UEFA EURO 2020 hasn’t entirely gone to plan for England. After a robust but uninspiring win against Croatia they played out a dire goalless draw against Scotland, a match that was followed by coronavirus isolation for Ben Chilwell and Mason Mount thanks to excessive contact with Chelsea colleague Billy Gilmour. Mount, in particular, was central to Gareth Southgate’s plans.
Nevertheless, the spluttering national team embarked upon their third tournament game safe in the knowledge that a place in the Round of 16 was theirs. Southgate was able to shuffle his pack as he saw fit, rotating some of his attacking options and starting defender Harry Maguire next to John Stones in central defence.
Along with goalkeeper Jordan Pickford and full backs Kyle Walker and Luke Shaw, Maguire and Stones helped England see out Group D without conceding a goal. England might have been too negative and they occasionally came under threat, but breached they were not. The defensive bedrock is sound and, if that’s to be the basis for better things to come further up the field, all the better.
The third team to visit Wembley and leave goalless were Czech Republic, beaten 1-0 in a nominal home fixture and dropping to third in the group by virtue of Croatia’s 3-1 win over eliminated Scotland.
It was a familiar story in England’s half. Just as they had against Croatia and Scotland, Southgate’s side somehow managed to look unlikely to concede except for when they very nearly did. When the ball wasn’t swinging just wide of Pickford’s post or demanding a save, it never felt like England were under pressure.
Being in the lead certainly helps in that regard and England got theirs early. Southgate picked Jack Grealish and Bukayo Saka to join Raheem Sterling behind striker Harry Kane, and the new attacking line combined brilliantly to make it 1-0 with just eleven minutes played.
Sterling had already popped an early chance over the head of goalkeeper Tomas Vaclik and off the foot of the post when he headed England in front. Saka started the move, driving with the ball from the edge of England’s defensive third before off-loading to Kalvin Phillips on the right.
Phillips found the Arsenal teenager again inside the box, and he was able to dig out a deep cross that Grealish headed back across goal for Kane. The England captain returned it and Grealish eyeballed, faced up and then beat his man, clipping a gorgeous left-footed cross to the back post. Sterling couldn’t miss and it was already no more than England’s fast start had deserved.
Saka and Grealish were the attacking stars of an impressive and improved first half from England, willing as they were to turn on the ball before powering at the Czech defence. With renewed dynamism around him, Kane benefited from both closer proximity to his team-mates and their ability to compensate up front for his regular retreats into the back of midfield and beyond.
Sterling, likewise, looked refreshed after frustrating games against Croatia and Scotland. Mount and Phil Foden are both excellent and in-form players, but the verve of Saka and Grealish gave England a dynamism hitherto untapped at EURO 2020.
England’s overall performance left plenty to be desired, in the second half especially, but their movement was better in opposition territory. The whole team played more aggressively and the midfield and attack were better connected than in the previous two games.
There were good performances elsewhere, too. Stones and Maguire were assured, Luke Shaw was his usual reliable self – the highlight of his bustling display was a smartly executed pass over the top for Sterling’s early opportunity – and Walker was everything Southgate could ask him to be: quick, steady, smooth on the ball, and an important presence going forward.
Winning the group with seven points and three clean sheets is a job well done. But as the numbers have been crunched in the wake of the group’s conclusion, it’s become clear that there’s more to England’s perceived lack of intent and fluidity than a mere pessimistic hunch.
According to data presented by The Analyst, the combination of England’s passes per sequence (directness) and direct speed upfield makes them the slowest attacking team in the tournament and, arguably, the least progressive.
That could be England’s plan or England’s problem. Maybe it’s a strategy; maybe it’s a fatal shortcoming. We were unlikely to learn the extent of England’s capabilities and failings in a Group D campaign that pitted them against three teams with recent losing experience at Wembley. Dropping points was likely, but being truly tested was not.
By 7pm on 29th July, we will know England. We’ll know what England can and can’t do. The football public’s desire to see England swagger through Group D was never about the group itself. Supporters wanted momentum and confidence because there’s no soft landing for England at EURO 2020.
England have been able to coast through the first round on a sturdy defensive platform but have yet to hit anything like their stride. Now, the safety net has gone and the big hitters are waiting in the next round.
One loss now and England are gone. One and done. Game over. It’s little comfort, then, that the runner-up of Group F will be their next opponents at Wembley as the serious business of knock-out football begins.
That could be the world champions, France. It could be the European champions, Portugal, with their major tournament record against England such miserable reading for next week’s hosts. It could be Germany, with their own historical dominance over the Three Lions looming large.
Three years ago Southgate navigated the so-called easy half of the World Cup draw by taking England through the kind of obstacles that typically trip them up in tournaments. Beating Colombia on penalties might not sound like much but it wasn’t very England. Losing to Sweden would have been much more in character but it didn’t happen.
The barrier that finally put paid to England’s effort was a proper international team in top form, albeit one that’s a shadow now of what it was then. England will face the very same challenge next Tuesday afternoon. Can they buck their own history of failure again?
***
Chris Nee
@SphinxFtbl