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Under Gareth Southgate, England reached the finals of the last two European Championships and established themselves as a team that most place among the favourites for the trophy in every major tournament. But with Southgate now gone and the team in the hands of interim coach Lee Carsley, the Three Lions were hit by a hard reality check as Greece walked away from Wembley with a huge Nations League win on Thursday.
First of all, it should be noted that Greece have been doing extremely well since the appointment of Ivan Jovanovic as their head coach in July. Still, this piece of information was hardly a secret before they faced England, and Carsley and his staff certainly knew it when they planned their approach to the game.
There was no Harry Kane in the squad, but England still had Ollie Watkins and Dominic Solanke as the strikers at Carsley’s disposal. Nonetheless, he chose to form his starting XI without either, settling for Phil Foden and Jude Bellingham as the pair playing closest to the opposition goal.
There is also a big question mark over the back line, consisting of John Stones and Levi Colwill as the centre-back pair, Trent Alexander-Arnold on the right, and Rico Lewis on the left.
Stones is now a very experienced player, but his role at Manchester City sees him make frequent forays into enemy territory, with the ever-reliable Ruben Dias to cover his back. Here, there was no-one but the 21-year-old Colwill, a talented but hardly fully-formed defender, to do that unglorified but extremely important job. It was similar with Alexander-Arnold, whose habit of marauding up the right flank and incredible passing ability have made him a top creator in the game, but such an approach also leaves space behind his back, and much like Stones lacked Dias’s protection, the Liverpool man was without Ibrahima Konate to mop things up if need be. Lewis started this season as a highly influential players for the Premier League champions, but he…
Source link : https://www.soccernews.com/talented-england-squad-struggles-through-overconfidence-and-lack-of-pragmatism/377083/
Author : Veselin Trajkovic
Publish date : 2024-10-13 09:48:12
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