There are just three days to go before England open their Euro 2024 account against Serbia.
To this point, Gareth Southgate’s men haven’t been all that impressive in the warm up games, though it is worth pointing out that the 2023/24 domestic season had barely finished before players were being asked to go full throttle into international commitments.
After a gruelling campaign, getting some much needed down time might have been preferable, however, that was never going to be on the cards for those players considered good enough for the Three Lions.
England are one of the pre-tournament favourites, and with good reason.
If they can play at somewhere approaching their maximum as the tournament continues, then the likes of Phil Foden Bukayo Saka, Jude Bellingham and Anthony Gordon can be game winners for Southgate.
They’ll need to get their fingers out, mind.
Collymore says England need to up their game
“England’s poor performance against Iceland could be a perfect storm in terms of a tournament where the best teams always start slow and then move through the gears,” Collymore said to CaughtOffside for his exclusive column.
“I watched Holland beat Iceland comfortably 3-0, they absolutely battered them by putting a lot of crosses in the box, but in terms of England at the moment, there are several players – John Stones and Kyle Walker to name just two – that obviously need minutes in their legs and aren’t going to get them until they go into games.
“Jude Bellingham would have had a week or two off after the Champions League final to have a bit of a party… Unfortunately, we don’t have six friendlies to play to give them and others the time they need.
England manager Gareth Southgate needs to make sure his side hit the ground running at Euro 2024.
“[…] I don’t get involved in bookies odds and stuff quite simply because we’re in Britain and more people are going to vote for their own country than they are for others, but I do think there’s a…
Source link : https://www.caughtoffside.com/2024/06/13/collymore-not-impressed-england/
Author : Jason Pettigrove
Publish date : 2024-06-13 09:09:46
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