Like France, who somehow made it to the quarter-finals of Euro 2024 without scoring a goal in open play, England’s performance in Germany comes with an asterisk.
The Three Lions were favourites going into the tournament – and still were until they encountered Spain in the final.
But Gareth Southgate’s need to play it safe even from positions of security didn’t go down well with the fans.
“Southgate wears a crash helmet on his exercise bike”, the memes claimed.
Golden Generation
Following a dismal 1-0 victory over Serbia, a pair of draws against Slovenia and Denmark, and a scraped 2-1 win over Slovakia in the round of 16, England’s position at the top of the bookies’ estimations started to seem almost ironic.
A rare win after penalties over Switzerland capped the arduous journey so far, and the side still looked troubled in their 2-1 victory over lesser giants Netherlands.
Yet again, only a last-second goal – this time from Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins – spared fans more extra-time torment.
There’s quality in the side – €1.52 billion of it. Five players (Kane, Rice, Saka, Foden, and England’s hero against Slovakia, Jude Bellingham) have price tags in excess of €100 million.
Yet, critics would have us believe that we’ve got another Golden Generation on our hands, a group of talented players worth a fortune but seemingly unable to win a coin toss.
That’s a little unfair. Southgate has already taken England’s current crop to a third-place play-off at World Cup 2018, the final at Euro 2020, and the quarter-finals of World Cup 2022.
In contrast, the Golden Generation, a team that starred David Beckham, Michael Owen, and Frank Lampard, failed to even qualify for Euro 2008.
Back in the present, the Three Lions have lost a second Euros final on the bounce.
There’s no denying that something isn’t quite right. Pundit and ex-England defender Micah Richards wondered if “they are being told to play like this” in the wake of the side’s draw against Denmark, i.e. lethargic, and void of both energy and aggression.
Similarly, Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer seemed to question whether a rebellion was brewing at England’s camp in Gelsenkirchen, although, perhaps not in the same vein as France’s self-destruction in South Africa during World Cup 2010.
Brentford striker Ivan Toney voiced his annoyance at the amount of game time he’s getting.
The Northampton man was reportedly “disgusted” at being brought on for a few seconds, as Slovakia looked for an elusive coup de grace.
“Bitten Your Hand Off”
England had the easiest route to the final out of the favourites in the competition.
As mentioned, after Switzerland, they played the winner of Netherlands vs. Turkey, which set up a final with Spain, who beat hosts Germany.
The early money was on Spain. Betano, the official betting partner of Euro 2024, had the nation at 31/20 to beat Germany in normal time and 4/1 to win outright.
Their opponents, Germany, were third favourites (9/2) for the trophy in Berlin on July 14th.
The site continues the promotion it ran throughout the Euros as part of its free bets no deposit offer.
To quote Gary Neville, before the tournament, England would have “bitten your hand off” for such an ‘easy’ run to the final.
It’s easy to see why Jude Bellingham took out his frustration on a chair after the final whistle in Berlin.
Southgate’s decision to switch up his tactics before the Netherlands game did bear fruit (in the first half of the semi-final, at least) but, one match later, England were clearly outclassed by Spain from the outset.
An early second-half goal from Nico Williams got a response from Cole Palmer with 20 minutes to go but Marc Cucurella, who was still being booed by the German contingent of the crowd due to a VAR decision in the quarter-finals, ended England’s hopes in the 86th minute.
At least Harry Kane ended his trophy drought – sort of. The Bayern Munich striker won the Euro 24 Golden Boot award, one of six to share it.
Jordan Pickford
It hasn’t all been doom and gloom. While some players, like Trent Alexander-Arnold, Conor Gallagher, and Kieran Trippier have been criticized for their performances, newcomer Marc Guehi did a job filling in for the injured Harry Maguire, while Saka’s consistency (and versatility, playing at RW, RWB, and LB during the match against Slovakia) have impressed.
Despite being out of favour at Manchester City, John Stones forged a partnership with Guehi and eventually became one of the most talked about players in the side.
Cole Palmer, England’s hero in the Netherlands game, will hopefully get the nod in future matches ahead of an increasingly weary Harry Kane.
Jordan Pickford is another exception.
England faced 26 shots during the group stage, according to Opta, with nine of those hitting the target.
Those figures placed the Three Lions tied for fourth and sixth, respectively, in terms of how under siege the goal was.
By way of comparison, Georgia ranked rock bottom for both, with 71 shots against and 25 on target.
Pickford has an overall save percentage of 70.48% in all competitions – including that last-minute stop vs. Slovakia and several crucial blocks in the final – so, his presence was more than welcome between the sticks.
Of course, Euro 2024 ended as many expected, with Southgate stepping down from the big chair.
The Watford-born coach has some impressive stats on paper – 2.08 points per game and 61 wins from 102 games – and will rightly go down as one of the best managers the Three Lions have ever had.
Now comes the time to worry. It’s not easy to see who would replace Southgate. Eddie Howe is the current favourite (11/4) but he’d be difficult to pry away from Newcastle – and popular pick Jurgen Klopp just turned down international duty on the US Men’s Team.
The FA has seven weeks to decide. England play the Republic of Ireland in the Nations League on September 7.
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