No one should be surprised by England’s dour performances at the European Championships. It has always been like this under Gareth Southgate.
In Harry Kane, we have the Bundesliga top scorer. Jude Bellingham and Phil Foden were named Player of the Year in La Liga and the Premier League last season. These are some of the best attacking talents on the world.
Add in Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice, John Stones and Kyle Walker, we have some truly world class players by anyone’s standards.
The issue is not the players. It is the manager.
Southgate is simply not a top a manager. He is of the mindset of a David Moyes or Roy Hodgson. He sets his teams up to “not lose” a game, rather than to win.
Ask Crystal Palace fans about Hodgson, or Weat Ham about Moyes. Their annoyance is that they set up defensively regardless of whether they are playing Manchester City at the top of the league or Sheffield United at the bottom.
These world class talents have flourished under Pep Guardiola, Thomas Tuchel, Carlo Ancelotti and Mikel Arteta.
Four of the best managers in the world who play front foot, attacking football.
All Southgate had to do was adopt the tactics of Arsenal or Manchester City, and say to the players “go out and play how you do for your clubs”. Instead, he adopts the tactics of West Ham and we wonder we brilliant attacking players are underperforming.
Crystal Palace are a perfect example of the impact of coaches.
In the likes of Michael Olise, Eberechi Eze, Jean-Philippe Mateta and Odsonne Édouard, they have some fabulous attackers. But under Hodgson, they scored just 28 goals in 25 games last season, winning only 6 games.
Hodgson was sacked after 25 games and Oliver Glasner took over.
In the final 13 games of the season, Palace scored 29 goals and won 7 games.
They were the 5th highest goal scorers in the Premier League under Glasner against the 4th lowest scorers under Hodgson.
Southgate is wasting some of the best attacking players in world footba by telling them to play cautiously, so pass sideways and backwards.
Yes, he has had some “success” for England. But is that success due to his tactics or the players England have?
Many England fans celebrate Southgate for getting us to a Euro’s final and World Cup semi final. But in both of the games we were were knocked out, we played too defensively, invited opponents on. A better manager would have achieved more.
And most of the fans backing him support smaller clubs who have never seen any success on their life. So their barometer on what is a good tournament would be lower than a fan of Arsenal, Liverpool or Manchester City.
England need to be dominating teams, playing in the final 3rd and taking risks to score goals.
My only hope is this is Southgate’s last tournament. That his replacement is someone who plays front foot football.
Before we know it, this generation of players will be gone. Retired. And who knows what is coming through next?
Southgate, Moyes and Hodgson are all great for teams who just want to survive. They are not the managers to make a team thrive.
Keenos
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon 