THE past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.
So the saying goes, but what is not made clear is how much time must pass in this foreign landscape before change occurs. A generation? A decade? A year? What about four days?
England fans will be hoping the latter is a sufficient period because right now the Three Lions are in critical need of change in Germany. They have to do things differently on Tuesday evening or their Euro dreams are in grave danger of going up in smoke.
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Tweaking will not suffice. Dropping in this player for that. Nor will a greater intensity though a better press would be very much welcomed and is frankly essential. At least then a flawed game-plan would be semi-functional and not disastrous.
No, reinvention is required. A new approach, because as we’ve all witnessed across the last two matches, the old approach simply doesn’t work.
This shambolic situation is all on Gareth Southgate, it has to be. The England manager has overseen thousands of minutes of friendlies, and thousands of minutes of competitive fixtures, and thinks about his most productive England eleven every single day of his life. That’s his job, one that he gets extremely well paid to do incidentally. To ponder which eleven players offer balance and cohesion. Which collective will gel and complement one another, while facilitating key individuals to shine.
Yet a week into a major tournament the manager remains none the wiser about how to get a tune from his best players, or indeed which positions to station them in. That is confounding. What has he been doing all this time?
Did Southgate wake up on the eve of Euro 2024 and find to his astonishment that he possessed two truly world class talents who both excel doing the same role? Was he flabbergasted during England’s first training session in Blankenhain to discover that Harry Kane may be a magnificently lethal centre-forward but he barely presses? Did he not consider for a moment that deploying a 33-year-old out-of-form right-back on the left might not be the shrewdest move without a specialist left-sided player ahead of him?
As for the middle of the park, Southgate had this to say on Trent Alexander-Arnold being hit but mainly miss so far. “We don’t have a natural replacement for Kalvin Phillips, but we’re trying some different things.”
Phillips hasn’t been a regular starter for his country since his shoulder injury two years ago. It also goes without saying that friendlies and – at a push – qualifiers are when you ‘try different things’, not in the throes of a European Championship.
But now England must. Now it’s imperative and we all know why because we’ve watched them twice-over and failed to comprehend how a team made up of so many elite players could play so abjectly.
Against Serbia, Southgate’s men were timid and passive for the most part, noticeably unsure of themselves. Against Denmark they were even worse, losing possession as the norm, usually because the only option available to the player was a pass he didn’t want to make.
That’s a great big red flag that the shape wasn’t right, nor was it to the player’s liking.
Exacerbating matters, too often they went down the right, their build-up ponderous and as predictable as a Tory scandal.
That was on the rare occasions when England dared to venture forward, the rest of the time maintaining a carapace of cowardice deep inside their half. Many have suggested that this self-defeating uber-caution stems from Southgate’s coaching. Just as likely, the players are so distrustful of the cards they’ve been dealt they’re choosing to fold every hand.
Whatever the cause, the effect is damaging. On Thursday, England faced 16 attempts on their goal and it’s been a long, long time since that has happened. I went through every game to check and gave up around 2020.
So what now? Three at the back? That would solve problems higher up the pitch but potentially create more in defence.
What about the popular choice of Jude Bellingham slotting in alongside Declan Rice, giving Phil Foden free rein in the playmaker role? For all that the Real Madrid star struggled against Denmark he has made nine successful tackles in his two outings so far and has been excellent as a number 6 previously for his country.
Moreover, that would afford a place for Eberechi Eze and Spain haven’t fared too badly with two flying wingers either side of a seasoned poacher, have they?
Failing that, there is Anthony Gordon, whose ferocious pressing and direct running would aid Kane immeasurably.
Other alternatives include placing a good deal of trust on the young shoulders of Adam Wharton, a player whose chief attribute of passing progressively and accurately would unquestionably improve England. There is even the gamble of rushing Luke Shaw back and hoping his hamstring holds up.
The positive slant from all this is that Gareth Southgate has options within his squad to correct a series of wrongs. It is still far from ideal though that experiment and risk is needed going into a must-win clash.
And must-win it certainly is, with an easier route afforded to the team that tops Group C.
It concerns therefore that Slovenia are unbeaten in eight and furthermore possess a striker in Benjamin Sesko who is as much a threat from range as in the box. In nets meanwhile, Jan Oblak more than has the pedigree to frustrate Kane and co.
At least though in Cologne we can anticipate what to expect, even if Tuesday’s opponents are presided over by Matjaz Kek, one of the shrewdest tacticians around.
Slovenia will not waste too much time elaborately constructing attacks but instead will look to hit their wide men early, and this is backed up by the fact that they have made half the number of England’s passes but have accrued twice as many crosses.
At the back meanwhile they will be a tough nut to crack, a hard-working, well-protected back four and an industrious midfield totaling 84 ball recoveries in their two contests.
Whether Southgate’s revised side – in whatever form it takes – have the wherewithal to crack that nut remains to be seen though it doesn’t bode well that in their third group game across the last seven major tournaments England have only scored multiple goals on one occasion.
The past is a foreign country, but sometimes it speaks the same language.
Back England to win but at under 2.5 goals @ 5/4
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