I keep looking at the results and wondering where we could've got an extra 6 points from / which was the most obvious mistake I made...kinda thing that can make you go mad if you think about it too long. I do think the overall summary is that was a good season, just frustrating how close to qualification it was in the end.
We played Moldova in game 1 where everyone has 7 game shape. Won by 75 which was good. Slovakia beat them by 88 last week, after the good nations players are all in 8/9 GS and Moldova's largely aren't...(though Denmark only beat them by 56 yesterday using more effort...so Moldova game isn't the reason then)
Game 2, Denmark: got so lucky with this one. For some reason the 3-2 didn't look good in this game, I'd used it in the preseason friendlies and been happy with the results overall but giving up 114 in regulation to a team who lost all other non-Moldova games by at least 19 was bad. I think we needed a buzzerbeater to even get to OT if I recall? +13 in that game that could’ve been a +1 had we snuck a regulation time victory = a swing in our favour from that POV, but maybe it should’ve been a larger win if I did something different.
Game 3: 13 points win over Slovakia. We used more effort, they got 1 prediction correct…No prediction or wrong prediction + same effort maybe we sneak that with the same effort so maybe it was unnecessary? Maybe. The defence didn’t look great again, but offence through 3 games has been.
Game 4: This was a nice victory. 15 point gap vs Switzerland where they used more effort. Estonia beat them by the same margin and Slovenia actually lost. Only comparing it to the Slovakia result (27 point Slovak win) makes it look below par.
Game 5: Spain. Was never going to be a win. Used LI to try to keep it close but this Spanish team are monsters, especially defensively (15/15 and 16/14 ratings in their past 2). It was Slovenia crunching in their final game yesterday that’s the difference maybe…Meant they lost by 19 to our 34, but that’s a luxury of the final group game no matter the opponent (Was it worth it just to get into the next stage? That’s not my call…). Spain won Slovakia/Switzerland by an average of 31, we’re about in the middle there.
Game 6: Slovenia. Well…if we’d used more effort we’d have won is point 1. Counterpoint: I don’t think we have won game 7. Result: same 5-2 record. OK this IS my error. The error…Assuming all other results stay the same – we’d have been the only team on 5-2 in that case and finished 2nd. Honestly their effort level in this 1 took me by surprise.
Just a 6 point loss in the end & I managed a correct prediction. 82 points on 97 FGA is poor, none of the starters had a good offensive game. Frustrating.
Game 7: It was a win for us, a Slovenia loss & about a 39 point swing we needed to qualify yesterday. Given they were playing Spain and we knew Slovenia & Estonia had both crunched the game before I thought it was possible, but needed Spain to do us some favours. Through 3 quarters it looked impossible, we were ahead by 2 and Spain-Slovenia was even. Both us & Spain had good 4th quarters which makes the 5 point difference look close (and the 4th quarter is as much a part of the game as the other 3 quarters), but if it ended there and the difference was over 20 it kinda feels better somehow?
Still a good win, Estonia seem to have a really good NT programme – we only have 3 players over 200k salary, and no others over 170k. They have 4 north of 265k, 6 over 200k and another 2 over 185k. Poor season from them results wise, but sometimes it the order the game fall, 1 and 8 point losses are almost coin flips.
Shrug emoji? Sorry all, making the next round would’ve been really fun (or as much as you can have losing 5 games in a row!) and I’m not sure the last time England got that far, or when the next chance might be…
Last edited by Bergkamp at 05/18/2021 14:28:12