Unfortunately, I had the pleasure of attending Wembley stadium for this dismal clash, where England failed to breach the Icelandic wall. Having watched this game in person though, there were quite a few noticeable points I saw which may not have been as visible on your screens at home or at the pub.
1. Saka starts
While Cole Palmer did have a decent game, he was constantly tucking inside and taking up the space in the hole from the likes of Kane, Foden and Mainoo. Gordon was holding width well on the left and was always the out ball, but we didn’t have that on the right so we worked down the left for the majority of the game with some joy.
Also, with Kyle Walker he doesn’t want to overlap like he used to so that narrow position of Palmer is felt even more. The right-hand side of attack is based on Walkers’ willingness to attack, and even then, his job in the team is to be solid defensively not to be a creative force.
Lastly Saka was refreshing to watch when he came on, every time he got the ball he was positive, driving at his full back, committing bodies to cut inside or more importantly to hit the byline which we rarely did all game. So, Saka needs to start with Palmer to come on as a 10 or even on the left, he looked more productive out on the left as he had to hold his width and he could use his technical ability to whip dangerous crosses in.
2. Kyle Walker or Trent
Not something I would’ve ever expected to ask myself a week or so ago but it was shockingly clear that Walker was not needed in that game yesterday. He lacked creativity coming forward, he was slow with reading the press and caught out of position time and time again. The first goal came because Walker was not brave enough to press high from the first action, so he got caught in between a press and dropping off. Two passes later he was out the game and it was a 4-on-3 attack. 1-0.
If we are going to have a right back who struggles with his defensive reading of the game then we may as well play Trent, he has his defensive frailties but more than makes up for them with the ball. He is England’s best passer and showed it again yesterday with some long ranging balls.
Importantly though, it was Iceland. We can play Trent against these sorts of opponents and get away with it. Against a France or Germany then I would be more inclined to start Walker to contain their forwards yes. While against the weaker opposition Walker does not need to start, Trent almost gives us an extra attacker which could overload their defences, as Iceland actively tried to leave Walker by himself so we would play it there and they were happy for him to have it. Personally, I would now retract my previous starting XI and play Trent over Walker at least for Serbia and Slovenia, maybe playing Walker against more dangerous sides like Denmark in our group. The way I now think about it is any other top nation would play Trent over Walker, the Spanish, the Germans, all these superpowers play on the front foot with players like Kimmich at full back.
3. We have to build round Foden
The times we were at our best yesterday were the moments where Phil Foden came alive. Whether that was him making a run in the left-channel, or him playing little cute 1-2-1s round the box. We need to play round the Manchester City man, not rely on him but play through him. After the 70th minute yesterday with the substitutions, we stopped playing through Foden and he did disappear from the game at that point.
What we need to accompany that with though is some attacking movement and patterns, as it was very static round the edge of the box yesterday, with Palmer, Kane and Foden all central. Kane will need to try and pull off defenders to give Foden that extra space.
Foden has excelled all season as a 10, yes he will have to chip in more defensively for England than for City, like when he lost his opponent for the Iceland goal, who claimed the assist.
One way or the other we need to build round Foden, as I’ve said before if we are going to have any chance of winning the Euros then Foden needs to have a good tournament.
4. Declan Rice at the 6
Declan rice had an excellent season for Arsenal bombing forward with late runs and carrying the ball. Now with England clearly Gareth wants him to play the same. It can’t work. Rice needs to be the base of the midfield, as our midfield gets overrun when he goes to press and leaves major holes in front of the defence. He doesn’t have the midfield partners in order to fly forward and abandon the defence, so he needs to sit and be disciplined. He doesn’t need fly forward now, it’s not like Arsenal when his partner is Jorginho, England have so many forward thinking players that Rice doesn’t need to concern himself with getting into the final third.
Another concern I had watching Declan Rice is his range of passing and touch seemed completely off compared to his usual high standards. Now this could just be ‘one of those days’ when nothing clicked, or it could be that the long hard season with the Gunners has taken its toll a bit on Rice. We will severely lack cover in the 6 if that latter is true, so for the country’s sake I hope it was just an off day.
5. Don’t panic
A lot of media outlets and social media are descending into chaos and a media meltdown has started over England, capitulating even before the tournament has begun. England should be favourites for the Euros and of course have pressure on their shoulders. The performance yesterday was not good enough but the players and staff will know that themselves and it will crank that pressure up even more. There may have been an element of complacency creeping into the squad because of the hype of the country and the quality we possess, and the players might’ve felt safer with their place confirmed in the squad. This result will push them and if it doesn’t then serious questions will be asked of the manager and the players characters.
The game may have been a dismal display but we should probably have scored three goals ourselves, Kane from Palmers’ cross, Gordon skied one after cutting inside well and then Palmer’s horrid attempt at rounding the keeper. The reaction to Palmer’s chance in the stadium was one of fury and utter disbelief from fans that he didn’t just shoot, only Cole Palmer will know why but that cool and composed figure was not clinical enough. My point is we had big chances to score and we just have to hope that element of sharpness is something they can find in these next 8 days.
Gareth Southgate has stuck his neck out on the line with his squad selection. Now he has to do that again in terms of his approach to these euros, having watched our defensive shape be so poor, this England team need to attack teams and go for their throat to kill games off just by racking up goals. Can Gareth really change his mindset there and can he tactically set us up to actually perform that way?