You know what, looking back now and Southgate responding to why he didn't play a back 3 - his first response was how Spain would outnumber us. The whole tactical plan in the final was just how he could minimise risk for us - having Foden was pointless if he was going to man mark Rodri. Nothing was set up to make Spain worry about us. It was all about reacting to Spain. Everything was set up cautiously. I'm so grateful for the good things he has done, but also so annoyed that we've lost games due to his poor tactics where we should have won one of these finals.
People focus on Southgate’s biggest flaw being his negative approach but we’ve lost so many big games because he just doesn’t see or adapt the system to glaring flaws. The right side of the pitch was a complete mess and we eventually conceded because their left back had the whole pitch to run into. It was not as if it only happened once. Fair enough Walker’s getting slated for positioning but people are losing runners all around him and there is massive space on that side to be exploited. This seems to just get ignored. This is no different to the 2018 WC when Croatia pinned our wing backs back and he did absolutely nothing.
I think first and foremost he sets up looking to be pragmatic and nullify rather than focusing on what we can bring, that's my biggest issue with Southgate. But yes, he was awful at adapting in game, he never once made a tactical switch when required in the important games we've had and left substitutions far too late when it was clear 20/30 minutes earlier that something needed to change. In game management was awful. I still think 2021 was our big missed opportunity and it's criminal that Rashford, Sancho, Saka, Grealish all started on the bench and aside from Saka none got any minutes of note to change the game. No change was made to reassert ourselves in that game against a pretty average side who were very well coached
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/f...te-Bukayo-Saka-Jeff-Powell-England-Euros.html This is a an interesting if not very brutal review.
The Athletic reveal that Grealish led the camp when he wasn’t selected in angry at Southgate mood and that Kane was the senior player who had a meeting with Southgate to discuss it. And that players wondered if Henderson and Maguire should have been there. And that the FA told the press off leaking the team - it’s written in a Way that sort of implies that the FA used to be relaxed about leaks. https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5636625/2024/07/15/inside-england-euro-2024-shock-fear-heartbreak/
https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/29306452/danny-dyer-england-wags-families-euros/ Danny Dier reveals some of the players families who didn’t get much paying time had some tension with families of the some of the regulars.
I've watched the game back again and the 1st goal; Walker was having to sprint back and was outnumbered with two runners. Spain completely carved us open on that counter and Shaw was caught out of position with Lamal. Walker had to make a decision between tracking Dani Olmo's run or Nico Williams. Ofc he chose Olmo and Williams scored. But it was a brilliantly worked goal where Spain completely exploited the use of the space and overloaded us on the counter. Really dont think we can be too harsh and single out Walker for that 1st goal. It was also the result of where (psychologically) we sat in a low block the entire first half. Probably tried to come out of the stops for the 2nd half more aggressively (higher up the pitch) and paid the price immediately from leaving so much space in behind. England have this systemic problem. Whenever we go up against the best teams in tournament knockouts, we simply do not keep the ball well enough and our style of football gets exposed. In the Croatia and Italy games, we score first, which allowed us to sit in a low block for the rest of the game and eek out a result or penalties. This Spain team completely exposed both England and Southgates style of football. Because as soon as they scored first, we obviously had to continue with a high line (being a goal down). And consequently they kept carving us open time and time again and it could of been easily 3 or 4 nil. This is going to be an issue that's not going to be fixed until we have a playing style that can keep possession better against the best teams in the world, which is another topic in itself. But whatever way you look at it, Southgates philosophy is not the answer and never was..
“England’s energy levels drop”. Headline in official technical report of #EURO2024 final by @UEFA technical observers, inc Moyes, Solskjaer, Capello, Benitez. Concluded that “#ENG had not used the ball well enough” in the loss to #ESP. Moyes: "England couldn’t get on the ball as…— Henry Winter (@henrywinter) July 23, 2024