England for the second time in a row reached the final of the euro, but the game of the national team and its coach are harshly criticized

Although the Gareth Soutegite team shows the results that have not been seen for decades

At the European Football Championship in Germany, the England team reached the final. Her rival, Spain, is considered the best team of the tournament. The British, on the contrary, are called one of the most uninteresting. This is blamed for the head coach of the English team of Gareth Soutegite - he is criticized for excessive caution, and sometimes cowardice. But in fact, England was faced with ordinary problems for itself: an excess of incompatible stars in the composition and too difficult national championship. "Medusa" understands how England with a bad game reached the final.

“You can choose different words and curses, if you want, but it is [the game of England against Denmark (1: 1)] shit. You need to be brave. You can’t play and always worry about the weaknesses of your team. It is necessary to proceed from the strengths of the strengths, ”one of the country's most reputable sports journalists, and a former star of the Gary Lineker’s national team, responded about the cautious game of England. Almost all English television experts agree with him - also former players of the Three Lviv : Gary Neville, Jamie Carrager, Alan Schirer and others.

The English media throughout the European Championship criticizes the team and coach. Southeit even accused the journalists of draining information about the tactics of the national team on the eve of the matches. Despite the huge pressure, England won the Euro-2024 group stage , and then knocked out Slovakia (2: 1), Switzerland (1: 1, 5: 3 on the penalty) and the Netherlands (2: 1), being in the final with Spain.

Souteit does not like to take risks after he did not score from the penalty in 1996. He studies all the time: to make corners more efficiently, he went to the NBA teams

Gareth Southgate has been led by the England team for seven years, since 2016. Longer than him, only the mentor of the French team didier Desham works among all the coaches on Euro 2024. And all seven years, the Souteit team has been criticized for a nondescript game.

At the 2018 World Cup, England spent a maximum of matches - seven, but scored only three goals from the game. Of these, two the British scored Panama, and the third goal was with a ricochet. In Euro 2020, the British reached the finals, but on the number of blows on average, only four weaker teams of the tournament were ahead of the game-Russia, Slovakia, Hungary and Finland. Only at the World 2022, the England team showed a more or less bright game. The team showed the second result after Germany in the possession of the ball, and also held several very effective matches, for example, with Iran (6: 2).

The composition of the England national team is always full of stars, so the team plays the cautious style of the playing with the character of Soutegite. While still a player, he was convinced that an unjustified risk is his enemy. In the Euro-1996 semifinals, England, which was played by Souteite, played with Germany, and the match reached the penalty shootout. Soutegite spent only the ninth match for the national team and never beat eleven meters - only in training. At the same time, he volunteered to participate in a penalty series. He carried out the sixth blow, but struck so that the goalkeeper easily caught the ball. England lost, and fans arranged riots. Soutegite said that people still recall him a penalty. According to the coach, an unsuccessful blow was a lesson for him, from which he "learned more about life than from any victory."

Most of all, Souteite loves to study and improve. So, the coach pays great attention to the standard provisions - especially the corner and the penalty. To understand them as best as possible, he traveled to the USA and studied how they are arranged in other sports - basketball and American football. As a result, at the 2018 World Cup, England scored more goals from standards than from the game (six against three). At Euro 2024, the team twice scored in the goal of Slovakia after a draw of standard provisions.

On Che-2024, Souteite continues to act in the usual way. England began the tournament with a victory over Serbia with a score of 1: 0, while the teams set the general anti -record of European championships for the number of strikes for the match - only 11 for two. After the group stage, when all the euro participants played three matches, only three teams inflicted less than 20 beats: the debutant of the Georgia, Scotland and England tournament. After the semi -final, the “Three Lviv” accumulated 44 strokes on someone else's gate (seventh place among 24 participants in the tournament). And this is still smaller than those who flew out in the quarterfinals of Germany (70) and Turkey (50). The rival of England in the final, Spain, on the contrary, is the best team of the strike tournament (80).

However, not everyone scolds Southgate for cowardice. Many experts praise the coach for insight and tactical solutions. For example, in a recent semifinal match, the defenders of the Netherlands took care of the main star of England, striker Harry Kane. They got used to his manner of the game and did not allow to receive the ball. 10 minutes before the end of the meeting, Souteite replaced the overall Kane with Ollie Watkins, a striker with a different style of the game - explosive and high -speed. This replacement turned out to be decisive: the tired defenders of the Netherlands could not cope with the unpredictable Watkins, who scored a victorious goal and brought England to the finals.

The main stars of England are exhausted by the heavy season, and Bellingham completely uses painkillers. But the team was lucky with a tournament net

England on Euro 2024 is criticized for a passive game. The Southgate team rarely presses the opponent when he owns the ball. The average number of selection in the middle of the field and near the gates at this tournament is only 17 times per match. On Euro 2020, this indicator was 23.8, and at the World Cup 2022-27.8. Passivity also manifests itself depending on the account. With equality on the scoreboard, England attacks, but as soon as he scores, gives the ball to the opponent and goes to his gate. Defender Kyle Walker, after a match with Denmark (1: 1), explained that Souteite would prefer a more attacking game. But the players are tired and gave the initiative.

Soutegite admits that the team is too tired after a long season and cannot maintain high intensity. Harry Kane spent the first season in Bavaria: scored 44 goals and made 12 assists in 49 matches, but again left without trophies. Midfielder Jude Bellingem, the second main star of England, spent a magnificent debut season for Real. In 42 matches, he scored 23 times and made 13 assists, becoming the best attacking player in Madrid. Bellingham on the move won the Championship of Spain and the Champions League - just a couple of weeks before the start of the euro. After such a great success at the end of the exhausting season, it is very difficult to emotionally gather at a new difficult tournament. In addition, Bellingham comes to his senses after a shoulder injured in November 2023, and plays the euro using painkillers. Perhaps after the championship he will need an operation.

Other stars of England, such as Bukayo Saka, Phil Foden, Kyle Walker, Kiran Trippier, Trent Alexander Arnold, John Stones and Declan Rice, represent Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool from the English Premier League. These clubs fought for the championship until the last round. As a result, the title took Manchester City, and Arsenal for the second year in a row became the second. As a result, players arrived at the euro not only tired, but also in different psychological conditions.

In addition, Southgate is difficult to combine so many stars on the field. Kiran Trippier, the nominal right -wing defender, plays on the left, which is inconvenient for awnings in the penalty area (after all, he is right -handed). Trent Aleksander-Arnold, also the right defender, acts in the reference zone, because the role of the right defender is played by Kyle Walker. In turn, Phil Foden acts on the left, and not on a more familiar right flank, because Bukayo Saka plays on the right. Players often change places and improvise, but without a clear system, this does not lead to productive actions or successful pressure.

The situation resembles the problem of the England team of 15 years ago. Then no coach could properly use the two best midfielders of the country together - Frank Lampard and Stephen Jerrard. They played in one position and duplicated each other's functions.

So the fatigue and abundance of incompatible stars are typical problems for England in large tournaments. Another problem is bad luck. For example, in the 1/8 finals of the 2010 World Cup, Frank Lampard, in a match with Germany, was not mistakenly counted with a score of 2: 1 in favor of the Germans. If England had equalized, she would have received a psychological advantage. But instead, the team lost 1: 4.

At Euro 2020, the English team was considered the main contender for victory and confidently reached the finals, never lost. The team won five out of six matches and missed only one goal. Fans were preparing to celebrate the first trophy of the national team in 55 years and sang a screaming on Itʼs Coming Home , recalling that England was the homeland of football. However, in the final, the British tied with Italy (1: 1) in regular time. Prior to the start of the tournament , Skuadra Adzurra was not considered a favorite and became an opening team during the championship. As a result, in the penalty shootout, England lost 2: 3.

But on Euro 2024 the situation is the opposite: England demonstrates a faded game, but she was lucky with a tournament net. The Netherlands are the only top-collection that England met on the way to the final. For comparison, Spain in this tournament defeated four top commands: at the group stage, Croatia (3: 0) and Italy (1: 0), in the quarterfinals-the mistress of the Germany tournament (2: 1), and in the semifinals-the vice-champion of the world France (2: 1).

A faded game is a typical problem for England in large tournaments. So, the match of the British against Trinidad and Tobago at the 2006 World Cup was remembered by Russian viewers primarily thanks to the commentary of Vasily Utkin. The team with David Beckham, Michael Owen and other stars played so bad that Utkin was eagerly ridiculed the Three Lviv. Souteite did not change the style of the national team, but found a balance that brings success.

The England team, led by Soutegite, has not yet won a single tournament, but always reached at least a quarter -finals. For the same time, not a single European team showed similar results. Soutegite has two finals of large tournaments (both euros), which is more than all previous coaches of the England team combined. The leaders of English football value his work, and Souteite receives the highest salary among coaches for Euro 2024-5.8 million euros.

At the same time, Souteite says that he is not easy to criticize: “We all want us to love us, right? When you are a proud Englishman and do something for your country, but you do not feel reciprocity and are criticized, it's hard. ”

"Jellyfish"