Rating Every England Player At Euro 2024
All in all; it's been an incredible eight years for Gareth Southgate as England manager. There was restored hope in the nation and progression on the pitch, but that progression in the end stagnated. Was this because the squad got too good for his own good? Adam Monk discusses...
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:30this we'll think his time is maybe up now. So I thought we'll do a little bit of a different video.
00:34I'm going to go through everyone in the 26-man squad, how they performed, whether they performed
00:39at all on the pitch and if that was an issue. And then we'll go on to Gareth Southgate and we'll
00:45kind of summarise, you know, I'll give you my opinion on what I thought each player did and
00:49also what I thought Gareth Southgate did wrong. And the overarching point of this whole video
00:54is going to be for open discussion in the comments, but also the point that I want to make
00:58is I feel now, especially after watching yesterday, but I've had this hunch throughout
01:01the whole tournament that England now with the personnel that they've got in the team,
01:06we really, really, really need to start to become a side that wins football games with the football.
01:12And I know that sounds very cliche, but I think we need to drop this kind of inherent underdog
01:16gimmick that we've got going on where we try and win games without having control of it and having
01:21these moments of individual quality that keep bailing us out. We've got the players and personnel
01:26in this team to dominate with the ball against every side, if not most in Europe and across the
01:32world, in my opinion. And this is where really now I think it's come to an end for Southgate.
01:36I think he knows this too, but without further ado, I will cheer up throughout this whole video.
01:42Anyway, yeah, let's just get into it. Let's start with the goalkeepers. So here we go.
01:46Right. Of course, Dean Henderson and Aaron Ramsdale didn't play, so I don't really care
01:50about them. Let's give them an N A not applicable. And I think as for goalkeepers who aren't the
01:55first choice goalie in any international tournament, they don't really play unless it's
01:59an anomaly like the South Africa World Cup where Rob Green spilt one into his own net and then
02:04David James had to come in to get four punted past him by the Germans. So rarely happens. So
02:09Dean Henderson, Aaron Ramsdale, not really bothered. However, as for Jordan Pickford,
02:14this one might be a little bit controversial and I'm not trying to aggravate anyone in the
02:18comments. I'm just simply giving my opinions. And with that in mind, like I said, I want England
02:21to become a team that are going to play with the ball. I think that always starts with the
02:25goalkeeper. I am a Man City fan. I have watched Edison. I know what's needed to instill confidence
02:31possession based in a back four. And I don't really think Pickford is just that. I think
02:35Pickford, as good as he is a shot stopper, I think he's very akin to what David de Gea was
02:40at Manchester United in the sense that, yes, he will bail teams out time and time again with his
02:45supreme shot stopping. But the hallmark of a good side is a side that faces very few shots throughout
02:50a game, even against top quality opposition. We've got to control these teams. And yes,
02:55Pickford can bail us out when a shot is hit at his goal. But with the ball at his feet,
03:00frustrating is an understatement. There was actually a moment in the Spain final,
03:03and I believe Adam Cleary has covered it. So in the edit, I'm going to dig it out and overlay it
03:08now where Pickford had the ball and John Stones was absolutely begging for it to be played to
03:13feet and Pickford simply ignored him and kicked it long and then recycled possession. Spain won
03:18the ball. And this has happened so many times throughout the tournament and in past years as
03:22well for England. And we used to be able to get away with it with the personnel in the side and
03:26the way that we used to play. But now with these players who play at the top level in these top
03:31teams, we need to be comfortable on the ball throughout the whole 11. And I'm not sure
03:35Pickford's comfortable enough on the ball to warrant a starting place in the next World Cup.
03:40So hopefully a new keeper will develop in the next two years. We know, you know, you look through
03:44this squad now. Kobi Mainu, two years ago, no one really knew who he was or thought that he'd be
03:48starting games at the Euros. Cole Palmer has emerged from nowhere. Of course, he wasn't Man
03:53City's academy, but has set the world alight. Eze, Adam Wharton, Mark Gahee, the list goes on.
03:58Players almost spawn in and have one good season and then on merit they're in the team. So hopefully
04:02there'll be a goalkeeper, perhaps James Trafford, who I still really, really rate. He had a tough
04:06time at Burnley last season, but I still think he's good with the ball at his feet. And I think
04:11in the future there will be a better fit for a possession-based England side between the sticks.
04:16Right, so that's the goalkeepers done. Now right back's Kyle Walker. Age alone, this was his last
04:21tournament. He will not be going to the next World Cup. I think given he's 34, he's actually done
04:25very, very well to remain as physically capable at this age as he has been. But at 36, England
04:31won't be able to rely on him at all and haven't, in my opinion, really been able to rely on him.
04:36This tournament, I think particularly in the final, he was positionally all over the place,
04:40particularly for the first goal. And one thing I've noticed about Kyle Walker, and this isn't
04:44just in an England shirt, it's also Manchester City, and this has been over the past seven years,
04:49he does this weird kind of like looping run. So you can see it here for defending the Nico
04:54Williams goal. He kind of runs out and then back in, in a sort of horseshoe shape because he thinks
04:59his pace can compensate for repositioning himself in front of the attacker. And it's hilariously
05:05bad at times, and he's been doing it for many, many years. Anyway, long story short, he won't
05:10be there in the World Cup. And also, we're going to come on to the next guy now, Trent.
05:14I know he went as a midfielder, but I'm including him in this part because he is an infinitely
05:18better footballer and could not have done any worse defensively this tournament than Kyle Walker
05:22did. And yeah, that leads me on to Trent, and that is my summary at the end of the day. There's a man
05:26here who has played for Liverpool and won the Champions League and Premier League playing
05:30right back. And yes, he's been protected by a prime Van Dijk and an amazing Fabinho, etc,
05:35etc. But there's an abundance of talent in this team. And like I said, if we're going to become
05:39this front footed side that controls the ball, he needs to be in the team. Certainly, you know,
05:45just I know there's been this issue with like, find a place for him. We can't drop Walker. But
05:49after these performances, this tournament can play him right back be any worse than what's
05:53been going on? I don't think so. And I think he's been hugely, hugely marginalised throughout this
05:58tournament and scapegoated in the first game as well. I don't think he was used properly in that
06:02midfield in the first game. He was sort of shoehorned out wide, and then we were light in
06:06the middle of the park. And every time he gets the ball, what does Trent like to do? He likes to look
06:10for runners. But given the system that we were playing and the fact that Gary Southgate didn't
06:14really want to use any outlets, you know, like having Foden run to the back post or Kane attack
06:18the penalty area, which we'll come on to later, Trent can really hit these passes that he wanted
06:22to hit. So none of this tournament was Trent's fault, in my opinion, and he should have been
06:26playing more minutes. He should be a mainstay in this side because he is such a good footballer.
06:30And I think playing in his predominant position, you know, everyone's been slagging off Kukerea
06:35this season for Chelsea and how poor he's been defensively in that Chelsea system. Then look at
06:39him there for Spain. He goes in a system that works for him. And how good was he this tournament?
06:44He looked defensively resolute. He was good going forward. He had the lot. Spain had a good
06:48balance about them. England need to strike that equilibrium too. And I think Trent has more than
06:54enough of a case to be a mainstay and a main part of that. I've just realised, looking at how long
06:58I've been recording, this video is going to be very, very long. So let's rattle through a few
07:02quick ones. Lewis Dunk obviously was there for experience, but he's not really been in a tournament
07:06side before. So how much can he really provide? I guess he was there. We didn't really defensively
07:12suffer from set pieces, which is of course Lewis Dunk's strong suit. So to be honest, for the 2026
07:17World Cup, he may well be a pundit, but he certainly won't be there. As for Esri Konza
07:22though, he really did impress me in the Switzerland game. And I think the only reason he didn't start
07:26more games is because we'll come on to Mark Gahee. I think he was so much better than Konza on the
07:30ball. But defensively, Konza was excellent. I think he's a very positionally intelligent player,
07:34of course, has played right back as well in that Unai Emery system for Aston Villa. And in the
07:38Switzerland game, I think he did the country proud. I think he played very well. Will he beat
07:42the next World Cup? Well, probably not. I think he'll fall by the wayside. I think Brantwaite
07:46probably should have gone to this tournament. So you can assume he'll go to the next one.
07:50And then also, like I said, how Mainu, Parma, Gahee, Esri have all sort of spawned in since the
07:54Qatar World Cup. There will be more players coming into the England side who me and you maybe don't
07:59even know exist yet. That's like how thick and fast the turnover of St. George's Park is and
08:04how good some of these players coming through are. So that is a positive. But Konza, overall in the
08:08game he played, had a good tournament. Will he be there again? Don't really care right now.
08:12Joe Gomez is an interesting one though. He actually didn't play throughout the whole
08:16tournament as far as I'm aware. I don't think he did. But he played, of course, left back for
08:20Liverpool many times last season and did a good job there. Filled in at right back for Trent as
08:24well. He was always going to be a utility player in this England side, but one that Gareth thought
08:29was surplus to requirements. And an overarching point of this video that I want to make as well
08:33is that Gareth Southgate said in his post-match interview yesterday that a lot of the players
08:37were suffering from fatigue in the final minutes of that game. But like, you can't blame fatigue
08:42when you have a squad this big and there's so many players that you just are reluctant to use
08:45and are marginalising. Why take Joe Gomez if you're not even going to give him a whirl in
08:49certain instances throughout this tournament? So yeah, I can't really comment on Gomez's
08:54performances, but I think he deserved to at least get a few minutes. The main positive of this video
08:58though, we will come on to him now, is Mark Gahee. I think he has probably been England's player of
09:03the tournament. So comfortable on the ball and a lot of people were worried, myself included,
09:07that Harry Maguire's absence might be a bit of an Achilles heel for England. But that didn't
09:11prove to be the case. Operating on that left-sided defence next to John Stones, he just looked
09:15completely, completely comfortable. And also he could have equalised for England at the death
09:21against Spain as well. So amazing tournament for Mark Gahee. Don't really think he put a foot wrong
09:26at any point. Maybe you could argue the goal that Slovakia scored, but other than that,
09:31like pretty, pretty solid for a first tournament. He will definitely be at the next World Cup,
09:35but shout out to him. I think he's an amazing centre-half and he'll kick on next season under
09:39Oliver Glasner and continue the trajectory he's on and rightly so. I hope he's at the next World
09:44Cup. John Stones as well, pretty much echoing the sentiment of Gahee. I thought he was very
09:47comfortable this tournament and England overall defensively were pretty good, but that is kind of
09:53a problem because Gareth Southgate was playing us so deep. So you'd expect that, but Stones thought
09:58he was brought in the side to do, did what he was asked to do. He clearly wasn't asked to maraud
10:02into midfield like he's done for Manchester City, which I think is another potential issue.
10:06Because we never really in this tournament tried to create a numerical advantage going forward,
10:10either using Stones or Trent Alexander-Arnold, for example, we were just reluctant to do so.
10:15So as a centre-back, first and foremost, I thought Stones was pretty comfortable,
10:18but that's to be expected now he's an established elite level player. So not much more I can add to
10:23that on John Stones, but yeah, he had a good tournament too. One player whose tournament
10:27will be his last as well though is Kieran Trippier. Do I think he was particularly
10:31bad? No, certainly not defensively, but he was particularly predictable going forward. I just
10:37think the fact he's right-footed and was hugging the width so much in so many games for England on
10:41that left-hand side, when he did push up, it was hard for a Foden maybe to overlap on that left-hand
10:46side. And when Trippier did get the ball, you knew what he wanted to do and who can blame him?
10:50It's cutting on his right-hand side and get a crossing. And I think he put one good ball in
10:55our tournament to Conor Gallagher against Slovenia. I think it was, but other than that,
11:00I can't really think of anything memorable he did going forward. And when a player receives
11:06the ball that far wide and they're a full back, and then they want to cut inside on the right
11:11foot, it just slows everything down a bit. It's certainly not as direct as it was in the final
11:15at parts when we had Luke Shaw, a natural left-footed left back. So Trippier now age catching
11:20up to him. He's sort of been Southgate's noble steed for many tournaments now, trusted and rightly
11:25so. I don't think he played particularly bad, but I certainly don't think he'll be playing at the
11:302026 World Cup. Luke Shaw though, annoying that he wasn't fit throughout the whole tournament.
11:35I guess we did get to the final largely in his absence, but he certainly helped as a substitute
11:39in previous games. And as for him in the final, I thought he looked good. I thought he looked
11:43really good in the first half versus Spain, especially in certain instances where he was
11:46getting on the edge of their penalty area and being incisive, beating a man. I think he squared
11:51one to Kane or Bellingham in the first half. It was just a completely more, it was a more natural
11:56look about that back five system when you sort of have the fullbacks flying forward and that on
12:00their favoured foot side. It worked, it worked. And we know this works for England. We know what
12:05Luke Shaw's strengths are and we were missing them for a great deal of the competition. But I think
12:09when we go into the next competition, we need to make sure that we bring two left-footed left
12:13backs because we really suffered when we didn't have that at our disposal. So maybe Tyrett Mitchell,
12:19I really like him and I think his game's going to develop over the next few years. Chilwell,
12:22probably not unless Chelsea have a resurgence. I think Chilwell's good going forward, but
12:27defensively leaves little to be desired or hopefully someone else will spawn in, like I said.
12:32But I think Tyrett Mitchell will be my one to watch for the next World Cup. I think he could
12:35make the play next time because I really, really rate him. Left-footed left back, similar attributes
12:40to Luke Shaw, quite decent going forward. So we shall see, but Shaw was a big miss, but when he
12:44did play, he was pretty good. So again, I'd say he's definitely going to the next World Cup.
12:49So that's the defenders complete and I've mentioned Trent as well. So now let's move on
12:53to Declan Rice, the player of this tournament that I think typifies what is wrong with Gareth
12:58Southgate's system right now. I think Rice was used horrifically. So on this channel, I previewed
13:03the Serbia game before the tournament started, but the team had been leaked and Trent was playing
13:07alongside Rice in a pivot and we all knew this. And I said, I didn't think it was maybe the right
13:12decision because you don't supplement Rice with someone like Trent or even someone like Kobi
13:17Mainu. You supplement Declan Rice with an actual number six. And we only have one actual number
13:23six, in my opinion, in the team. And he played zero minutes and that's Adam Wharton, who we'll
13:28come on to in a minute. This can be a bit of a hybrid point between Wharton and Rice, but I think
13:32Rice's best attribute is when he's got the ball and he's allowed to carry it forward into the
13:37opposition final third. He's a fantastic ball carrier, maybe not as good a natural six as
13:42someone like Rodriguez. And that's absolutely fine. Rice is a phenomenal player, but you use
13:46him correctly. Mikel Arteta knows how to use him correctly. He plays Jorginho or Thomas Partey
13:52alongside him every time. So Rice has got that capability to carry the ball forward into the
13:57final third and push numbers up for Arsenal. Gareth Southgate was reluctant to do that and
14:01saw Rice as this screener of a back line, spreader of sideways passes. He was forced into playing a
14:06role that almost resigned him to being a Jordan Henderson type where he was breaking up play and
14:11not much else. And Rice has got so much more to his game, but that needs to be facilitated with
14:15the right man alongside Declan Rice. And as an overarching point, we've got so much talent in
14:21this team that play under Mikel Arteta, Jurgen Klopp, of course, he's gone now, but Trent played
14:25under Klopp. So many players playing under Pep at City, Bellingham at Real Madrid, Kane at Bayern
14:30Munich. These are top level, elite, high pressing, modern football clubs that play proactive,
14:36front footed football. So by playing this negative style of play, and I know it's a very
14:40throwaway term, negative style of play, but we have got this inferiority complex where we're
14:45comfortable not having the ball. That's uncomfortable for the players that England have got.
14:49And that's what needs to change. You need to make these players comfortable that we've got
14:53with the ball at their feet and be proactive. And that starts by supplementing Declan Rice properly
14:59with a player alongside him who's a number six, but he's also very good on the ball. Who could
15:03that be, I wonder? And I'm getting a bit angry now. Sorry. Sorry. Adam Wharton, of course,
15:08he played zero minutes this tournament, which for me is maybe the biggest crime of the whole
15:14tournament. As good as Kobi Mainu is, I think he was phenomenal. Apart from Gay, he may be
15:18England's best player at all tournament. Phenomenal. He was 18, Wharton's 19. They're
15:23a similar age. Adam Wharton has played at the top level for six months and not missed a beat.
15:27He did not miss a beat when he made his England debut the other week. 36 out of 36 completed
15:32passes. He's left footed, which opens the pitch up for England. It allows different spreads of
15:37passes, incisive passes into the number tens. It opens the pitch up having a left footed six
15:42alongside Rice. And then it also helps support Rice and allowing to push on. I think Wharton
15:48should have been tried maybe against Slovenia. I think that was a game where we could afford
15:54to maybe draw it and we could afford to try a few things. And instead, I think Gallagher played or
15:59someone like that. I can't really remember now. Maybe it was Mainu who came in. But
16:04Wharton would have been the man for me because he's a deep line midfielder and then that allows
16:08Rice to push forward. And I really, really rate Adam Wharton. I think come the 2026 World Cup,
16:13he will be starting for England and I think he'll be playing for a top six club, maybe a Man City.
16:17Honestly, I think he's that good. So yeah, disappointed for him. But he's very young.
16:22He will get many more chances. So it's not the end of the world. But yeah, just an overarching
16:26point on Wharton and Rice. They should have played alongside each other at one point this
16:30tournament, I feel. As for Kobe Mainu though, wow. Hats off to your son. I've waxed lyrical about him
16:35so much, reluctantly, as a Man City fan for the last few months. But he really, really is that
16:39good. He's one of the best young England midfielders I can remember ever seeing. His ball carrying
16:43ability is amazing. Just his trickiness, that shift of momentum, how quick he is on it. He's
16:48just not afraid driving with it. They're all cliches, but he really, really does deliver
16:53on all fronts. And for his age, his maturity, how well-rounded he is, he ticks every box. He will,
16:57of course, be going to the next World Cup. Do I think he should have been used as much as he has
17:02been? Maybe not. But given the way that we were playing with the back five, I guess who really
17:08cares? And I think it reached a certain point with the way Southgate was playing where it didn't
17:12really matter anyway who played in certain games. I just think Mainu, for what he was put there to
17:16do, did his job superbly. And I commend him for that. So yeah, there's not much more to say,
17:22because I just feel like when I'm talking about the midfield, the overarching point for me is how
17:26little we got out of Declan Rice, and it's really frustrating. But Mainu did what he was asked to do,
17:31and he did it superbly. Conor Gallagher, to be honest, I can't really be arsed talking about.
17:35No disrespect to him. We know what he does. He's tenacious. He chases the ball. He's probably
17:39someone who would have been suited to England's Euro 2020 side, where we had Henderson and Phillips,
17:43dogged ball winners in that team. Rice was used as a ball winner then. But then, obviously,
17:48we were hitting teams on the counter-attack with Kane rightfully dropping deep in that tournament,
17:52because we had outlets like Stirling and Rashford. Gallagher would have suited that system
17:56a little bit better than whatever this has been. But I guess he served a purpose in certain games.
18:01Maybe could have been brought on a little bit earlier against Spain, given how well he did
18:04individually against Rodri in all three games for Chelsea against City last season. But it wasn't to
18:10be. He's not an amazing footballer. He's not particularly easy on the eye, but he's good at
18:14certain attributes, particularly off the ball. So I think he serves a purpose. I said I can't
18:19be arse talking about Conor Gallagher. I now am. But yeah, he serves a purpose in every team. You
18:23need a good off the ball player, and he was just that. So didn't have a bad tournament. Will he go
18:27to the next one? Maybe. I'd give him like 50% chance. And then the next ones I thought I'd do
18:32as a pair, Foden and Bellingham, because of course they started every game in those 10 positions.
18:37Can I really knock them? No. I think they underperformed, but I don't think that's their
18:41fault. Like I said with Rice, I think these players are used to being in proactive systems,
18:45and they weren't in that. I think Bellingham off the ball did particularly well in certain games.
18:51I thought he was actually quite good off the ball against Spain in the final. Foden in front of goal,
18:56yeah, little to be desired. But listen, I've watched Foden for many, many years now. And the
19:01position where he's probably most uncomfortable is on that left-hand side. I think he's good on
19:05the right when he can cut inside. We saw that against the Netherlands when he was in that
19:09right half space. That was the best game he had against the Dutch, definitely. But realistically,
19:14he's a number 10 now. And for large parts of the tournament, he wasn't played there.
19:17And as for Jude Bellingham as well, where was he shoehorned out against Spain? On the left-hand
19:21side, which just goes to show how disjointed this system really is and how we're adapting
19:27to what other teams can do without really optimising our own players and putting them
19:32in the best positions on the pitch. And early on in this tournament, it was Phil Foden starting
19:38out wide. And it was only later on in the tournament that we really started to try a system
19:41with two kind of number 10s in Foden and Bellingham. And it started to look a little bit
19:45better. But I think the onus is on those two so much when really England can build a squad that
19:50is collectively so much more stronger that those guys can then have the freedom to do what we know
19:56they can do on the ball. So I can't really dig into them too much. I thought obviously Bellingham's
20:00big moment was that overhead kick against Slovakia, which kept us in the tournament.
20:04So I guess on individual moments alone, you've got to give Bellingham credit there. But he was
20:09underwhelming. Foden was underwhelming. But I just think there's so many other bigger problems
20:16overarching with this England squad that I don't think picking anyone out in particular
20:21is the way to do this. I just think they'll obviously be at the next World Cup. They'll go
20:24again. And hopefully, they'll be in a system that suits them better. And even if one has to be
20:28dropped as well, I wouldn't have been against that. You can drop one of these guys. But he
20:32seemed reluctant to do that as well, which is maybe another problem. But let's get onto that now.
20:38Anthony Gordon. Anthony Gordon. He played six minutes this tournament. Six minutes as the only
20:44left-sided real direct outlet, pacey direct outlet in this team. Given how Gareth Southgate wanted to
20:52play in Euro 2020 and how well it worked and how many goals we scored against the likes of Ukraine
20:58and other sides, I find that baffling. He didn't take Stirling. He didn't take Rashford. He did
21:04take Gordon. And Gordon is of a similar profile to those two players who, in previous years,
21:09have performed so well for Gareth Southgate's England side because he found a system that
21:13worked with Kane dropping deep and then an outlet running in behind. And Foden couldn't fill this
21:18void. Bellingham couldn't when he was out wide. Even Saka, to an extent, couldn't because he was
21:22playing wing back for large parts of the knockout games and couldn't really get high enough up the
21:27pitch to make those runs in behind into the penalty area. So Gordon fit that profile,
21:32and he never got a chance. And I don't really think that's fair. And I think it speaks volumes
21:36of Southgate not really knowing what his best XI or system was this tournament. I don't need to go
21:43on about that for too long. I just think it's as simple as that with Anthony Gordon. He's probably
21:46the most direct player in that team. And he just simply didn't play when we were crying out for it
21:52time and time again. So yeah, there's that. Another direct-ish winger or more of like a
21:58wide striker in Jarrod Bowen. I think he only played against Serbia, so not really much to say
22:03on him. I thought he did well in that game when he came on, but that was really a game where he
22:07came on to defensively contribute. He didn't really do much in attacking areas. I think he
22:11put one good ball in. Listen, he's a good player, not much more to say. But do I think he was the
22:16crux of any of the problems for England, Jarrod Bowen? No. So let's move on. Eberechi Eze thought
22:21he did very well when he played in certain games, but obviously as a number 10, he was never really
22:25going to get in ahead of Foden or Bellingham. Will he be going to the next World Cup? Yes,
22:30because I think he'll be playing for a top six club. And I think he is that good. I think he's
22:34so dynamic on the ball and he's not afraid to actually just take someone on as directly as
22:39you possibly can. And he's his box of tricks. He's two-footed. He can take penalties. He's got
22:45a lot of attributes. But again, similar to what I've said, don't really think he was the crux of
22:50any issue for England this tournament. I'm just glad that he went ahead of Madison and Grealish.
22:53I was glad that he got the chance and definitely think he's good enough in the future. So let's
22:58move on from him. Cole Palmer, another player I thought should have definitely got more minutes.
23:04At the end of the day, right, we've got so many players in the team. I'm going to come on to Ollie
23:07Watkins, Harry Kane, of course. Foden had his best ever goal scoring season last season. Bellingham
23:12scoring so many goals in La Liga. Palmer coming second in the Golden Boot race. We have so many
23:17goals in this side. They're players who want to play front-footed attacking football with the
23:22ball at their feet. Cole Palmer likes that. Foden likes that. Bellingham likes that. All these
23:26players were neglected to an extent because of Southgate's system. So I don't really think it
23:30matters whether Cole Palmer would have played more or not. I think he probably deserved to,
23:34given how well he played at Chelsea last season. But I don't think it would have changed much,
23:38because even if you look at the goal he scored in the final, it was a moment. It was a moment
23:42of brilliance. We know the players in the team have got moments of brilliance, and that's all
23:47we relied upon. But we need to rely upon a system now that works and dominates sides. And I think
23:51that is achievable with the personnel we've got. But like I said, Bellingham's an amazing player.
23:56Foden's an amazing player. So is Palmer. Doesn't really matter which one would have played in this
24:00system. I don't think you'd have seen greatly different results throughout the course of the
24:03tournament. So probably unlucky to not get more minutes. Amazing for him to score in the final.
24:08And what I do like about Palmer, what I will say, is that I think he's the only player. So I think
24:14Bellingham feels the pressure. I think that who else think he's arrogant, he's cocky, which is
24:18great. But I think it's all a bit of a show. I think Bellingham definitely does feel the pressure
24:22of the occasion. I think Foden's been open in the fact that he does. I'm sure Saka has done. Kane
24:26definitely does. I truly believe that Palmer is cold as ice. As the celebration says, I just don't
24:32think any occasion phases in which I love in a footballer. It's reminiscent of someone like
24:37Mario Balotelli even. I think Palmer will go on to have a better career than Balotelli. I think
24:41he's already on that trajectory. But in that sense, maybe like a Cantona as well, where like
24:45no occasion is big enough for him. That is what I really like about Cole Palmer. To come on
24:50and do that in the final is just phenomenal. And I think he'll have an amazing season next year.
24:55And he will definitely be at the next World Cup. Bakaio Saka. Yes, Bakaio Saka. By the way,
25:00if you're wondering why I've changed outfits, I've not had an accident. This is actually me
25:04from the future because I forgot to do Saka in the video. So this is now the next day. And there's
25:09actually been some breaking Southgate news. You know what it is by now. We'll come onto that at
25:13the end. But Saka, listen, probably the standout attacker of the tournament for England. And I
25:19think it speaks volumes of what Southgate was trying to do in the fact that he was almost made
25:23into a sacrificial lamb despite how good he is at club and country level and made to play right
25:28wing back. I thought he did a very, very good job there. And it did work to an extent. But really,
25:32we need to be working towards a system where Saka can just play on that right side in an
25:36attacking position and it works. And I don't know what more I can say than that. I was chuffed for
25:41him scoring that penalty bit of retribution for him from three years ago. And I just thought in
25:46terms of all the attackers, he was the one who looked most comfortable, stepped up to the plate
25:49most, I think, in terms of creating chances for himself or other teammates. So yeah, great
25:54tournament for Saka. He will obviously be there at the next World Cup as well. But yeah, like I
25:57said, the fact we had to revert to a back five speaks about the mentality and the lack of risk
26:02taking that was going on this tournament with Gareth Southgate's system. And Saka, unfortunately,
26:06had to be pegged back a bit and a little bit of a sacrificial lamb to Foden and Bellingham for
26:11whatever reason. And I don't think that reason was on merit. But anyway, that's my take on
26:16Bakaio Saka. Right, let's talk about Ivan Toni. Amazing, amazing tournament. 10 out of 10 for
26:21when he was on the pitch. I thought his hold up play against Slovakia changed the game and won us
26:25the game as well with that assist to Harry Kane. And then coming on to take, in my opinion, what
26:29is maybe the best penalty I've ever seen against Switzerland was amazing. And then he came on at
26:34the death against Spain as well as we opted to go direct again. I think his hold up play is better
26:39than Kane's and Watkins. And he did serve that purpose. That was one thing that Southgate does
26:43understand. Sometimes you can lump it long and it does work. And Toni certainly has got that in his
26:48locker, but he's also got a lot of technical abilities. Just a great footballer. And I think
26:52for the limited time he got on the pitch and the way England were playing, weirdly, it kind of
26:56suited Toni. And I thought he was phenomenal. So Toni, hats off, great tournament. Watkins as well,
27:01of course, chuffed to bits for that lad with the goal he scored against the Netherlands. A
27:04different profile to Toni and Kane and one that we needed definitely against the Netherlands.
27:10Will he be at the next World Cup? I don't know. Another English striker might have an amazing
27:13season. But I thought, again, similar to Toni, he was brought on to do what he needed to do.
27:17And by God, did he do it. Even against Spain when Watkins came on, he did create space by
27:21stretching the back four and just making those runs into the channels. It's so useful when you
27:25have a striker that actually attacks space, isn't it? Which brings me on to the next guy. Yeah,
27:31Harry Kane. A lot of people are saying that maybe he was carrying an injury throughout this
27:34tournament. Whether that's true or not, I don't really know. Again, though, I feel a little bit
27:39sorry for Kane and I'll tell you why. Some of Kane's best seasons for Tottenham were under
27:44those horrific regimes of Conte, Mourinho, Nuno, where it was defensive, turgid football. He was
27:49dropping deep to get involved in the midfield, but then the outlet was Heung-Min Son. And this
27:54also kind of mirrored itself at the Euros in 2020 when the outlets were Sterling and Rashford. Now,
27:59naturally, Kane knows that that's his strength in an England shirt. He's going to want to drop deep
28:03and get involved and find someone in behind. He knows he's good at that, right?
28:08What he's maybe not as good at is pressing from the front, which I think Southgate was trying to
28:12do, but unsuccessfully. And I personally, I don't buy into the whole Kane was injured kind of thing.
28:18I think he was just given the wrong instructions and instructions that didn't really
28:22suit him or the players around him. I genuinely think he wasn't quite sure what he was being
28:27asked to do at times, because if you're going to attack the penalty area, you also then need the
28:30bodies forward out wide to get those balls into him. That wasn't really happening for large parts
28:35of the tournament. And then again, when he did drop deep, there was just like no real runners.
28:38And sometimes in this tournament, England dropped that deep that Kane was actually in his own half,
28:43just like doggedly defending. He certainly was in that Denmark game in particular. So
28:48again, that just speaks volumes of the whole system, not Harry Kane. It's not really his fault.
28:53Like if England are that deep, then Kane's going to want to get involved on the ball.
28:57He's not going to just stand up on his own because he can't really run him behind like an Ollie
29:01Watkins can. So yeah, as for Kane, I feel a little bit sorry for him. The trophy drought goes on.
29:06I don't think he was as bad as people are saying this tournament, given how bad
29:10England were as a collective. And he will definitely, given his age and his goal scoring
29:15rate in that Bundesliga league where it's all very open and expansive, he'll probably hit 40
29:20goals next season and he will be at the 2026 World Cup as England's captain, hopefully in a
29:25system that suits him better. So Kane, I think, wasn't as bad as people were saying. So that's
29:31all the England players done, which finally brings me on to Gareth Southgate. And hello,
29:35just interjecting again, Adam from the future. Of course, now Southgate's resigned. I didn't
29:38know this yesterday, but I expected it. So it don't really change much of what I'm about to
29:43say, but I'm glad he's resigned. I think it was the right time to do so. Full respect to him.
29:47And looking forward, I think it's going to be Graeme Potter and I would like it to be
29:50Graeme Potter as well. I think he suits that attacking style of football. And with this
29:55group of players, I think he'd do very, very well. A young group of players as well.
29:58I think that Chelsea job was a bit of a poisoned chalice and it tarnished Potter's legacy somewhat
30:03unfairly. I think he did great work at Ostersunds and then Brighton. I'd give him the shot. And I
30:08think he's also got a similar demeanour to Southgate, that sort of softly spoken man
30:12manager kind of build. I think it'd work. So I'd give Potter a whirl, but full respect to
30:17Southgate for resigning. Anyway, here's the rest of the Southgate stuff. Now I don't want to like
30:21rip into him. Yes, I was very unhappy with some of the football he was playing this tournament.
30:25And I feel like the nation really have sort of had enough of this style of play with the
30:29abundance of talent that we've got. I think that's the long and short of it. But over, you know,
30:33looking over the eight years that Southgate's been in charge, of course, he took over England after
30:37that Iceland result. Well, Sam Allardyce had it for a game, but let's not count that. It was pretty
30:41much after the Iceland result. And, you know, we were in a very, very bad place, both in personnel
30:47in the team, but also the feeling that the nation had towards their football team. And he reinstalled
30:51that hope. I think 2018, for me, will always be the fondest Southgate memory in terms of turning
30:56us from doubters to believers. Once again, we didn't really have a great team back then. And we
31:00were the underdogs in many games that we played, which suited Southgate. We also were in the Euros
31:05against Germany, which suited Southgate. But the team has got too good now. It's too good for his
31:10own good. It's like it's to the point where it's almost reminiscent of when Lampard was at Chelsea.
31:16And of course, he came in with that transfer ban, had to blood a load of young players in,
31:20and he punched above his weight and he got a top four finish. But when all the big money players
31:24came in and the squad was bolstered and was a lot stronger, he couldn't really tread water with it.
31:28And I feel like that's where Southgate is now. And he has been trying to stick to his guns by
31:34playing that sort of defensive football that got us so far in previous tournaments. But the team
31:38is simply too talented now and it's tipped the balance the wrong way. And fans are frustrated
31:43with it, and rightly so. And I also think a lot of the players will be frustrated with it
31:47behind the scenes, in their own heads, talking to each other. I think they know,
31:51given what they can do at club level, that they can do so much more as a collective with the ball
31:55at their feet. So I think it's time for a change. I think Southgate knows this. He could resign
32:00tomorrow when this video goes out, or it could be next week, or he might just not. But I've got a
32:04hunch that he will. I thank him for what he's done. But I think in that final as well, what I
32:09will say that really, really annoyed me is this England team seem to have an inability to smell
32:14blood. We're the best when we're losing games, especially this tournament. We're the best when
32:17we're losing games, which isn't a good position to be in. We don't want to be that side. You look
32:22at the Italy final three years ago, England took the lead in the first minute. Now, in my opinion,
32:27in a football game, if you take the lead in the first minute, that's a psychological momentum
32:30shift in your favour and against the Italians. You go for the kill in that first 20 minutes after
32:35that goal scored, you go on the front foot and you try and get a second or a third. That is what
32:40should have happened in that final. But no, we sat back. We invited pressure and inevitably,
32:44inevitably, Italy equalised. Now, in the Spain game, the moment where England should have smelled
32:49blood for me was when Rodri, the most imperious best midfielder in the world, got took off the
32:53pitch at half time. Should that not say to Southgate, listen, lads, Rodri's off. This is
32:58the time to get the upper hand in the game. Get a foothold on top of Spain, maybe make a tweak in
33:04midfield, pack another man in there, whatever you need to do to give yourself the upper hand. But no,
33:08nothing changed. And within 90 seconds, we conceded. And it's that for me. It's that
33:13inability to make decisions in game when there's an opportunity, when England are level and we
33:18should be smelling blood. And all right, yeah, you could argue we did that in the Netherlands
33:23by bringing Watkins on. But I just think overall, it's just, it's just too, it's too,
33:28there's too much trepidation in the decisions Southgate makes as a manager. I think he fears
33:34risk. He fears risk too much. And I think we need a change with a manager who's willing to take them.
33:39Anyway, that was a bloody long video, wasn't it? Wow. I'm going to do a lot of cutting up,
33:44just looking how long I've been recording this for. Wow. Yeah, we'll see how long this video
33:48comes out when it's out tomorrow. But that is my quick analysis, I guess, of all the players who
33:54went to the Euros and Southgate himself. I'm disappointed, but I'm hopeful for the future
33:59because like I said, we didn't think Maino would be playing a year ago. We didn't think Palmer
34:03will be a year ago. Gehi, Eze, even Gordon, maybe to an extent, all these players have emerged as
34:08top level talents. We got Brantway who didn't even go. There will be players in two years time
34:13who we don't even know exist yet and could be world beaters. And I think it's only going to get
34:18better in terms of personnel for England. We just need a different man at the helm to implement the
34:22right style of play now moving forward. So let me know what you think in the comments, guys.
34:26Not trying to cause debate. I'm not particularly even angry. I just think it was almost inevitable,
34:31given how England have played this tournament, that we would fall short to a side that are
34:34actually imperious and dominant when they have the ball and when they have Rodri as well, who
34:38just don't lose a game of football. So anyway, that's that. Don't forget to subscribe, guys.
34:43I've been Adam Monk at underscore Adam Monk on socials if you want to check that out. And right
34:48here somewhere, there should be the new edition of the magazine if you want to buy that online.
34:52It's on Pep's Disciples. Maybe the FA could appoint one of those disciples to play some
34:58attractive football that the fans want to watch. Anyway, I'll stop digging the knife in now. It's
35:03done. It's done. Onto the football season. Anyway, guys, hope you enjoyed the video. Take care.
35:08Enjoy pre-season as well. This is the entertaining bit. The transfer window now
35:12will be ramping up. So enjoy that. Have a lovely week. I'll see you soon. Goodbye.