BLANKENHAIN — England‘s only tournament-primed centre-half, John Stones, did not appear on the second day of practice ahead of Euro 2024.
The Manchester City defender is said to be quarantined in his hotel room with illness and is now a major doubt for Sunday’s opening match against Serbia.
The news does little to ease concerns about England’s defensive frailties ahead of kick-off, the more so after Stones limped out of the final warm-up game against Iceland on Friday.
Gareth Southgate’s first choice centre-half, Harry Maguire, did not make the squad. His only left-footed defender, Luke Shaw, is not fit enough to start the tournament.
Of the four centre-halves other than Stones – Lewis Dunk, Marc Guehi, Joe Gomez and Ezri Konsa – none have been tested at a major tournament.
England arrived at their bucolic training base in former East Germany on the back of two underwhelming warm-up games at Wembley, one of which they lost to Iceland.
Preparations have been further disturbed by speculation surrounding Gareth Southgate, whose regeneration of England over the past eight years has made him the principal target of Manchester United.
This was supposed to be the moment the most talented England squad since 1966 emulated their World Cup winning forebears at a major tournament.
Progress has been sustained and obvious under Southgate, who has transformed the culture of the England experience with commensurate results. Reports in German newspaper Bild suggests even he understands his England leadership is at a pivotal point. Win or bust is how Bild expressed it.
The sense that circumstances are beginning to crowd England is hard to ignore despite the upbeat soundings from the players. Asked about England’s supposed issues in defence, Dunk bristled impressively.
“That’s your opinion and you’re entitled to it,” said Dunk. “But inside the dressing room, inside the camp we’re confident as ever and we wouldn’t be here if the manager didn’t think we could play for England so I don’t see why that would be the case.”
At 32, Dunk has the greater Premier League experience in the centre of defence and should Stones fail to recover would be an obvious pick alongside Guehi, despite the error against Belgium in March that allowed Romelu Lukaku to score Belgium’s second goal.
“It is not nice making a mistake in club or international football. No one wants to do that,” Dunk said. “But that is part of football and it is how you deal with that mistake and finish the rest of the game. After that I felt I did alright.”
There is about Dunk an undeniable positivity. He appears as uncomplicated a human as he is a footballer. He points out that though this is his first tournament, as a veteran of more than 450 games he has marked some of the best in the world without feeling second best.
“I bring my style of play and my experience of football. Just because I have not played a tournament does not mean I’m not experienced at football.
“I have probably come up against every scenario in football. Obviously this tournament is of a different magnitude. The Europa League experience this year would have helped me a lot. Playing against European teams and coming up against different players. I’m just going to bring me to this camp and hopefully I’m there when called up to help the squad.”
Though Southgate has not addressed Sunday’s defensive alignment directly the team focused on defensive planning during Wednesday’s session.
Whoever lines up in the middle of the defence, the absence of Shaw forces Southgate to continue the awkward compromise at left-back where the limitations of right-footed alternatives proved problematic in both warm up games.
The selection of Kieran Trippier at left-back against Iceland was compounded by the deployment of his equally right-footed Newcastle team-mate Anthony Gordon in front of him.
As a result, England’s left side was an offensive dead zone, with England unable to get around the back of the well-marshalled Iceland defence.
The return of Bukayo Saka on the right would at least permit the selection of Phil Foden on the left. Given the attacking alternatives available to Southgate, England could even experiment with Saka in the left-back role, a position he fulfilled earlier in his Arsenal career.
It is in the depth of England’s attacking options that Dunk and his team-mates are ultimately invested, the belief that the talent pool is rich enough to prevail whatever problems they encounter.
“Gareth has top, top players that allow us to play with a bit more freedom. Once you let these attacking players play with freedom they can be frightening.”
If Dunk’s insouciance is reflected on the pitch then England might yet reach the heights promised in the last three tournaments.
England were unfortunate to lose to France in the World Cup quarter-finals in Qatar, a display of more authority than the semi-final defeat against Croatia in Russia or the Euro final against Italy.
However, the build-up has not been without tension, and defensive issues remain a worry.
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/r8SswGY
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