Another Final Defeat Breeds more anger than it does sadness
Tom Ball
I wrote before the EURO 2020 Final, the piece was a heartfelt thank you to England. That tournament saw Southgate’s men expel a lot of demons, it saw them overcome many barriers the team had put in front of themselves. I sit here 3 years later, after losing a second consecutive final. This time, the emotion is anger as opposed to sadness and devastation.
England have a mentality problem, not just within the squad and staff, but in the FA as well. There is no denying the penalty shootout win and the moments that brought us back into games showed these squad have some character. But once again, when the lights shine the brightest, and glory is at its closest, England fell short.
EURO 2020 was an awesome stepping stone, something the players and coach could learn from. More bravery and creating superiority was required for England to make that final step. Three years and two tournaments later, England remain the same team.
They have an inferiority complex. They play like underdogs, not just in defensive pragmatism, but in their mindset. You can tell by the way Gareth coaches and the players play, that they don’t feel like they’re favourites. Yes, Spain were the favourites, but that’s precisely the problem.
The two lineups fielded would have been considered a mismatch by anyone who was showed them before the tournament started. Kane-Foden-Saka vs. Yamal-Morata-Williams, Rice-Mainoo-Bellingham vs. Fabian-Rodri-Olmo. England had more quality than arguably anyone at the tournament - all for them to go into the game as underdogs.
This idea that ‘Spain were just the better team’ is correct - but it shouldn’t be. England’s squad is more than capable of beating any side on the planet. The wins against Slovakia, Switzerland and the Netherlands were triumphs for the team’s bottle and mentality. However, they once again formulated this idea that England were lucky to be where they were. Even against a team who are inferior when it comes to man for man quality.
This has leaked into the media narrative surrounding the team with the pre-tournament discourse surrounding Jude Bellingham’s ability to be England’s saviour. He was fresh off a league and Champions League double with Real Madrid whilst being their leading scorer. An Adidas advert starring him and David Beckham portraying him as the man to drag England to glory.
This narrative surrounding Bellingham subverts what makes England’s squad so special this summer. Bellingham is not THE man, he was one superstar in a squad littered with some of Europe’s best from last season.
Bukayo Saka, Phil Foden, Jude Bellingham, Ollie Watkins, Harry Kane and Cole Palmer all registered at least 25 goals and assists in all competitions last season - enough to put all six of them in the top twenty for output in Europe’s top five leagues. England had, by far, the best and most in form attacking depth in the world last season.
Kyle Walker and John Stones have both won six Premier League titles and the Champions League a year ago. Trent Alexander-Arnold had won everything there is to win in football by the age of 23.
England’s players and their national team have made themselves arguably the deepest and most prolific footballing nation in the world over the last 5 years. Their teams have dominated appearances in the latter stages of European tournaments and their players are the best players for some of the biggest clubs in Europe. Why are we, once again, attempting to mould an individual saviour out of this team?
It was Gazza, then Becks, then Rooney and now Jude. These players are the subject of such a built up fantasy about their ability to lead England to glory, that they almost always become the villain. Social Media has been filled with many aiming abuse at Bellingham for how he has almost instantly become the centre of attention, his performances already under a microscope.
This mindset that we need to win via a saviour leaks into performances. Laboured, turgid football devoid of much structure with this sense of false arrogance that “we’ll score at some point”. An incredibly frustrating outlook given how exceptionally deep and talented this squad is.
An approach that seemed exacerbated by Southgate’s steely stubbornness. Something that has worked well in the past but toed the line between a slight hindrance and being downright baffling.
Bellingham was this mercurial, all conquering, goalscoring, box-to-box midfielder for Real Madrid and Dortmund, for England he is being used as a creative ten and then a left winger?
England scored five goals in this tournament in the 105 minutes Cole Palmer was on the pitch and three in 525 he was not on it. Yet he continued to be deployed as a late substitute.
Whilst this was happening, Phil Foden clearly wasn’t at home in his role for the entire tournament outside of that half hour against the Netherlands, but continued to be used in a similar capacity.
Kieran Trippier started every game bar the final as a left back. Something that limited England’s ability to use the left hand side in attacking build up because Trippier is right-footed. This continued until half-time of the Semi Final, despite Southgate having Joe Gomez on the bench and Levi Colwill and Ben Chilwell at home, all three spending much of last season playing left back.
As for Harry Kane, he’s been the talisman, the top scorer and the captain of this team for six years now. He looked lost and on a different wavelength to his teammates all tournament.
Structurally, England looked poor all tournament. Numerous players not suiting their roles. Yes, they got to the final, but now we really have to start looking at how England are getting to these finals.
This EUROs saw England get to the final through six performances that varied between awful and average, their quality reigning supreme. Each game was either drawn or won by 1 goal or on penalties. Despite them getting to the final, contextualising the standard of opponent and performances made it confusing that barely anything changed about the team’s approach throughout the tournament.
In the four tournaments Southgate has been in charge, they have beaten two established footballing nations: Germany in 2021 and the Netherlands in 2024. Two nations who were very far off their historical best.
This is a common argument for the Southgate critics, one I did not buy into for a while. However, since 2021, this team has barely improved, despite the personnel improving. The culture of the national team is in an incredible place, but I think it’s time to have a genuine discussion as to whether Southgate and his staff have taken this team as far as they can.
According to reports by Matt Law of The Telegraph, the FA want Southgate to stay on for the 2026 World Cup. I think it’s clear that the FA remain cautious about their next appointment. You go for one of three options:
1. Someone like Lee Carsley, England Under 21s Manager, who became a European Champion with the young lions last summer. This is the same job Southgate was promoted from in 2016.
2. Poach one of the very best and highest rated English coaches. Eddie Howe, Graham Potter and Gary O’neill to name some examples.
3. You find one of the very best managers in the world - Tuchel, Guardiola, Klopp etc.
All three of these options come with huge risks. Whilst England’s evolution and progression under Southgate seems like it has stagnated, you never feel like it’s going to go backwards. And the more times the team falls short, the more they will learn about themselves. This also ties in with Southgate being so popular with the players to make replacing a huge gamble that could send England going backwards.
There was a direct correlation this summer between the teams that played well and their coaches. Austria, Germany and Spain all had coaches with ideas. They understood their squad profile and weren’t afraid to leave out experienced players on include inexperienced ones. Teams like England, Portugal and France boasted the best squads at the tournament, but their coaches are ones who have only found success in international football. Pragmatic, stubborn football absent of any tactical flexibility or bravery.
This is where you draw a very strong line that splits Gareth Southgate as a manager for this England side. The job he has done at turning around the culture and atmosphere of this team. In 2016, they were fresh off an awful defeat to Iceland in EURO 2016 which then followed Roy Hodgson’s resignation and Sam Allardyce’s corruption scandal. The job Southgate has done in creating this team and culture from that in just 8 years is extraordinary and may go down as one of the most important and impactful periods in history of the England national team.
However, his tactical limitations are becoming too glaring with such a talented squad to ignore, and eight years in charge without much evolution in the last three raises a lot of questions about what the direction of England is moving forward.