England are having a bit of an identity crisis under Gareth Southgate.
By Sam McGuire
In previous international tournaments under the former Boro boss, the Three Lions had a clear plan. It wasn’t always a plan that fans agreed with, but it was difficult to knock it when England reached the latter stages of these competitions.
This time around feels different. Yes, Southgate’s side topped their group and now have a favourable draw, but the football wasn’t pretty. They scored just two goals across their three games and picked up just one win. If you’re a glass-half-full kind of person, you’d point towards the fact England are one of the few unbeaten sides. If you’re a glass-half-empty type of individual then your focus will likely be on one victory having played Serbia, Slovakia and Denmark.
There’s no right or wrong way to feel about their Euro 2024 campaign to date. The objective was to qualify and England did just that. After all, most of the time, teams find their feet as the competition progresses. You don’t want to peak too soon.
However, the issue for the Three Lions isn’t that their plan just isn’t clicking. It is that there doesn’t appear to be a plan. There appears to be a clash of styles.
Southgate made the bold call to use Trent Alexander-Arnold in midfield but never truly committed to it.
If you are going to use the Liverpool full-back in midfield to make the most of his ability in possession, he needs to be the metronome for the team. He needs to dictate play and be heavily involved in the build-up, just so England benefit from his range of passing. That isn’t what happened though. Instead, the England No. 8 was pushing forward. He was used to occupy space while also, in theory at least, creating space for others.
Southgate moved Alexander-Arnold away from the build-up and this limited what the 25-year-old was able to do. Combine that with the fact the forward line was primarily made up of players wanting to drop deep for the ball into feet and it meant the Liverpool man was nullified. He wasn’t able to pick out runners or play passes in behind a defence because everyone ahead of him was moving towards him rather than away.
The England boss then claimed it was an experiment and that he was looking for someone to fill the Kalvin Phillips role.
“I wanted to get Conor on; we needed some energy and to press better. He’s (Alexander-Arnold) had some moments where he’s delivered what we thought he would. We know it’s an experiment. We know we don’t have a natural replacement for Kalvin Philips. We’re trying different things and at the moment we’re not flowing as we’d like.”
Yet the Three Lions did alright at the 2022 World Cup without Phillips, so why is he now so important? It is a confusing thing to hear from an obviously confused manager.
Alexander-Arnold is at his best when there’s movement ahead of him. He’s not been able to showcase what he’s capable of in his appearances at the Euros because the profile of the team is the complete opposite. It was even more baffling to see England take him off against Denmark before bringing on Jarrod Bowen and Ollie Watkins, two players who might’ve worked well with the right-back-cum-midfielder.
This isn’t just exclusive to Alexander-Arnold either. Both Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham are considerably better when they have movement in and around them. Yet Southgate has, for the most part, had Phil Foden and Bukayo Saka holding the width or dropping deep to pick up possession. Very rarely has either wide forward looked to attack the outside and stretch the play.
The full-backs aren’t bombing on either. Kyle Walker looks really conservative with his positioning while Kieran Trippier has no interest at all in overlapping on the left due to his desire to always cut back inside onto his stronger foot.
Everything about England’s play is static and sterile. None of the players are playing to their strengths either. John Stones isn’t carrying the ball into midfield and using his passing ability to break the lines. Trippier isn’t putting the ball into the box or creating chances. Alexander-Arnold, usually aggressive and progressive, has looked timid and tame on the ball. Foden, despite his efforts, has looked a shadow of himself while Saka has been on the periphery.
None of these players have been able to play their natural game and England have suffered. Pace and fearlessness would have a huge impact on this team, so seeing Anthony Gordon and Cole Palmer watch on from the bench has been bizarre. They don’t have seniority in this team but they have pace, they’re in form and they could be key to getting the best out of some of the main men within this current group. Kane needs movement around him, Bellingham needs space so he can impact the final third rather than being smothered centrally and Alexander-Arnold, or any one of the midfielders, needs runners ahead of them if they are to progress the play.
England have the players for it. Southgate just needs to double down on one of the many ideas he’s trying to execute here instead of trying to appease everyone. He hasn’t done this at any other tournament so why now? Perhaps the pressure of having a talented squad is making him overthink things.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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