Another tournament, another England failure. Whether it be a penalty shoot out, a costly send off or just a set of poor performances, the English National team will always find a way to disappoint at the Euro’s or a World Cup. This year is the 50th anniversary of our only major triumph – the World Cup win of ‘66. Some have called this win a millstone around the current players necks! Really? So what happened half a century ago is impeding the team now? To be fair, it is easy to point at many factors that need addressing. What is not so easy is to find a solution. This Euro campaign really did see some major gaffs though.
Watching England against Iceland was for me, very much like watching Manchester United play Leicester last season. One team, full of misfits, led by a short stocky guy who wants to play in midfield and up front all at the same time, a team that wants to keep possession at all costs, play a team that fight, work and press, defend in numbers and when they throw players forward are as sharp as a tack and physically dominant. Whilst both these domestic games ended in draws, the latter of course played to these strengths all season and won the League!
Why do we play countless friendlies in apparent desire to try new formula’s and players, and then put our captain in an untried role for the very first game of the Tournament? What was the point of the friendlies? Why do we need to rotate players all the time, why not stick to our best team and bring others in when injuries or suspensions happen? It is not like the reserve players do not play on the big stage in the domestic leagues and need exposure? Leicester and Spurs success last season was down to continuity and hard work (pressing). Both broke the super rich clubs top four dominance with this method. Times are a changing for possession dominated football and rotation for rotations sake.
Why did we play so many players that were so obviously “shot” at the end of the PL season? Why was our best midfield player played when he had missed virtually the entire domestic season with injury and was so obviously not up to speed in the pre-tournament friendlies? Why was our Captain Wonderful marking an Icelandic 6’3” mountain at that throw in for the first goal – oh that’s right, he now wants to play in a holding midfield role – or was that an attacking midfield role – next week he wants to score goals again playing behind the main striker. Similar mistakes have been made with big name players before, like the eternity we kept playing Lampard and Gerrard in the same team when it clearly did not work. No one had the balls to drop one of them – going back further now, it reminds me of the rotation of Clemence and Shilton in goal, no, let’s not go there! But surely, the best team is the team that works in unison with all cogs working rather than picking the biggest names and fitting them in?
If the manager was to make changes, why were they not useful ones? Hart’s form was obviously not good, he was badly at fault too for Bales goal against Wales. Is he really that good he can’t be dropped? Most keepers would have saved Iceland’s winner as well? Clyne’s form against Slovakia screamed “don’t drop me” but dropped he was and it was rotation for rotations sake when Walker stepped back in against Iceland.
I could go on and I am sure you have many other theories you may wish to add. Perhaps you may disagree with some of mine? These International games are obviously not played at the same pace as the PL games. The low injury toll, especially hamstrings, is a clear indicator of that. To end on a positive though, for me the standard of refereeing at the Euro’s has been fantastic. I might be wrong but can anyone remember a game where a team has “apparently” been robbed by an official in this tournament? They have let the game flow, been conservative with the cards, I think only a couple of players have been sent off and for once they have not been the centre of attention? There seems to be a “new vision” that is picking up on dives in the penalty area too? Whilst the pace of the games is slower, surely the English officialdom can start a new learning process here too – why has the refereeing been so successful? What can we learn? How do we improve? Or will we again be putting our heads in the sand, continuing on the way we are because we arrogantly think we really are the best – despite not winning anything in 50 years?