Death and taxes

The Final: Spain 2 - England 1

I had to sleep on the result before posting, as my reaction is quite complicated to reconcile. On the one hand, we lost to a superior Spain, made a match of it, threatened a comeback and have reached back-to-back finals in this tournament, something that France, Belgium and Germany would be envious of. But, on the other, we left ourselves with only a fluke-shot chance of coming away with anything from this game, in my mind caused by a long-running mismanagement of personnel, tactics and mentality.

Let's deal with the positive first, before I close out my Euro posts with a rant. Spain were excellent. In Yamal and Williams they have wonderful balance, pace and threat on both flanks. At one stage they switched Williams across to the right, and left Yamal on that side too, giving the returning to fitness Shaw an absolute double nightmare. In Rodri they have simply the most complete and immovable midfielder in modern football. Their full backs were good, midfield full of purpose and a speed of passing. They are an excellent team and very worthy winners. They also won all of their games, and beat Germany, France, Croatia and Italy on the way to their final. They graced the tournament with a near flawless effort. Partisanship aside, I am glad they won. 

As for England, they were clearly (but needlessly) inferior. They reached the final having scratched past Serbia, drawn with Slovenia and Denmark, scraped a last second equaliser against Slovakia to progress, required penalties vs Switzerland, and needed a 90th minute winner from  the unplayable (in every sense it seems) Watkins in the semi vs Netherlands. That record, when you look at it, is telling. Southgate calls it 'moments' and 'mental fortitude' - but I call it 'luck' and 'warning signs not heeded'. We basically were on the edge all tournament; and whilst we can congratulate ourselves for reaching the final, we've stunk the tournament out in large parts - and been carried by rare flashes of brilliance that on another occasion would have hit a post, gone wide, or just been off target and seen us exit in disgrace. Usually speaking, these tournaments aren't a matter of luck, rarely can a team rely on playing without a real plan and hoping somebody good does something good. Just ask Belgium. 

So where did it all go wrong? 

1. Inertia - to my mind, this all went wrong, as it did in the last Euros, when the FA and Southgate decided to continue their love affair after the preceding failure. We've had 2 years to get ourselves ready for this tournament - and yet we didn't have a left back fit to start a match until the final day of the tournament, despite a 26 deep squad size. We used the group stages to 'experiment' on the midfield, despite having had 2 years of fixtures to manage the transition from Henderson and Phillips to any two other players who would be better. Likewise in defence. We've had Konsa and Gueye performing superbly at club level, yet not given time to bed into the England squad because of the lingering loyalty to Macguire and odd obsession with Dunk. The FA have been too scared to let go of Southgate, and he in turn has been too scared to replace players who needed replacing. 
2. Cowardice - nothing ventured, nothing gained. There's the cowardice that forms the inertia I've already mentioned, being afraid to replace players on the grounds of loyalty. Its an easy argument to make, "Henderson has never let me down" etc - but that logic only follows if you're being asked to "select someone who hasn't let you down". But the name of the game here is to put together the best squad possible, better than the rest of a highly competetive continent. More cajones needed in selection, but also in approach. Grealish took years to break into the team, and a multitude of reasons were offered up, "needs to play for a bigger club", "isn't playing the in champions league", "doesn't offer the right balance" and so forth. Yamal played the majority of the tournament at age 16. The Spain coach didn't give a shit, he just sees a dangerous player and selects him. Likewise Williams - he's a threat, and rather than procrastinating, he's just gone and selected them both and put in place a system that protects the areas behind them and gives them a platform to shine. 
3. Tactical blindness - we get told our coach has a force of will, strong principles, loyalty and patience. Tactical blindness is what these words essentially mean. We have all watched Kane lumbering about, being hugely ineffective in the tournament. "Oh but he scored", cry the apologists; but this is surely inevitable. Leave a striker on the pitch for long enough vs inferior opponents and they will likely score. This doesn't vindicate any decision to omit strikers that are not only more fit, more on form, but also who complement the system and squad that you appear to be using. The difference in possibilities that were apparent when Watkins came on we there for all to see. He ran channels, he pressed defences, he provided an out ball, the pace of our attacks was drastically increased. That any top-level coach can see this, and yet ignore it, should not be congratulated for their steadfast belief [in failure], but instead replaced by someone who actually sees the game that is being played before them 

The history books will be kind to Southgate, people will point to his consistent record of taking us deep into tournaments, but not since the waistcoat days of England's love-train has there been any kind of buzz about the teams we pick or the way we play. We are less than the sum of our parts, by a considerable margin, and we have seen half a generation slip away in a steaming pile of caution, negativity, and misplaced loyalty. 

We need the kind of mentality shift that Unai Emery has instilled at Villa, telling the players that they are better than this, to believe, to be brave, to improve. We need a manager who will recognise that at a major tournament we really ought select a fit left back, a manager that does his experimenting in the flurry of international games that precede tournaments, rather than in tournaments. And a manager who insists on excellent performance, rather than rewarding poor performance with continued starts.  I think Harry Kane would have responded far better in this tournament if Southgate had said in a presser "Harry should be disappointed with that performance. Great player, but that last game was not good enough, he'll start from the bench next up" - rather than just being wheeled out to go again. And imagine the impact that sort of management has on the squad. Other players playing badly know they can probably get away with it. Other players not getting a look in, know that nothing they do, in training or in their fleeting sub appearances will make the blind bit of difference. Everyone talks up the togetherness in this squad, but I'll bet most of them are right pissed off.

I could write forever. But I think my point is clear. Its been a fun tournament, not a classic, but plenty of good games, especially in the early rounds. I thank you for reading and look forward to an unleashed England squad at the next World Cup. Jose Mourinho anyone...