Well, the good news for England is that they finished top of their Euro 2024 qualifying group. The flip side of that is that it was achieved with another fairly uninspired performance in a 0-0 draw with Slovenia last night.
Some won’t care, and that’s entirely fair, but the perception (or indeed reality) that Gareth Southgate isn’t getting the best out of some very talented players is the narrative that surrounds England at this tournament. Conor Gallagher came in to the side to replace Trent Alexander-Arnold, but they’d have been better playing Trent Alexander-Arnold-from-Diffrent-Strokes for all the good it did. The Chelsea man was very poor, and was replaced at half-time by Kobbie Mainoo who actually made some difference.
The big problem for England, as far as I can see it, is that the balance is all wrong up front – and I think the main issue is Harry Kane. He drops deep, gets in the way of Jude Bellingham and Phil Foden – who I think can play effectively on the left-hand side btw – and leaves his team without any kind of focal point up front. When he is up there, he’s too slow, too greedy, and the touch is so often poor – there was one moment in the second half when Bukayo Saka played a pass to him on the edge of the area and the ball just bounced away from him. It’s basic stuff.
He was lucky to start this game, in my opinion, he’s in the side on reputation rather than merit right now, and the fact he played the full 90+ last night was by any measure absurd. What must the likes of Ollie Watkins and Ivan Toney be thinking watching him clump around like it’s his dad who picks the team, and they can’t even get 20 minutes off the bench?
‘Maybe Ben White was right’, is possibly one of the things they were thinking, but you must have questions when you watch Kane drop another 2/10 performance and you don’t get a chance. Not least because striker is the easiest position to make a change. Saka was taken off for Cole Palmer who did…
Source link : https://arseblog.com/2024/06/euro-2024-southgate-plays-favourites-to-englands-detriment/
Author : arseblog
Publish date : 2024-06-26 06:30:12
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