Man, first 30 min I thought England would score 3 or more goals, but what happened then? Absolutely lucky to win the game, but only team playing was Serbia.
Before Englands first game I would have bet that they might compete for winning the championship, but no I have my doubts...
They won the game which is all that matters. The problem is the coach; whenever England score a goal he instantly seeks to clam up - Rice drops deeper and deeper and the whole system seeks to compact the game rather than to stretch it so England can score another. This invites pressure onto the team, and eventually, against a good team, they concede. Consider the evidence: Croatia 2018. Italy 2020, France 2022. Same pattern in all games - save the France game where Tchouameni scored first - but they still invited pressure after equalizing. Its in Southgate's DNA to do this. He can't change it. That is his flaw as a coach. It will prevent England winning because they'll concede against Italy/Spain/Germany/France in the Semi-Final or Final and that will be that.
Good analysis... It's Southgates DNA. A little sad since imo England has a team which could play beautiful, quick and dominant.
