Another angle of the England team

England ended their EURO 2024 group stage with a 0-0 draw against Slovenia. Gareth Southgate's team became the group winners with the fewest goals, at least so far.

2 goals after 3 matches is an unacceptable number for a squad valued at 1.52 billion euros, in which the attack alone is worth no less than 500 million euros of the "Three Lions". The image of an English fan... falling asleep in the final match against Slovenia became a typical moment for a boring English team.

Compared to England's blandness, the other top teams in the group, Germany (6 goals), Spain (5 goals) and Austria (6 goals), were clearly more impressive, in terms of entertainment. A team famous for its defense, Italy, also scored 3 goals, more than Southgate's England.

With the above arguments, the anger of the English people can be understood. After the match against Slovenia, Coach Southgate was pelted with beer glasses by English fans, along with thousands of boos and insults.

Even a brand unrelated to football like Domino Pizza also used Southgate as a... subject of ridicule, with a photo of a pizza production line collapsing and catching fire. "If Southgate ran Domino Pizza, it would look like this," the brand's homepage sarcastically said of the former Middlesbrough coach.

But is the England team really that bad?

First, let's look at the context of Group C, where England, Denmark and Slovenia have all qualified. Of the six matches played, five have ended in draws. Only seven goals have been scored, an average of 1.16 goals per game - the lowest in the tournament. That means that not only England, but all the teams in the group have chosen a very tight and pragmatic approach.

The format of selecting 4 out of 6 best third-placed teams to enter the round of 16 at EURO 2024 has made many teams more calculating, not wanting to take risks. Before the final round of Group C took place, 2 third-placed teams were named, namely Hungary (3 points, goal difference -2) and Croatia (2 points, goal difference -3). Therefore, Denmark (2 points) and Slovenia (2 points) only need 1 point in the final round to be sure to continue. One team is second in the group, the other team, even if it is third, will still enter the round of 16.

With this in mind, Slovenia played as pragmatically as possible against England. Of course, not being able to (and not showing any desire to) score against Slovenia was unacceptable to England. However, Denmark did not do any better against Serbia.

England have come through a group where they are the least bad team, but remember: winning a group with nine points or five is still winning a group. In fact, England have been drawn in an easy draw, avoiding a host of strong teams such as Germany, France, Portugal, Spain, Denmark and possibly Belgium.

Be patient

"I have never seen a team that has qualified for the next round be treated like we are this time," coach Southgate shared.

France also scored as few goals as England, and could not even win the top spot. Defending champions Italy were almost kicked out of EURO 2024. However, no team was criticized as much as the "Three Lions".

The problem is not the style of play. Perhaps coach Southgate knows that. He has the most pressured job in the world, when he coaches the team with the highest expectations, but also the most scrutinized.

Responding to the pressure being put on England, Harry Kane was right: those who criticized the "Three Lions", including former England players, actually only won one tournament in the past, nearly 60 years ago.

As for Southgate's England, over the past 6 years, this team has reached the World Cup semi-finals and the EURO final. In both of these tournaments, the "Three Lions" have always been criticized, but still go far. For example, at EURO 2020, England only scored 2 goals in the group stage, then still finished runner-up as usual.

For a team that wants to go far, defense is more important than attack. Because attack is sometimes personal inspiration, while defense requires the superiority of the whole system. And at EURO 2024, no team defends as effectively as England.

The Three Lions conceded only 0.38 expected goals per game - the lowest in the tournament. Is that the advantage of a boring style of play? Depending on your point of view, but Southgate's England team will aim to go far, instead of purely playing for entertainment and pleasing the audience.