England fans are still reeling from last Sunday’s 2-1 defeat to Spain. The tournament is now over, with Spain victorious, hosting the best player of the tournament in Rodri, and the best young player in Yamal. England only managed to get 1 player into the team of the tournament, Kyle Walker. Arguably both goals in the final were Kyle Walker’s fault, allowing Nico Williams the space to poke home and not picking up Cucurella who crossed the ball into Oyarzabal.
The tournament showcased that England need to be going in a different direction. Back to back finals in the Euros is a great achievement and much progress from previous generations, however with the talent that we had on the pitch, the performances were seriously lacking. We only played well for 1 half against Serbia, and 1 half against Netherlands. These were the key issues I noticed:
Difficulty in midfield - the opening 2 games using Trent clearly did not work. We were constantly overloaded in the midfield and positionally, when out of possession, Trent is not accustomed to playing in midfield. Gallagher coming on made the game flow even worse when in possession. As soon as we moved to a back 5 and a midfield 2 of Mainoo and Rice, things improved. However for as much as I love Mainoo, he isn’t the most defensively minded and positionally orientated midfielder. The midfield often looked imbalanced.
Trippier at left back and Foden at left wing - Foden did not provide much width and Trippier would always have to cut inside to play on his right foot. Foden cannot stretch defences like Saka nor run in behind, and it just made defending on that side so much more predictable and easy for the opposition.
Big players lacking in key moments - Kane did not have a good tournament and looked tired and injured - his back injury could still be affecting him. Southgate did well to take him off when he did in the final but I don’t think he should have started. Foden was very quiet throughout the tournament except for the game against Holland. Bellingham hit the ground running in the 1st game but then went quiet. There was not enough personality injected into this team.
The 1 positive - getting the younger players to infiltrate into this squad for experience, and getting Palmer and Watkins on the pitch when he did. They were a revelation. I think Eze will also be a future star.
Now that Southgate has left, I suspect Graham Potter will appointed. Unless the FA want to wait for Pep Guardiola, in which case I suspect Lampard will be appointed as interim manager. What I can say for sure, is that fans will miss Southgate. They won’t miss the boring football played (which is mostly how international football is), they won’t miss the over reliance and ignorance of form when picking players over and over again such as Henderson, Maguire and Sterling. they will miss the squad unity, the breakthrough of young stars into the set up, and the consistency of how far we get in tournament football.
My team of the Tournament:
Pickford, Walker, Laporte, Stones, Cucurella, Rodri, Rice, Fabian Ruiz, Musiala, Nico Williams, Yamine Yamal
Best game : Georgia 1 v 3 Turkey
Best impact sub : Cole Palmer
Biggest shock : Georgia beating Portugal/ Slovakia beating Belgium
Best goal : Bellingham v Slovakia