The Three Lions made it into the quarter-finals by the skin of their teeth after yet another abject performance – but how much longer can it go on?
Gareth Southgate must have done something right in a previous life. Because no matter how bad his England side keep playing during Euro 2024 and no matter how stubborn he is with his team selections, his side are somehow still in the tournament, just two matches away from reaching the final.
After three unconvincing displays in the group stages, England were at their very worst against Slovakia. They were on the brink of a humiliating elimination to file alongside their Euro 2016 defeat by Iceland as one of the national team’s worst ever results. But they managed to pull off a 2-1 win after extra-time and lived to fight another day.
Southgate played his part in the near disaster by making minimal changes to the team but, ironically, also got them out of it with a series of substitutions which smacked of desperation at the time but proved to be inspired.
The manager was helped by a moment of true brilliance from Jude Bellingham, who compensated for a near anonymous performance with a thunderous bicycle-kick in the 95th minute. Harry Kane also remembered he is a top-class forward and duly came up with the winning goal. But you had to feel for Slovakia, who deserved to go through but instead are still waiting for their first ever knockout win in a major tournament.
GOAL breaks down the winners & losers from the Veltins Arena..
WINNER: Jude Bellingham
Bellingham has scored a last-minute winners in El Clasico and a Diego Maradona-esque solo run against Napoli, but this must be the most important goal of his career to date, a devastating moment of genius when the sh*t was about to hit the fan.
It was also a reminder that the best players tend to come up with the goods just when it looks like its not going to be their day. Bellingham was performing terribly in Gelsenkirchen, and had it been any other player, or any other manager, then he would surely have been substituted already.
To tell the truth, Bellingham has been hugely disappointing at the Euros, delivering a stunning first-half display against Serbia (also in Gelsenkirchen) but then producing stinkers since. He had been overshadowed again by Phil Foden on Sunday, but while Southgate took the Manchester City man off, he kept Bellingham on. And the boy from Birmingham, not for the first time, proved his class.
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Getty ImagesLOSER: Gareth Southgate
England might be through, but it feels like Southgate is on borrowed time. And what is most infuriating is that he cannot seem to recognise what is wrong with his team, as he keeps stubbornly selecting practically the same starting XI in each game and expecting an improvement. But each time it has been the same old story: a terribly uninspiring performance, making for a toxic atmosphere around the team.
Southgate identified England’s chief problem, their weak left side, in the first game against Serbia, but has done nothing at all to fix it, starting the right-footed Kieran Trippier at left-back in every game and in front of him picking Phil Foden, who keeps on drifting inside. Indeed, he only removed Trippier here because he picked up an injury. His loyalty to Trippier is baffling as, until the tournament had begun, the Newcastle defender had not played 90 minutes since February.
The fact that Adam Wharton is yet to play a minute in Germany is also hard to explain given his technical ability. So too is the fact Anthony Gordon, the one traditional left winger in the squad, has only played a couple of minutes.
Southgate has become the scapegoat for England’s miserable run in the tournament and that is not fair on him given how much he has achieved in his eight years in charge. But he is not doing himself any favours.
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Getty ImagesWINNER: Southgate’s subs
The England manager sure took his time to make changes, but in the end his substitutions avoided disaster and turned the game around. While ITV’s team of pundits, led by Gary Neville and Roy Keane, were screaming for wholesale changes after the turgid first-half display, Southgate kept his faith with the same players.
England improved but were still no closer to equalising until he finally made his move, bringing on Cole Palmer. Admittedly, he was forced into doing so when Trippier pulled up injured. His next move, withdrawing the outstanding Kobbie Mainoo for Eberechi Eze, seemed to have little logic to it either.
Bringing on Ivan Toney for just three minutes of added time also seemed nonsensical. But it was the third change which made all the difference, as the Brentford striker’s presence created an element of chaos and freed up Bellingham to score from Kyle Walker’s throw-in.
Toney did more damage in extra-time, flicking the ball on for Kane to complete the quick-fire comeback. And in the extra period Eze came into his own, giving England some joy down the left flank at last. Southgate took a big risk with his final two substitutions, bringing on Conor Gallagher and Ezri Konsa for Bellingham and Kane.
Had Slovakia equalised and the game gone to penalties, it could have badly backfired. But the changes gave the wilting Three Lions an extra shot in the arm. Perhaps the manager is not so dumb after all…
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Getty ImagesLOSER: Marc Guehi
Guehi has been, by most estimations, England’s most consistent performer in Germany, but his tournament could already be over. The Crystal Palace star is suspended from the quarter-final against Switzerland after picking up a second booking of the tournament, and England will be very fortunate to make it through without him.
Guehi had earned a booking in the previous match against Slovenia, sacrificing himself for the team’s greater good and making a cynical foul after a mix-up between himself and John Stones. And against Slovakia, he also voluntarily took a booking in just the third minute, after a terrible pass from Trippier had released David Strelec.
The ex-Chelsea defender did not cover himself in glory when Slovakia scored as he was beaten in the air by Juraj Kucka, taking a blow to the shoulder in the process. But he kept a cool head and flicked Walker’s throw-in towards Bellingham, his small contribution to the turnaround. Let’s hope it’s not his last act of the tournament.
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Getty ImagesWINNER: Kobbie Mainoo
Midfield has been the area of greatest concern for England in the tournament and it is telling that the only changes Southgate has made to his starting line-up have been in the engine room. And after getting it so wrong by deploying Trent Alexander-Arnold there and then Gallagher, the manager finally got it right by picking Mainoo.
The Manchester United teenager had made a big difference to England’s overall play against Slovenia when he came on at the start of the second half and he simply had to start here. Mainoo did not disappoint, and he was the only England player who had the courage to take the ball, run at his opponents and create passages of play.
The irony is that Mainoo had been taken off by the time England turned the match around, but Southgate must turn to him again against Switzerland.
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Getty ImagesLOSER: Slovakia
Even the most ardent of England fans had to feel for their opponents as they lay crestfallen on the turf, having strained every sinew in their bodies for 120 minutes. Slovakia are ranked 45th in the world and this was their fourth outing in a major tournament as an independent nation. They have still never won a knockout match, and they are unlikely to ever get closer than they did here.
Coach Francesco Calzona, who since February has been juggling his duties with the national team with being interim manager of Napoli, produced a perfect game-plan to nullify England, pressing their full-backs and deservedly taking the lead. Once ahead, they stifled their opponents and ensured they had no shots on target until the game went into stoppage time.
They were ultimately undone by a moment of genius from Bellingham and switching off at the start of extra-time. They should be so proud of how they penned England into their box for most of the extra period, but they will also be kicking themselves that they got so close to pulling off their greatest result, yet ultimately fell short.
Source Goal.com
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