England’s World Cup campaign was good, but here are six areas where it wrong for Three Lions in Russia
Gareth Southgate has been heralded for reigniting the nation's love for English football but there are still things to improve on
ENGLAND’S 2018 World Cup campaign was an unexpected feelgood story — offering hope of better things to come.
Gareth Southgate did an exceptional job in engineering an inexperienced and limited team so that it was better than the sum of its parts.
Selecting unsung players such as Harry Maguire, Kieran Trippier and Jordan Pickford turned out to be masterstrokes.
England were a fluent, intelligent and likeable team — both on and off the pitch.
But they also blew the lead in a winnable semi-final against Croatia and could not capitalise on an historically good chance to reach a first World Cup final on foreign soil.
So here are six reasons why England ultimately failed to reach tomorrow’s final at the Luzhniki Stadium — some of which will be easier to solve than others . . .
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LACK OF CREATIVITY IN CENTRAL MIDFIELD
THIS one has been glaringly apparent to boss Southgate since the start of his reign.
And after qualification, he remodelled his system primarily to counteract this weakness — rather than continuing to employ jobbing pros such as Jake Livermore.
Yet England were second-worst in Russia for shots on target from open play — only Iran created less than their 0.9 per 90 minutes.
Jordan Henderson had a decent tournament as the sole deep-lying midfielder but against Croatia he gave the ball away far too often.
It was widely predicted England’s midfield would struggle against Luka Modric, Ivan Rakitic and the underrated Marcelo Brozovic.
The temptation might have been to pair Eric Dier with Henderson. But the Tottenham man has looked unwieldy out here and, in any case, is not the type of player who truly makes a midfield tick.
Fabian Delph was another option to start — though he is not in the same class as Croatia’s midfielders.
This problem is unlikely to go away any time soon.
There are hopes Spurs’ Harry Winks and Bournemouth’s Lewis Cook, or the great 18-year-old prodigy Phil Foden of Manchester City, can step up. But it can take years to develop into a world-class midfield schemer.
NO BACK-UP FOR A KNACKERED HARRY KANE
KANE is likely to be one of the weirdest Golden Boot winners of all time — six goals, three penalties, two from corners and one fluke.
This is not to say Kane isn’t world class, simply that he wasn’t at his physically sharpest here.
After a Herculean shift against Colombia, he was burnt out by the Sweden match. Yet there was no genuine option to replace him.
Jamie Vardy is an entirely different striker, while Marcus Rashford or Danny Welbeck are both better playing in a wider role.
A fully-fit Daniel Sturridge would have been a fine solution — but nobody can really remember a fully-fit Sturridge.
Kane was often too isolated as well. His instinctive understanding with Dele Alli was not allowed to flourish, with Dele in a slightly deeper role than he plays for Spurs.
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SOUTHGATE LOST CONFIDENCE IN HIS SUBS
ENGLAND did not lose momentum when they rested nine first-choice players in the final group game against Belgium — as many feared.
But Southgate did lose confidence in many of his key back-up players — chiefly as a result of a flat performance in Kaliningrad.
Marcus Rashford and Ruben Loftus-Cheek had been earmarked as England’s game-changing subs.
Both had a late impact against Tunisia but were poor after that. Loftus-Cheek started against Panama and Belgium and failed to make a compelling case in either.
Rashford often looked out of his depth in Russia, especially when he came on against Croatia.
Danny Rose went into the Belgium game as the most likely player to force his way into Southgate’s starting line-up.
Yet despite a lively display going forward, he allowed Adnan Januzaj past him to score the only goal.
Rose’s dynamism and left- footedness would have given us something extra on the left. But he could not quite convince Southgate he was worthy of replacing Ashley Young. Vardy and Dier also failed to impress against Belgium’s reserves.
FIRST HALF GOOD, SECOND HALF NOT SO GOOD
ENGLAND were better in the first half than the second in all five of their meaningful matches — just as Sven-Goran Eriksson observed during his own Three Lions reign.
Southgate’s men burned brightly against Tunisia early on, then faded. And they were 5-0 up against Panama by the break.
They also had better control against Colombia in the first 45 minutes than the second — and only started allowing Sweden to create chances after the interval.
Against Croatia, this trend was particularly striking. England were outstanding in the first half but naive and disjointed in the second.
This had something to do with Southgate’s lack of confidence in his subs, who were either not used early enough or were not good enough to provide extra impetus.
It also had much to do with a lack of nous and game management, especially against stronger opponents in Colombia and Croatia.
This tendency was more mental than physical and is a problem which will ease with experience.
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KYLE WALKER IS NOT A CENTRE-BACK
WALKER has not been comfortable in a back three and the Manchester City man’s lack of experience in his unfamiliar role cost England against Tunisia and Croatia.
He gave away a penalty from a cross in their tournament opener and allowed Ivan Perisic to net the Croats’ equaliser in the semi-final.
Walker also wasn’t faultless in the build-up to Mario Mandzukic’s extra-time winner. His electric pace was a major boon at times — but such an attack-minded player was frustrated not to be playing at right wing-back.
Trippier had such an outstanding World Cup that Walker will not force his way back in there.
While Liverpool’s Joe Gomez may be seen as a more natural fit in the back three.
This could leave Walker in the unusual position of being a regular starter for Pep Guardiola’s champions — but not for an England team which boasts far less quality.
PANIC IN THE BOX
ENGLAND were simply not cool-headed enough in the penalty area.
Raheem Sterling was a chief culprit here. With his darting runs and quick feet, he was a potent attacking force.
Yet as soon as he reached the 18-yard box he tended to fall apart.
Kane caught the bug in the Croatia clash, blowing a double chance he would normally snaffle.
That would have put England into a 2-0 lead — though he’d have needed the help of VAR after being incorrectly flagged offside.
These sort of big-match nerves might dissipate next time around, though, when England will be more experienced campaigners.