Dancing in the streets of Dortmund, princes down with the lads, a message of congratulation from the King. We are all behind Gareth now. Like a vessel stuck in the Mersey, Southgate took an age to turn this England ship around. But nothing is won yet.
This is no time to revert to caution. A fearless Spain await on Sunday, an opponent that would love nothing more than two banks of four to pick apart with their dashing wingers. The torpor of the group stage is mercifully behind is. Southgate finally arrived at a system that gets the best of his talented group, none more so than Phil Foden, who for the first time in the tournament looked like Phil Foden.
Perhaps Southgate used as energy the heavy criticism that fell upon England’s remote enclave in Blankenhain. Castle walls that have held for 900 years were powerless to keep out the censure and opprobrium of fans and media, who did not like what they were seeing. When Gary Lineker hits the fan, you know you are in trouble.
However, the leap was made from back-four to back-three. The template is set. Spain, powered by twin turbos left and right, Nico Williams Jr and the remarkable Lamine Yamal, for two days yet still only 16, fancy themselves to beat anybody. But England, having found the keys to adventure, have their weapons too.
Getting to this point triggered a vehement philosophical debate around an England team led by a coach anchored to a pragmatic world view. Despite his understandable unease at criticism that became personal, Southgate has his defenders. They point to his record in major tournaments; nine wins in the knockout stages of major tournaments to date, three more than all the managers combined between 1968 and 2016 when he took over.
The final in Berlin is England’s first on foreign soil. This is clearly worthy of praise, yet, should England fail on Sunday, Southgate will have left England where he found them, with only one major trophy in the cabinet. If, as the argument goes, it’s all about winning, then, however harsh it sounds and however good it felt on Wednesday, it amounts to nil money in the bank.
The opening half an hour against Serbia and the Dutch display apart, Southgate has presided over an awful tournament. This followed a period of uninspiring displays this year in which they lost to Brazil and Iceland and drew against Belgium, all at home. The sense that opportunity was draining away felt entirely valid. The frustration of watching arguably England’s most talented group since 1966 trapped in and endless loop of sideways and backwards movement, was too much for right-thinking folk to bear. Even Lineker reached for the s**t bomb.
Southgate’s greatest achievement had been to make England fun again for the players and the fans. The sense of optimism was spawned by the march to the semi-finals in Russia six years ago, followed by the narrow defeat on penalties at the last Euros final, and latterly the quarter-final defeat to France at the World Cup in Qatar, which was arguably Southgate’s highwater mark since England were arguably the better team in a thrilling contest.
But all that momentum seemed to have been lost in Germany, where Southgate was slow to accept there was any kind of problem. He steadfastly stuck to his players and formations when it was clear change was required. “Your best players are your best players,” was his mantra. Yes, but they were nowhere near playing at their best.
Southgate retreated behind a siege mentality. He spoke of the disturbing and disruptive “noise” about the camp, and saw the problem not as one of his making, but the inability of observers to see what he could see. This is inevitable when the rhythm and mood of an enclosed environment is designed to keep prying eyes from looking in. Yet he could not ignore the denunciation of former players and pundits, who filled the ether with their condemnations.
Southgate claimed his phone was off for the duration. Clearly the message got through and with it the truth, finally accepted by him, that performances were not good enough and something had to change. The fear is that, given his innate conservativism, Southgate reverts to caution in the face of the Spanish threat.
Yes Spain are good, not least because they believe themselves to be so. There is no inhibition in the group. No self-doubt. The formation is set around a central axis of Rodri, Fabian Ruiz and Dani Olmo, supported by the flying wingers outside. France, led a by a coach in Didier Deschamps who is even more cautious than Southgate, sought to contain and hit on the counter.
France scored first then sat back, which invited the inevitable response. Spain were rampant for an hour, but they themselves slowed in the second half when France took the brakes off. That final 20 minutes points the way for England. Spain did not look so peachy with Bradley Barcola running at them.
For Barcola read Cole Palmer. England have the tools to take down any team, including Spain, but they can’t do that by being passive. They have to go at Spain like they did the Netherlands, who could not live with them in the opening 45 minutes, with Foden and Kobbie Mainoo controlling the match.
Palmer proved the key to victory with his incisive pass to Ollie Watkins. The goal came in the nick of time. Both Palmer and Watkins should have been on earlier. They might need to be on Sunday. For Southgate, history beckons. And who knows, perhaps an audience with the King. Arise Sir Gareth, anyone?
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/Ue5IaC2
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