Why Gareth Southgate's England Tactics Aren't Working Yet
After defeat to Brazil, a draw against Belgium, and an uninspiring victory over Bosnia, Gareth Southgate's England fell to a shock defeat to Iceland at Wembley.
But how can a team packed with so much talent fail to excite its fans? What could possibly be missing from a side featuring Kane, Foden, Palmer, and Rice? Adam Clery unpicks the game, and their recent performances, and suggests it might not be time to panic just yet.
But how can a team packed with so much talent fail to excite its fans? What could possibly be missing from a side featuring Kane, Foden, Palmer, and Rice? Adam Clery unpicks the game, and their recent performances, and suggests it might not be time to panic just yet.
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00:00Right, yes, hi there everybody, Adam Cleary, 442, and I, like you, probably was really
00:08looking forward to this summer because I was told that A, the weather was going to be really
00:12nice and B, England were probably going to win the Euros.
00:17And yet, as I sit here now, on June the whatever, I've had to come into work in a coat and jumper
00:23to explain why they just got beat off Iceland.
00:26This is obviously not what any of us were promised but I'm here today to say that we
00:30should not panic, yet.
00:37So this was your England XI that started their second and final warm-up game against Iceland
00:42on Friday and, as you probably saw, it was not very good.
00:47Now as you've no doubt seen over the weekend, a lot of people have been hysterical about
00:52this result.
00:53You'd be getting beat off Iceland, the players are rubbish, the managers are dope, the tactics
00:57don't work, they're all too tired, there's too many injuries, you've seen it all before.
01:03Now obviously, yes, it is a really bad result.
01:05You don't want your last preparation game before a big tournament to be getting beat
01:09off a team who are that much worse than you.
01:12But also, it is just a preparation game.
01:16And I think, if nothing else, this Iceland game showed England what they absolutely desperately
01:21need to get right when they get to the tournament.
01:24Now if you have seen either of the two videos we've done here on 442 about England recently,
01:29then you will know precisely what I'm going to talk about.
01:32But there were two absolutely picture-postcard examples of what's currently wrong.
01:37So a couple of seconds before Iceland's goal, England end up in this scenario here, which
01:42is a situation, after the last Premier League season, I am calling the Man United gap.
01:48The midfield and the attack has been completely bypassed, and now the defenders, running back
01:52towards their own goal, have this enormous amount of space in front of them.
01:56And just like in the real Manchester United gap, there's Kobe Mane, who's sprinting back
02:01to try and help out, trying to cover that distance between the midfield and the defence.
02:07It's something he's seen plenty this season.
02:09And I would just like to point out, by the way, because I made this observation on Twitter
02:12during the game, and I got loads of Man United fans getting angry at me for saying it was
02:16all his fault, I'm not saying it's his fault.
02:20This actually has nothing to do with Kobe Mane, who just keeps finding himself in teams
02:24that are doing this.
02:26Anyway, yes, right.
02:27So in this situation, where the attack's all been bypassed and the defence are running
02:30back towards their own goal, they don't want to stay static in case the player with the
02:34ball, let's say that's him here, manages to play a pass in behind.
02:37And because they're standing there, trying to sort of like be big and brave, someone
02:42just gets in behind.
02:43They keep backing off.
02:44They keep backing off.
02:45They keep backing off.
02:46So it's a good empowerment of the box, and it's a really good finish and some bad goalkeeping.
02:49Now, as any Man United fan will tell you, this scenario happens when there is too much
02:54of a gap between your midfield and your defence.
02:56In other words, because you're pressing high and being aggressive in this third of the
03:00pitch, but you're not pushing up to match it in this third of the pitch.
03:04Now, you only do this if you're worried about teams getting in behind you.
03:07If you cast your mind back to the Brazil game, England's previous set of just sort of warm
03:11up and get everything right fixtures, Brazil kept getting in behind because the defence
03:16was too high.
03:17We called it here on the channel the one major problem that England need to fix.
03:21And to be fair, this is a solution.
03:24While this was a bad goal to concede, Iceland did not get in behind them.
03:28And while it does obviously help to solve that problem, it creates one all of its own
03:31because you can't believe in this much space between your midfield and your defence.
03:36And fair play to Gareth Southgate coming out for the second half trailing 1-0.
03:39Southgate did immediately address this.
03:41John Stones would come off now, but he got all the defence to push much further up the
03:46pitch.
03:47They weren't that worried about them getting in behind.
03:48They felt they had that under control with the pace in the back line.
03:51So they squeezed them up instead to stop that happening.
03:53And then Iceland should have gone 2-0 up because this time, now that they've squeezed all the
03:59way up the pitch, they leave themselves vulnerable to that run in behind.
04:03And this was on side.
04:05Now, whether you regard that as a bad ball across or just one of the worst finishes you've
04:09ever seen, that's entirely academic against a better team.
04:13Against any team at the Euros, I'd wager that's 2-0.
04:17So quite the little predicament England have got, isn't it?
04:20Because when they all sit off, it leaves way too much room between the midfield and the
04:23defence that allows teams to play in.
04:25That's really bad.
04:26But when they press all the way up, it leaves too much room in behind and teams can break
04:31into there.
04:32So given the assumption that they are going to continue to press really high, how do you
04:37fix this issue?
04:38Because right now, they're damned if they do and they're damned if they don't.
04:41But would you look at that right on time, the whole point of the video and the thing
04:44we've been saying about this England team for a while, both of these goals, while they
04:48come from different defensive setups, are caused by the same thing at the other end
04:54of the pitch.
04:55If you want to press teams really high, you have to do it with a constant and eye-watering
05:03level of intensity.
05:05Both of these Iceland chances, the one that scored and the one they didn't, come from
05:08them getting bypassed in this part of the pitch way too easily.
05:13So the goal starts with Iceland having the ball at the back, Harry Kane closes down the
05:16goalkeeper and leaves the cover, shadow, whatever you want to call it, to this defender here.
05:22Anthony Gordon jumps onto the wide pass, but they're not doing it consistently as a team
05:27and they leave this player open.
05:29Now you can see this is obviously Phil Foden's mind.
05:31He makes a real concerted effort to go and put the squeeze on, but he's just too slow
05:35to stop him turning and facing forward.
05:37Now I'm just going to stop it right here because this is what England are trying to do with
05:41this new system.
05:42Imagine Phil Foden is five, six, seven yards closer to this defender.
05:47The presence of Harry Kane means he can't go to the other centre-back, he probably can't
05:50go to the goalkeeper and Foden will stop him turning and going out wide.
05:55He would be in real, real trouble, but because they just haven't done it with the right amount
06:00of intensity, he manages to get turned, plays a simple pass.
06:03And now this time that's Cole Palmer's man and he makes a concerted effort to get out
06:07there, but again, he allows him to turn.
06:10Imagine he's two or three yards closer to this player, he would have absolutely nowhere
06:16to go.
06:17Rice has cut off the central pass, Foden's cut off the pass back, Kane's stopping it
06:20going into the middle.
06:21You can see here, this is almost, almost working.
06:25Walker then jumps up next to the receiving player, but again, he's just a couple of yards
06:29too slow.
06:30Palmer doesn't notice the original player running past him.
06:32He gets off the back of his shoulder and they just play out into the centre.
06:36And just like that, that simple, they've then more or less got a three on three in England's
06:41half.
06:42And this puts Kobe Meunier in this position where he doesn't really want to be because
06:45he's a fantastic ball-playing central midfielder.
06:47He's not some big disruptive number six who's going to come flying across here and snuff
06:52this out.
06:53That's not his game.
06:54It puts him in a really difficult position.
06:55He isn't going to get back across, so that pulls Stone slightly away from his man, allowing
07:00him to receive it.
07:01They keep going.
07:02They get into the box.
07:03And like I said before, it is a good finish and a bit of bad goalkeeping.
07:06On another day, maybe that doesn't go in, but that's how the chance comes about.
07:09And it was nothing to do with how deep the defence were.
07:12It was because England weren't intense enough in their high press.
07:16And the second chance, England have possession down, Iceland's left.
07:19They try a nice little cut back.
07:20It's a pretty good attacking move, but it's just cut out.
07:23And this, as well as pressing, is when you have to get your counter press right.
07:28Just again, before I say this, I cannot stress enough.
07:30This is not me putting the blame on Mainu, right?
07:34There are certain things in his game that he is brilliant at and certain things that
07:37do need a bit of improvement.
07:38The guy is a press resistant midfielder.
07:42You give him the ball and then teams try and get it off him and he just works a bit of
07:45magic around them.
07:46That's what he's good at.
07:47What he's not good at is pressuring the ball himself.
07:50But in this scenario, it falls to him to do it.
07:53Now, what you're supposed to do here is because you have got other players near enough the
07:56ball, Mainu has to hold this player up.
07:58He has to stop him going around.
08:00He has to stop a pass happening.
08:01He has to kind of sort of force him to stay still.
08:04But instead, and this is a little bit of inexperience, maybe he thinks he can win the ball.
08:08Maybe he just gets a little bit excited.
08:09He gets played around.
08:11And as soon as they're past him, it's wide open again.
08:14And this is what we mean by the intensity of the press, right?
08:16Because after he's bypassed Mainu, he's then able to carry the ball all the way to
08:21here without a single challenge going in.
08:24And now England are in real trouble because he rolls it out to the right-hand side.
08:27This player, again, is not pressured.
08:29He's not contested.
08:30He can pick his head up.
08:31And the gap between him and the edge of the England defensive line is like, what, 20 yards?
08:38Absolutely bang on side.
08:39It sets him free.
08:40And he should make that 2-0.
08:42But once again, that's nothing to do with the position of the defensive line and everything
08:47to do with England not getting their press right.
08:50But the thing is, when they do get their press right, it works really well.
08:53Like, the best chance in the first half came from doing this, but just doing it much better.
08:58Harry Kane goes after one of the centre-backs here.
09:01Doesn't give him any time on the ball.
09:02The obvious pass is out here to the right-back.
09:05But Anthony Gordon is coming directly towards him.
09:07So he'll just have to turn around anyway.
09:09So instead, they try and play out by using one of the central midfielders.
09:12But look this time how tight Declan Rice is to him.
09:16There is no chance of him getting turned.
09:19This time, Phil Foden has got tight.
09:21He's cut off this simple pass to the middle.
09:23So his only options are to hit it blind across his own box to this other defender,
09:28which could very easily be cut out if there's an England player he hasn't seen,
09:32or go back to the goalkeeper, which he does.
09:34And this time, Rice keeps the pressure on.
09:36He's determined not to give the goalkeeper any time either.
09:39Now, in an ideal world, Cole Palmer would be here already, would be nearer this defender,
09:43but he breaks into his sprint to close that pass down.
09:47So now the goalkeeper hasn't got a simple ball out either.
09:50So he does what he's supposed to do in that situation.
09:52He tries to set himself to clear it along by taking an extra touch.
09:55But Declan Rice is on him, does not allow him that extra touch,
09:58forces him into the mistake, and Palmer should score from here.
10:01And here's a question for you, right?
10:03Where are England's defenders while all this is going on?
10:06Do you think they're sitting deep maybe?
10:07They pushed up onto the halfway line?
10:09What would you guess be for that?
10:10I'll give you a second, yeah?
10:13Yeah, I'll tell you where they are, right?
10:15It doesn't f***ing matter.
10:16When you're attempting to play this style of football,
10:18it does not matter what you are doing here if you are getting it right here.
10:23And against Iceland, England were not.
10:26But all that being said, right, I think if you're an England fan,
10:29there still isn't any cause to panic, right?
10:32They need some fine-tuning.
10:33Absolutely, there's still things they need to get right,
10:35but they still more than have the chances to win this.
10:38Harry Kane should have scored here.
10:39Anthony Gordon should have scored here.
10:41Cole Palmer should have scored here.
10:43They put those away, which they absolutely should have done.
10:45Then it's just the most by-the-numbers,
10:48pre-tournament friendly you've ever seen.
10:50And you've got to remember as well,
10:51this starting XI is one with virtually no synergy to it whatsoever.
10:56Like the England tournament's relative successes of the past
11:00have been built around the fact that these players
11:02play so well together as a unit.
11:05They know each other really well.
11:06They've got thousands of minutes together on the pitch for the national side.
11:09And this team does not.
11:12Because I cannot stress this enough, right?
11:14International football is not club football.
11:18It's a completely different thing.
11:19You don't get the benefits of hundreds and hundreds of hours
11:23of training with the exact same players all through the season.
11:27You get a fraction of the time.
11:29And if they're just not available for that camp,
11:31you might not see them for months.
11:33England having one of, if not the best defences
11:36at the last three major tournaments
11:38and going pretty far in all of them as a result
11:41is majorly, majorly down to this consistency.
11:45So the point I'm trying to make, my dear friends,
11:47is that if this England performance seemed weirdly disjointed
11:50and just unconnected to you,
11:52that is because by this team's usual standards, it was.
11:55And that's also why I don't think England fans should be panicking.
11:58Because in terms of the connectivity around the pitch,
12:00obviously Pickford's going to start.
12:02That's really going to help with the defence.
12:03But Kyosaka and Duke Bellingham,
12:05their bigger mainstays in this side,
12:07they'll come straight in for the tournament.
12:08And that will really help.
12:10And in terms of getting the press right in the final third,
12:12you would imagine it'll be Conor Gallagher
12:14who comes in for these games rather than Colby Maynard.
12:17And he is, you know, really good at that.
12:19So, yeah, just all of that is a really long-winded way
12:22of me saying, oh, yeah, bad result.
12:25But calm down.
12:26Also, can I just show you this?
12:28And I promise I'm not giving you the finger, right?
12:30Look at the size of this one compared to this one.
12:33I think I'm pretty sure I've broken it,
12:35making this absolutely worldy save playing football yesterday.
12:38Probably get this looked up.
12:39But anyway, if you have enjoyed the video today,
12:41please do consider subscribing to us here at 442 on YouTube.
12:44The Euros is right around the corner
12:45and we have something so incredibly special
12:49planned for the videos across the tournament.
12:51You do not want to miss it.
12:52I am incredibly, incredibly excited to show it to you.
12:56So you hit that button
12:56and you'll see every single one of them.
12:58Meanwhile, the latest issue of 442, which this is not.
13:04Also, the latest edition
13:05of the world's greatest football magazine, 442,
13:07is in stores now for you to buy.
13:09It's the very, very special European Championship edition.
13:12And I read it cover to cover the other day
13:14and it was honestly fantastic.
13:17You can also subscribe to our newsletter,
13:19which is in the comments below.
13:20You can get me on all the social medias at Adam Cleary,
13:22C-L-E-R-Y, the 442 social's in the corner of the video.
13:25And until, well, tomorrow probably,
13:27because we've got loads to talk about this week.
13:29I have been Adam Cleary.
13:30This has been England.
13:31Don't panic.
13:32It's going to be absolutely fine.
13:34And I'll see you soon.
13:35Bye.