England need to improve their midfield

That is the assessment of commentator Vu Quang Huy when looking back at the 3 matches of the England team in the Euro 2024 group stage. He analyzed:

Commentator Vu Quang Huy

"England's style of play is not commensurate with the stars they have. But as coach Gareth Southgate said, 5 points after 3 matches is not enough. He is right about efficiency. In my opinion, there are two possibilities: 1- England will lose their mask in the knockout round. 2- England will play better and better. And I lean towards the second possibility. The last three group stage matches were just a test of player rotation and testing by coach Gareth Southgate. He has almost achieved his goal. I feel that England's midfield in the Slovenia match with Kobbie Mainoo playing in the second half instead of Conor Gallagher is fine. In England's 3-man midfield, Jude Bellingham and Declan Rice cannot be dropped. Just need another midfielder to play under the pair above. Maybe Mainoo is the best because he is an intelligent player and follows the tactics. I think England have found a way to play more flexibly. Mr. Southgate is not a good coach change should lead to the poor performance of England. The advantage for coach Southgate is that he is a gentleman player. And England has many good players to be able to choose the most suitable squad.

Coach Southgate talks with Mainoo during the draw with Slovenia. Photo: SKY SPORTS

Star Bellingham had a bad match against Slovenia. Bellingham's performance made me a little hesitant about his role on the field. I feel like Bellingham and Harry Kane are stepping on each other's positions. So when England meets a strong opponent, we will know how their squad will operate. It's hard to say that England's attack is not playing well when they only score 2 goals in 3 matches. Euro is a difficult playground with many potential surprises. At Euro, weak teams will find ways to eliminate the opponent's strengths first and then show their own strengths. England still don't know their opponent in the round of 16. But choosing to top the group shows that England is ready to deal with any opponent. Euro always has the story of a team that doesn't play well in the group stage but plays better and better as they go deeper and win the championship. Greece won Euro 2004 or Portugal won Euro 2016 are examples. Who knows, after many unfinished matches, England will win the Euro for the first time. But to do that, England need to improve their creativity in midfield. They need a proper left-back to free up Foden. Therefore, the return of Luke Shaw will be highly anticipated.

Angry but still love "Three Lions"

Despite being angry with coach Gareth Southgate, England fans still believe in their team - Photo: Reuters

England once again disappointed at Euro 2024 with a 0-0 draw against Slovenia. Angry about that, England fans continuously booed and whistled their team throughout the match. They even threw cups at coach Gareth Southgate at the end of the match. However, the fact that England won a ticket to the round of 16 and will avoid the host Germany has cooled down the anger of England fans. At the same time, they patiently wait to see the upcoming performance of the "Three Lions". Supporter Harry told The Guardian: "At Euro 2024, we thought England had to win. So we will be disappointed when we don't see what we want. This creates pressure on the team... I think everything is still very good, England have won a ticket to the next round and the future is still very bright." The British press also recalled the story of Portugal at Euro 2016. At that time, Ronaldo and his teammates had a bad start, only ranked 3rd in Group F and passed through a narrow gap to enter the round of 16. But through each round, Portugal gradually became stronger to reach the final, before defeating France 1-0 in the final to win the championship. Can coach Gareth Southgate's team repeat the Portuguese achievement? The world's betting companies still put all their faith in the England team, when they consider them the number 1 candidate for the championship. Major bookmakers such as: William Hill, Sky Bet, Ladbrokes, Bet365... all have the same odds for England's championship chance of 1 to 4 (4/1).

The second candidate is Spain with 2 to 9 odds (9/2), followed by Germany (9/2), France (5/1), Portugal (6/1), Italy (16/1), Netherlands (18/1)... The biggest surprise is Austria after an impressive performance with a 3-2 victory over the Netherlands to squeeze into the top 10. The odds for Austria to win the championship are 1 to 25.

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Source: https://tuoitre.vn/tuyen-anh-can-cai-thien-hang-tien-ve-20240627101949773.htm