The British media get a hard-time. OK, it might be a bias opinion, but when you compare us to the likes of our friends across the channel, you might give us an easier ride.
England bowed out of the World Cup to Croatia. It was a game that could've gone either way, but really England should've put the game to bed in first half. The Three Lions wasted chances and ended up paying for it.
And yet, the following day, the media ran with backpage headlines dubbing England players and manager as 'heroes' and 'national treasures'.
France beat Croatia 4-2 and won the World Cup, the best possible achievement a national side can earn. And yet, renowned French outlet L'Equipe gave the World Cup winning players these very odd and very harsh player ratings after the match.
Olivier Giroud, though admittedly not having his best game for Les Bleus got a 4, but even more astonishingly, N'Golo Kanté was awarded a 3 for his performance. Raphaël Varane earns himself a 6, just one more than goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, who got tackled in his own box by the opposition, who then scored - one of the biggest blunders of the World Cup.
So harsh are the player ratings that five out of the six players who started the match were awarded five or less by the publication.
Some disagreed.
It's the sort of player ratings that our media gave England when they were knocked out of Euro 2016 to plucky Iceland.
In fairness, player ratings are made to be relative to some and not to others. Lionel Messi scoring a hat-trick might earn him a 10 by some, and just a 7 by others.
But do you think these player ratings are too harsh? Let us know your thoughts in in the comments section.
Featured Image Credit:Topics: Football News, Football, World Cup, France
