The England team must escape the label of being a 'paper tiger'.

According to Opta 's calculations, England has a 19.9% ​​chance of winning EURO 2024, the highest in the tournament. France is second with 19.1%. However, while France is highly rated because they reached the finals in three of the last four major tournaments (EURO 2016, World Cup 2018, and World Cup 2022), the high rating of England feels... unsettling.

At the 2022 World Cup, their most recent major tournament, England progressed to the quarter-finals against France. Under manager Gareth Southgate from 2018 to the present, England's performance in major tournaments has improved. However, aside from their runner-up finish at EURO 2020, England still leaves many doubts unanswered.

England are the reigning EURO runners-up.

England's run to the 2018 World Cup semi-finals was actually due to being in a relatively easy bracket (avoiding France, Argentina, Brazil, Belgium, and Portugal), rather than being overwhelmingly stronger than their opponents. EURO 2020 was England's true peak performance; however, the disappointing elimination by France at the World Cup just a year later raises questions about the true capabilities of the England team, and of manager Southgate himself.

To be fair, Coach Southgate has done far better than previous England managers. Fabio Capello, Roy Hodgson, Steve McLaren, and Sven Goran-Eriksson, despite leading England during their peak with star players like Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, Wayne Rooney, John Terry, Rio Ferdinand, and Paul Scholes, still frequently failed to qualify for major tournaments. The image of Coach McLaren standing under an umbrella in the pouring rain after England's elimination from the EURO qualifiers following their defeat to Croatia will forever haunt fans. Because with such a talented generation, the England team didn't deserve such a cruel end.

Discussing England's past failures, many reasons have been analyzed. One of them is the excessive hype surrounding star players, as coach Pep Guardiola once said that in Spain there are 100 players with the same level of skill as Jack Wilshere – a player hailed by the English as a prodigy. Another reason is that England's stars were all very strong-willed and... difficult to manage. Harmonizing such players is no simple task.

The England team is the highest-valued team in the tournament.

So why is it that a manager with a rather unremarkable resume (only managing Middlesbrough) and who wasn't a particularly good player himself, like Southgate, has a better record than his predecessor?

One theory suggests that the England national team's rise began in 2016, when the Premier League truly became a dream destination for the best managers. Jose Mourinho, Jurgen Klopp, Antonio Conte, Pep Guardiola, Mauricio Pochettino, and Thomas Tuchel all came here. Even a mediocre team like Everton once had Carlo Ancelotti.

Thanks to brilliant strategists, English players (the vast majority of whom play in the domestic league) have all been elevated to a higher level. Just look at how Guardiola has coached Phil Foden, Kyle Walker, and John Stones into the players they are today; how Trent Alexander-Arnold and Jordan Henderson have progressed under Klopp; or how Harry Kane was discovered, nurtured, and developed by Pochettino at Bayern Munich under Tuchel.

Coach Southgate is under pressure.

Coach Southgate is doing a job many people dream of: coaching very talented players. Unlike his predecessors, Southgate doesn't impose his will (or... can't impose it). The English strategist isn't outstanding tactically, which might even be a good thing. He simply puts the players in their natural positions. And for stars who have trained for a year with top-class coaches, perhaps Southgate doesn't need to coach them too much.

His job was to build a system where the players felt most comfortable. Perhaps this is why the current England team not only has a superior record compared to the previous generation, but is also very cohesive and free of rebellious egos.

However, that doesn't mean Southgate's job is easy. In his seventh year managing England, the former Middlesbrough manager needs a trophy to justify the club's high price tag. Simply coaching in such a high-pressure and scrutinizing environment is no simple task.

This is England's 11th EURO tournament. Historically, no team has played 38 matches without ever winning the title like England. Southgate's team must escape their "paper tiger" status at all costs!

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/doi-tuyen-anh-phai-thoat-canh-ho-giay-185240613204516005.htm