England went into EURO 2024 with the Premier League, La Liga and Bundesliga’s Player of the Year. The front four of Phil Foden, Jude Bellingham, Harry Kane and Bukayo Saka all have over 20 goals.
The front five, including Declan Rice, are all valued at over £100m each. Yet, England, tipped as the pre-tournament favourites, has, so far, stunk up the joint in Germany.
The much-hyped attack has scored just twice in three games with a combined xG of 2.2 – joint-fourth lowest among 24 teams. The draws against Denmark and Slovenia evoked dour memories of Algeria 2010 in Cape Town and Iceland 2016 in Nice. Boos and plastic cups from the stands were directed at under-fire manager Gareth Southgate. Panic and reset buttons have been pushed already as England appears directionless. How has England ended up here?
Euro 2024: Slovenia goes through to knockouts after holding England to goalless draw
Eight months after he permanently took charge of the senior team, Southgate noted that England should learn from the mistakes of ‘the Golden Generation’. The much-hyped Golden Generation of the English side failed to go past the quarterfinals of a major tournament between 2001 and 2010, while also not qualifying for the Euro 2008.
For a major part of Southgate’s reign, he has avoided the pitfalls from that era, until now. In what is likely his final rodeo with England, he has conjured up a 2024 version of the Golden Generation-type situation with his selections.
England’s much-hyped ‘Golden Generation’ from 2001 and 2010 failed to get past the quarterfinal stage of a major tournament. | Photo Credit: Phil Cole/Getty Images
Before the Slovenia game, Southgate doubled down on his selection, stating, “The big risk is you have a kneejerk reaction and you move away from things that are going well” before adding, “Your best players are still your best players.”
But his insistence on trying to cram in two of England’s most gifted attacking midfielders – Foden and Bellingham – and a lack of a natural left-back have created an imbalance in the XI.
England also has the problem of an immobile Harry Kane, an ace centre forward, who tends to drop deep into half spaces because of his playmaking abilities. In Foden, Bellingham and Kane, Southgate has his own Frank Lampard-Steven Gerrard-Paul Scholes-like conundrum, which proved to be head-scratchers for past England managers.
The golden nugget of the golden generation, Wayne Rooney, pointed out pre-tournament that when you have a talent like “Foden in the middle, you need to build the team around him.” Except that Southgate has forced him to the left wing along with a right-footed full-back (Kieran Trippier), thereby sacrificing width down the left side. In the opening two matches against Serbia and Denmark, Foden, a predominantly left-footed player, has repeatedly dropped into central areas or drifted to the right in the hope of cutting into the middle.
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In England’srun to the Euro final in 2021, functional wingers and wingbacks – Raheem Sterling, Saka, Luke Shaw and Trippier – were integral in stretching the width of the pitch and also making runs in behind the defence. There were widespread calls for Southgate to drop Sterling, but he was vindicated in his selection of the profile Sterling offered. In the ongoing Euros, 38 of the 81 goals so far have come from chances created from the wings either through crosses, cutbacks, throw-ins or penalties won by players from wide areas. In fact, both the England goals were created from the right side with Saka and Kyle Walker setting up the chances.
In the game against Slovenia, Foden looked to use the width of the pitch to pull Slovenia’s defence wide to create openings for other attack-minded players to run into. | Photo Credit: SPORTSTAR
In the game against Slovenia, Foden looked to ( see graph above) use the width of the pitch to pull Slovenia’s defence wide to create openings for other attack-minded players to run into. England did put the ball in the net after a well-worked move down the left when Foden angled his run to get behind Slovenia’s defence to set up Saka, but the Manchester City man was flagged offside in the build-up. That was in the 20th minute mark but Foden was mostly ineffective for the rest of the game.
In what has been a high-scoring tournament so far, England has just 53 touches – ranked 18th – in the opposition box, while France and Germany have more than double the number of touches in the penalty area.
If one looks at Germany’s set-up, it’s not too dissimilar to England’s. Germany’s XI do not have any natural wingers with attacking midfielders Jamal Musiala and Florian Wirtz looking to cut in and occupy central areas. In its final group game, though, Switzerland found a way to nullify their threat by crowding the central area and denying the fleet-footed attackers any space to work their tricks.
But where Germany has an edge over England is in the central midfield and in the full back roles. In Toni Kroos, Germany probably has among the best central midfielders in the tournament, dictating play from the middle alongside a disruptor in Robert Andrich.
Southgate has sacrified width in England’s attack to accomodate both Foden and Bellingham in the XI. | Photo Credit: REUTERS
It also has a natural left-back in the form of Maximilian Mittelstadt, back-up David Raum, and Joshua Kimmich on the right side. The full-back pair of Mittelstadt and Kimmich have a combined 201 touches in the final third of the pitch, which is just 34 lesser than the combined touches of Trippier, Foden, Saka and Walker’s total of 235, highlighting England’s lack of dynamism from wide areas.
Germany’s 55 crosses into the box is the fourth highest, while England has attempted just 23 crosses – the third-lowest in the competition. England’s left side of Foden and Trippier has attempted just two crosses in three matches.
Southgate will have to make a call on whether Foden’s abilities are best spent on the left wing when someone like Anthony Gordon could offer a more direct threat from wide areas. He will also be banking on Shaw’s return to help fix some of the gaping issues on the left flank.
But England has no one to replicate the supremacy in midfield that Kroos offers Germany. In previous major tournaments, England’s midfield was overrun in key matches against Croatia in the 2018 World Cup, Italy in the Euro 2021 final and France in the 2022 World Cup.
England lacks a midfielder of Toni Kroos’ quality in central midfield. | Photo Credit: REUTERS
Here in Germany, too, England risks falling short when it comes up against the heavy hitters, due to the lack of clarity. The Trent Alexander-Arnold experiment in midfield hasn’t worked out and Conor Gallagher’s energy doesn’t translate into control as evidenced against Slovenia. Teenager Kobbie Mainoo showed glimpses of what England is missing but doubts remain over whether he can complement Rice in a midfield two with both players’ preference to move upfield.
Things, though, aren’t too bad for the Three Lions. England has a solid defensive base to work with having conceded the lowest xG (1.15), while letting in just a solitary goal, which came from a stunning hit from outside the box. Historically, teams with good defensive records tend to progress deeper in the tournament, giving it the best chance of winning. But it must be noted that the quality of the opponents and attackers faced by England weren’t tournament-winning standards.
And by finishing first in its group, England now has a relatively favourable path to the final, avoiding the likes of Portugal, Germany, Spain and France until then. The lopsided draw has put England as the favourite to win the Euros at 20 per cent by the Opta supercomputer, but tournaments aren’t won on computers or datasheets.
Southgate can get things rolling by getting it right on the tactics board by making some hard decisions by dropping one of Foden or Bellingham and give his side the stability in attack it desperately needs on the field.
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