England qualified for the round of 16 of the European Championship with a 0-0 draw against Slovenia, meaning they win Group C.
Gareth Southgate’s side have been disappointing in their first two matches of the tournament and there were few signs of revolution in the first half of their group final on Tuesday night. England dominated possession but managed only four shots on target and a goal from Bukayo Saka which was disallowed for offside by Phil Foden.
Southgate brought off midfielder Conor Gallagher at half-time for Kobbie Mainoo, which suggests a slightly improved performance, but ultimately a goalless score against the team ranked 57th in the world (England are fifth) will not inspire not much confidence as she heads into the knockout stage. .
Slovenia are also ranked third and will have to wait until the end of the group stage on Wednesday to see who they face in the round of 16. They finished with an identical record to group runners-up Denmark (including receiving the same number of yellow cards in all three matches) but lost because they were in a lower position in the European qualifying standings than the Danes .
Danny Taylor, Oliver Kay, Mark Carey, Dan Sheldon and Will Jeanes analyze the key moments of the match.
Why did Jude Bellingham go crazy? Yes, a phrase that didn’t seem very likely when he scored that Bryan Robson-style header in the opening win over Serbia nine days ago.
The hard truth, however, is that we haven’t really seen Bellingham Peak since. We only get sporadic glimpses of his genius – because so much of it is genius – and that seems to be a problem when England struggle for cohesion in attack.
(Marvin Ibo Guengoer – GES Sportfoto/Getty Images)
Build them to tear them down? No way. If you like football, you have to admire this guy’s talent. Yet Bellingham was so inconsistent at times against Slovenia (and grumpy with them) that it wouldn’t have been entirely surprising if Gareth Southgate had toyed with the idea of taking him out, putting Phil Foden in the middle and ‘introduce Anthony Gordon to the position. offensive role on the left side.
It never happened, but it must be a concern for Southgate, especially when Bellingham’s lackluster performance for Real Madrid in the Champions League final earlier this month is also fresh on the mind.
Danny Taylor
Did the English press seem more animated?
While England qualified on Monday evening without touching the ball thanks to the final scores of the other matches, the focus here was on a strong performance as much as the result – particularly out of possession.
Their poor performance against Denmark on Thursday resulted in a specific admission from Gareth Southgate.
“We know that with the profile of players we have, we don’t feel like the way of pressing is really at the top of the pitch,” Southgate said. “We don’t think it’s the physical level of the team at the moment.”
So all eyes were on England’s defensive approach against Slovenia. The verdict? Better, but still not great. Against Denmark, England’s 26 passes allowed per defensive action (PPDA) – a measure where a lower number denotes a more active pressing approach – was the lowest pressing intensity they have recorded over the course of their matches at Euro 2020, the 2022 World Cup and Euro 2024. .
Tuesday’s group final saw an improvement, with 11 passes allowed before making a defensive move. Of course, the caveat being that England dominated possession for long periods, meaning there were fewer opportunities to win the ball back and show defensive improvement.
The intention was clear from the first minute, when Harry Kane headed towards goalkeeper Jan Oblak, supported by Phil Foden, to pin his opponents. There were a few more occasions in the first half where England woke up their supporters in the stands with great force. -it took aggressiveness to recover the ball high up, but the coordination of individual races was still sometimes lacking.
You can give Southgate’s side some credit for improving on their out-of-possession performance on Thursday, but, in truth, it could hardly have been much worse.
Marc Carey
Conor Gallagher experiment fails
Southgate dropped Trent Alexander-Arnold in favor of Conor Gallagher, only to replace the Chelsea midfielder at half-time with Manchester United’s Kobbie Mainoo.
Gallagher made virtually no impact next to Declan Rice, moving the ball forward seven times from 20 passes during his 45 minutes. It wasn’t really anything to shout about, and perhaps dispels the notion that Alexander-Arnold was holding the team back against Serbia and Denmark.
(Pablo Morano/BSR Agency/Getty Images)
Gallagher’s half ended without him completing a dribble, creating a chance, winning a tackle or making a shot. However, he lost possession four times.
Southgate experimented with Alexander-Arnold, and it didn’t work. He then turned to Gallagher, and that didn’t work either.
Both players will no doubt feel mistreated, with an argument that Gallager was left out by the England manager after just 45 minutes here, so it will be interesting to see who Southgate plays alongside Rice in the last 16. tied for third place to be determined on Sunday.
And Sheldon
England’s left-sided problem: a review
Much was made of England’s left flank causing them problems with possession and loss of possession against Denmark, with their right side looking comparatively more active – and stronger – with Bukayo Saka supported by Kyle Walker overlapping.
In contrast, the left side was England’s most targeted flank against Slovenia, with 42 per cent of their attacking touches taking place in this third of the pitch – their highest share across the three group matches.
Phil Foden was floating around the pitch again, but there was some decent turnover as he, Kieran Trippier and Declan Rice looked to create triangles and combine. As Foden came in, Jude Bellingham dropped back down the left side and tried to create momentum.
Overall, there weren’t many exciting moments to shout about, but it was telling that Southgate’s side went much more towards that side of the pitch after such a disappointment in their previous game.
Marc Carey
England booed again
For the second time in three Euro 2024 matches, England were booed by their supporters at the final whistle after putting in a terribly disappointing performance. Gareth Southgate and the players attempted to applaud the supporters but were met with boos and jeers.
But this miserable draw against Slovenia was enough to confirm first place in Group C with a victory and two draws (and only two goals scored) in three matches. A group which recorded five draws in six matches equaled the lowest ever number of goals scored (seven) in the first phase of a European Championship.
England’s reward will be facing a third-placed team in Gelsenkirchen on Sunday (5 p.m. UK time, noon ET). It could well be the Netherlands, after their 3-2 defeat to Austria earlier today, but the draw will not be confirmed until the final two groups are completed tomorrow (Wednesday). Get over it and they will face the winners of Saturday’s encounter between Switzerland and defending champions Italy.
The list of potential semi-final opponents doesn’t seem too daunting either. And with Spain, Germany, Portugal and France all in the other half of the table, there is a feeling that the round of 16 table looks favoring England, just as it did in the 2018 World Cup, when she reached the semi-finals. finals by beating Colombia (on penalties) and Sweden while the heavyweights fell one after the other on the other side of the table.
But let’s be frank about this: England have been turgid so far at Euro 2024. International tournaments are rarely won by teams playing smooth football from start to finish, but Gareth Southgate and his team have immensely work to do if they are to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the draw.
Olivier Kay
A word, perhaps, for Jordan Pickford, who has now kept more clean sheets in major tournaments than any other English goalkeeper in history.
(Marvin Ibo Guengoer – GES Sportfoto/Getty Images)
It was his 11th, putting him one ahead of Peter Shilton, and sometimes you have to wonder if the Everton man deserves a little more praise for his international record.
There are only four goalkeepers – Shilton (125), David Seaman (75), Joe Hart (75) and Gordon Banks (73) – with more England caps. And, while there are better ways to judge a goalkeeper than simply adding up their clean sheets, it’s still an achievement that Pickford beat a true great like Shilton.
Danny Taylor
Group C will not be remembered
There were only seven goals scored in the six matches in Group C, equaling the record for the lowest-scored group in European Championship history.
The only other time there were so few goals scored in a group was in 2016, when Germany, Poland, Northern Ireland and Ukraine engaged in a snoozefest in what was also the group C. Only one match in this group ended 0-0 (Germany v Poland), but there were two in the group this year (tonight’s matches).
Will Jeanes
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(Top photo: Getty Images)