Southgate and England have been lucky. That cannot be denied. The draw has been very favorable.
Southgate is too cautious as a coach. The semi final was crying out for subs, and he had a lot of game changers on the bench. A proactive manager makes the attacking subs at 60. A more cautious manager makes them at 70. Southgate made them at 80.
Southgate started the tournament with an idea for how the team will play. He abandoned it quickly, as it was crap. (Btw, what are the international breaks for, if not to sort this stuff out?) Trent has been made a scapegoat, but there were myriad issues, with everyone dropping into the playmaker space and no runners and hence no pass for Trent to hit. So obvious.
Southgate stumbled onto a better formation, mid tournament, with 3421. This is getting more of the players doing their thing, but it still is far from smooth. He has the wrong personnel in 3 of the positions for me, and seems to be afraid of touching big names. But it is better.
And yetâŚ
England are in the final. All the haters need to suck on that bitter lemon. England, under Gareth Southgate, are in the final.
They sleepwalked through the group. Crap. But they won the group and advanced. Then the round of 16 and the round of 8. We saw flashes of good play, but overall it was crap.
But if the name of the game in tournament football is to advance, England advanced.
The semi final against the Dutch was much better. England went a goal down. Declan Rice - win your personal battles in midfield! But no, he got outmuscled by Simon - a much smaller man, who unleashed a fierce shot that wasnât top corner, but was still out of reach for Pickfordâs short arms.
England responded. They passed well. They created chances. Scored. One off the line. Another disallowed, correctly. Foden off the post. They looked good.
Second half was more cagey again - it is Southgate after all, but even then, this beige England manager could not fully find a way to suppress the talent at his disposal.
Palmer and Watkins combined - lovely turn and a cracking finish, right into the corner, and that was that. England are through to the final.
What to expect?
Spain have definitely been the better team the whole tournament. They have won all their games and played the best football. On that basis they should win, quite well too.
However, there is a sense in which England have been showing more as the tournament progresses. They are in the final, and Iâm only able to say they have played one good half of football, plus a couple minutes here and there, to get there. Itâs ridiculous.
But if they play like that first half against the Dutch, they can definitely win it, despite Gareth Southgte.
Game on. Should be interesting.
