pulled out of the squad with injury just before the game. Speaker 1 (8:18) But on a plus note, you were in a side that won 3-0 against Israel and... Of course, I scored in that game. Of course you scored. That's right. Mine was 8-0 actually for England against Turkey. And it says here on the notes that I scored four. I didn't. I scored three. That was in 1987. Way back when. Way back when. So this was a really impressive performance. I think possibly the... We should maybe start with one of the newcomers making his first start for England. Alex Scott, who I thought that was as an impressive debut as you could possibly see. Oh, his mic is taking off. Go on, Speaker 2 (9:02) give Speaker 1 (9:02) me your flowers, Micah. I want my flowers. I mean, I don't know how you spotted that Alex Scott's a good player. Right. Speaker 2 (9:10) Whenever I was talking about the England squad, everyone was talking this player, that player. Go back, get the