Euro 2024: Style, formation, tactics, form and injuries: England’s problems analysed
Just what is going wrong with England? Their style, tactics, form and injuries are combining to go from bad to worse…
* England’s record scorer is now their biggest problem. Harry Kane missed Bayern Munich’s final three matches with a back injury and still doesn’t look fit. Having barely touched the ball against Serbia, he was statuesque against Denmark. Are England now carrying their captain?
* England’s form is worrying. With just two wins from their last seven matches, they would be relegation candidates if this was a club league.
Image: Harry Kane's stats vs Denmark
* And their performances have been even worse. There is no recognisable style of play, no discernible patterns of play other than the tactic of passing the ball to Bukayo Saka and hoping he will deliver.
* England are declining. They were poor against Serbia. They were worse against Denmark. As Kane said afterwards, “We’re struggling with and without the ball.” In other words, they are really struggling full stop.
* Judging by what happens next in their performance, it’s actually bad news when England score. Should we stop celebrating goals?
* Gareth Southgate just doesn’t seem able to rouse his troops. England were crying out for a rallying call at half-time. Instead they re-emerged devoid of energy.
* Nor does Southgate – at least currently – seem able to unlock, particularly in attack, the performances from his players that they consistently deliver at a club level.
* England’s starting XI against Denmark proved remarkably unbalanced. Even with the defence too deep, a chasm still existed between the Declan Rice/Trent Alexander-Arnold pivot and Jude Bellingham. Better teams than Denmark will exploit the gaping holes between them. Then, with the defence still so far back, the gap between England’s rearguard and midfield was simply unworkable.
* Harry Maguire has his faults, but are England missing his leadership? It’s the only obvious explanation for why the defence sits so deep – and, worse, continues to sit so deep even when it’s so plain that England are tactically tactics are not working. On the ball and in direction, John Stones just doesn’t seem able to exert any authority in an England shirt.
* Phil Foden clearly doesn’t want to play on the left. So he drifts inside to where Bellingham is stationed. Cue a midfield muddle and a lopsided team shape. Is it time to make the call: Foden or Bellingham?
* Having finished his season as a No 8, Declan Rice suddenly looks uncomfortable as a No 6.
* England’s Euro 2024 squad had plenty of gambles but none more so than the inclusion of the injured Luke Shaw as the only recognised left-back. With the Manchester United defender’s inactivity stretching into months rather than weeks, his ongoing unavailability through the opening group matches makes it extremely unlikely we will see him – the only left-footed left-back in England’s 26 – before the tournament ends. Playing a right-back at left-back isn’t England’s biggest problem, but it is a problem.
Image: Trent Alexander-Arnold's stats vs Denmark
* And then there’s the tactical gamble. Trent Alexander-Arnold was England’s first withdrawal against both Serbia and Denmark. Given that his exit against the Danes occurred just a few minutes into the second half, Southgate has surely accepted defeat in the midfield experiment that England have supposedly spent a year working on. So what now?
* Bellingham looks shattered. Just as worryingly, it looks as if England don’t know where to play him. Is he really a No 10? Should England try him as an 8? But does Bellingham actually need a break more than he needs a change of position?
* It doesn’t help that the rest of the tournament has been so good. It only highlights how laboured and lethargic England’s displays have been.
* England don’t know how to press. As Kane admitted, “When the opponents are dropping a few players deeper we’re not quite sure how to get the pressure on and who’s supposed to be going.”
* Where is the football intelligence? England kept on passing slowly out from the back against Denmark even when it was obvious within a few minutes of kick-off that the approach was laced with danger on the ice-rink surface.
Sourse: skysports.com