Why Southgate can’t afford to suffocate England attack
For so long, England were criticised for a lack of game management; a lack of nous and an inability to see out matches, especially in tournament football. The “slow death”.
They exited the 2014 World Cup after just eight days and Wayne Rooney sat in their suddenly redundant training base in Rio de Janeiro and spoke softly about the need to be more streetwise.
Given his England career began in 2003, Rooney was well-placed to analyse tournament failures and although, for a while, the regime of Roy Hodgson was lauded for a more pragmatic approach, in reality, England were merely limited, and his reign ended in one of the most humiliating — and naive — defeats of them all against Iceland in 2016.
It is through that prism, and the shortcomings of the England teams
under Fabio Capello and Sven-Goran Eriksson, that Gareth Southgate’s approach must be assessed.
“We have not been able to put that intensity of performance together, but what we have done well is manage the games and see the games out and look really solid,” Southgate argued after the 1-0 win over the Czech Republic, securing top spot in Group D.
It was telling that the manager sat his players down last weekend and showed them statistics to prove that it is often nations who do not start tournaments with outstanding 100 per cent records who go on to win
them, with Portugal the most obvious case in point. They drew all three of their group games at Euro 2016 before triumphing.
With that, England’s seven points from three matches is a respectable return, as is the three clean sheets they have collected. In fact, England have conceded only one goal in their past nine games, winning eight of them — albeit none of those matches has been against an elite team.
The challenge that awaits on Wednesday against Germany will be very different, but at least Southgate finally has an extended period on the training pitches at St George’s Park to prepare — four clear days, after yesterday’s recovery day, which he has not had since the last World Cup.
The question now is whether England need to leaven their pragmatism with a little more adventure. Conservative performances in the group stage can be excused given the disruption caused to England by injuries and Covid curveballs.
But if England were to tumble out of the tournament in the last 16 on the back of four cautious displays, that would be harder to justify, particularly with the attacking talent Southgate has to call on.
The real test now begins, and against historically formidable opponents in Germany. As he put it himself after the win over the Czechs, England must “find different ways to win”. If he fails, Southgate knows he will stand accused of holding England back.