Will the Gareth Southgate cheerleaders (and the bookies) be proved right after all? | OneFootball

Football, the beautiful game, is also a game of opinions. Here’s my view on the England run at Euro 24.

Before a ball was kicked, I assumed Gareth Southgate and his team were widespread favourites at 4/1, not because they were most likely to win the championship, but because fools and their money are soon parted.

When the bookies ranked them above Spain, Germany, France and the rest, it was to lure the punters into “investing” at the prospect of easy money.

After all, who wouldn’t like to turn a tenner into £50 after a mere month of thrills and spills? Sadly, when watching England, thrills and spills have been as rare as steak tartare.

For what it’s worth, I stuck a massive £4 on Spain, who were 8/1 fifth favourites when Germany kicked off the tournament against the Jocks.

So far, I have had an easier time of things and a lot more enjoyment watching the Iberians than watching Ingurrlunt, though even Spain sometimes struggle to shoot, such is their predilection for pass, pass and more pass. It’s a good job Luis de la Fuente hasn’t found the time to enter Mastermind. He would be a record breaker!

Without counting chickens prematurely, I would suggest Spain are still the likeliest champions. Even the biased bookies agree, making them 2/1 favourites after the quarter-finals, just ahead of England at 5/2.

But what about the football? Where England have been pedestrian, overly cautious and lacking in energy, Spain have displayed pace, skill and some memorable movement.

England scored two goals in their three group games and conceded one. Spain scored five and conceded none.

In the round of 16, England got out of jail against Slovakia with a brilliant goal from Bellingham and a typical Kane poach. Spain conceded first against Georgia but then scored four in reply.

And in the quarter-finals, Spain overcame the hosts 2-1, while England, after producing what has been described as their best performance so far, had to rely on penalties to overcome the Swiss. The penalties from Palmer, Bellingham, Saka, Toney and Alexander-Arnold were universally excellent. The save from Pickford was routine. And the performance in the preceding 120-plus minutes? Mediocre, epitomised by that memorable 16 seconds when England moved the ball from an attacking corner kick on their left all the way back to the keeper, without one Swiss player touching it. Even the world’s biggest fan of possession-based football would struggle to justify that passage of play.

While the opposition certainly struggle to score if they don’t have the ball, so do those in possession when they move around the pitch like a seasick crab.

Football is, of course, also a results business. On that score, Gareth Southgate has been a success, a bigger success than any England manager since Sir Alf Ramsey. Not that the man formerly known for his choice in waistcoats has actually got his hands on a trophy…  yet. However, he has overseen a team who have reached two semi-finals and a final. He has had eight years in the job, with only Sir Bobby surviving that long in the past 50 years. The results have justified his tenure.

Up to a point, Lord Copper. During his time in charge, England have reaped the benefits of massive investment in player development, through the elite club academies and the youth work at St George’s Park. In 2017, England won the under-20 World Cup and the European under-19 championship, while also reaching the final of the Euro under-17 tournament.

Among the under-20 goalscorers in South Korea seven years ago were Dominic Solanke, Ademola Lookman, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Adam Armstrong. Freddie Woodman was in goal, while Fikayo Tomori and Kyle Walker-Peters were mainstays in defence.

None of them was even close to selection for Euro 24. Which proves one of two things: elite players, who become regulars for their country at senior level, are better than age-group world champions; or that something is lacking in the management.

Southgate was rightly lauded in the early years for reviving an England camp that looked dispirited and disjointed at Euro 2016.

Having won every match in the qualifiers for that tournament, Roy Hodgson’s team spluttered and struggled into the round of 16, where they lost 2-1 to the might of Iceland (the nation, not the frozen food store).

The last XI he selected was, of course, a 4-3-3. With a familiar face at right-back and another at centre-forward, this was the line-up in front of Joe Hart: Walker, Cahill, Smalling, Rose; Alli, Dier, Rooney; Sturridge, Kane, Sterling.

Every critic had a field day after that abject defeat. Rooney, seemingly not good enough in his principal position, was shoehorned into midfield. Ring any bells, eight years on? Kane taking corner kicks. A shot-shy bunch of forwards. A lack of width in attacking areas…

The more things change, the more they stay the same. The head coach was accused of tactical woolliness, of not knowing his most effective formation and of failing to get the best out of his players. Those bells are deafening…

Man for man, the team Southgate is likely to field against the Dutch look superior to those humbled by Iceland, but will today’s England play with the dynamism displayed by Turkey for much of their quarter-final? Van Dijk and Ake, to name but two, looked distinctly uncomfortable on Sunday night when put under the sort of pressure they rarely face when cruising through Premier League matches.

Who among England’s squad of 26 is capable of harrying defenders to that degree? Certainly not Kane on current form. For all their scoring exploits, neither Toney nor Watkins has the express pace required.

Only one forward fits the bill. After a stellar season with his club, Anthony Gordon has been afforded all of four minutes in this tournament. Nothing being leaked to the media suggests he will muddy his boots again at Euro 24. We are told the squad are united, that team spirit has never been higher, that the players would sweat blood for their beloved head coach.

If all that is true, can anybody explain why Gordon has been frozen out? I’m at a loss, by no means for the first time when trying to comprehend Southgate’s selectorial decisions.

Loyalty is a valued and valuable quality but there is a thin line between loyalty and stubbornness. Consider these synonyms: obstinacy, pigheadedness, intransigence. Loyalty becomes far less attractive when it excludes a willingness to change, however blatant the need.

England are two games away from becoming champions of Europe for the first time.

At their best, with the right line-up and formation, they are capable of bringing home the bacon, but if they do, it will be despite, rather than because of, their manager. He has turned a silk purse into a sow’s ear.