England 0 Slovenia 0: Southgate’s team seal top spot in Group C but lose again – Briefing

England qualified for the knockout stage of the European Championship after a 0–0 draw against Slovenia, meaning they won Group C.

Gareth Southgate’s side were underwhelming in their opening two matches of the tournament and there were no signs of a turnaround in the first half of their group final on Tuesday evening. England dominated possession but could muster only four shots on target, and one was a Bukayo Saka goal which was disallowed for offside by Phil Foden.

Southgate replaced midfielder Conor Gallagher at half-time for Kobi Manu and this improved the performance slightly, but ultimately a goalless performance against a team ranked 57th in the world (England are fifth) will not inspire much confidence as They are advancing to the knockout stage. ,

Slovenia are also the third-place team, and will have to wait until the group stage is completed on Wednesday to see who they play in the Round of 16. They finished with the same record as group runners-up Denmark (including receiving the same number of yellow cards in three matches) but lost because they were lower in the European qualifier rankings than the Danes.

Danny Taylor, Oliver Kay, Mark Carey, Dan Sheldon and Will Jeans analyze the game’s key moments.

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Why is Jude Bellingham angry? Yes, it didn’t look very likely when he scored a Bryan Robson-style header in the opening win against Serbia nine days ago.

However, the hard truth is that we haven’t really seen anything of peak Bellingham since. We are only getting sporadic glimpses of his talent – ​​because it is, often, talent – ​​and it feels like a problem when England are struggling for cohesion in attack.

Build them up only to tear them down? no way. If you like football, you have to admire the talent of that player. Yet against Slovenia Bellingham was at times so erratic (and grumpy with it) that it would have been a complete surprise if Gareth Southgate had considered removing him, placing Phil Foden in the middle and introducing Anthony Gordon. It doesn’t happen. Attacking role from the left side.

That never happened but it should be a cause for concern for Southgate, especially with Bellingham’s poor performance away to Real Madrid in the Champions League final earlier this month still fresh in the mind.

danny taylor

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Did England’s press look more lively?

While in other matches England secured qualification without having kicked a ball on Monday night thanks to the final score, the focus here was on the result as well as strong performances – particularly out of possession.

Gareth Southgate received a special acknowledgment as a result of his poor performance against Denmark on Thursday.

“We know that with the profile of the players we have, we don’t think the pressing approach is really very high,” Southgate said. “We don’t think the physical level of the team is like that at the moment.”

Therefore, all eyes were on England’s defensive stance against Slovenia. Decision? Better, but still not great. Against Denmark, England allowed 26 passes per defensive action (PPDA) – a metric where lower numbers reflect a more active pressing approach – the joint-fewest in their games at Euro 2020, World Cup 2022 and Euro 2024. The pressure intensity was recorded. ,

Tuesday’s group finale saw improvement, with 11 passes allowed before taking defensive action. The caveat, of course, is that England held the ball for longer periods – meaning there were fewer opportunities to win the ball back and demonstrate any defensive improvement.

The intent was clear from the first minute, when Harry Kane pounced on goalkeeper Jan Oblak with support from Phil Foden to put his opponents through. There were a few more occasions in the first half where England excited their fans in the stands. -Aggression was needed to win the ball up the field, but coordination of individual runs was still lacking at times.

You can give Southgate’s team some credit for the improvement in Thursday’s out-of-possession performance, but in reality, it could hardly have been worse.

mark carey

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conor gallagher experiment failed

Southgate removed Trent Alexander-Arnold in favor of Conor Gallagher, but the Chelsea midfielder was replaced by Manchester United’s Kobi Manu at half-time.

Gallagher made no impact ahead of Declan Rice and played the ball forward seven times out of 20 passes in his 45 minutes. It was hardly anything to shout about, and probably took away the impression that Alexander-Arnold was holding the team back against Serbia and Denmark.

Gallagher’s half ended without completing a dribble, creating a chance, winning a tackle or taking a shot. However, he lost possession four times.

Southgate experimented with Alexander-Arnold, and it did not work. Then they turned to Gallagher, and that didn’t work either.

There is no doubt that both players will have to work hard, there is a debate over whether the England manager has hung Gallagher out to dry after being given just 45 minutes here, so it will be interesting to see whether Rice Who does Southgate play with? The last 16 match will be held on Sunday against the third placed team.

dan sheldon

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England’s left-back problem: a review

There was a lot of discussion about how England’s left side was struggling to gain possession inside and out against Denmark, while their right side looked comparatively more active and strong, with Bukayo Saka having a tough time with Kyle. Walker is supported.

By contrast, the left side was the flank that England targeted most against Slovenia, with 42 per cent of their attacking touches coming from that third of the pitch – their highest share in the three group games.

Phil Foden was once again floating up the pitch, but there were some good turns as he, Kieran Trippier and Declan Rice were trying to create and combine some triangles. When Foden came in, Jude Bellingham would come out on the left and try to create some pace.

Overall, there weren’t too many exciting moments to shout about, but it was telling that Southgate’s team put far more effort into that side of the pitch after such a disappointment in their previous game.

mark carey

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England created ruckus again

For the second time in three matches at Euro 2024, England were booed by their supporters at the final whistle for a very poor performance. Gareth Southgate and the players attempted to applaud the fans but were greeted with catcalls and jeers.

But this disappointing draw against Slovenia was enough to secure first place in Group C with one win and two draws from three matches (and just two goals scored). A group that drew five of its six matches equaled the all-time low of goals scored (seven) in the first leg in the European Championship.

England face the third-placed team in Gelsenkirchen on Sunday (5pm UK time, noon ET). That could also be the Netherlands after losing 3-2 to Austria earlier in the day, but the draw will not be confirmed until the final two groups are completed tomorrow (Wednesday). Get past that, and they will face the winners of Saturday’s clash between Switzerland and defending champions Italy.

The list of potential semifinal opponents doesn’t look too daunting either. And with Spain, Germany, Portugal and France in the other half of the draw, there is a sense that the bracket for the knockout stage looks favorable for England, as was the case at the 2018 World Cup, when they reached the semi-finals. Reached the final after defeating Colombia (on penalties) and Sweden, while falling on the other side of the heavyweight draw one after the other.

But let’s be clear about this: England have been weak so far at Euro 2024. International tournaments are rarely won by teams playing free-flowing football from start to finish, but Gareth Southgate and his team have a lot of work to do if they are to take advantage of the opportunities presented by the draw.

oliver’s

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A word, perhaps, for Jordan Pickford, who has now kept more clean sheets in major tournaments than any other England goalkeeper in history.

It was his 11th, taking him above Peter Shilton, and you sometimes wonder whether 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) – who have more England caps. And, although there are better ways to judge a goalkeeper than simply tallying their clean sheets, it is still some achievement that Pickford has broken the record of a genuinely great player like Shilton.

danny taylor

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Group C will not be remembered fondly

Only seven goals were scored in six matches in Group C – equaling the record for the lowest-scoring group in European Championship history.

The only time there were so few goals scored in a group came in 2016 when Germany, Poland, Northern Ireland and Ukraine played a snoozefest in Group C. Only one game in that group ended 0–0. Germany vs. Poland), but there were two in this year’s group (tonight’s match).

Will Jeans

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(Top photo: Getty Images)