Much like Sven-Göran Eriksson failing to utilise Michael Carrick at the 2006 World Cup, or Roy Hodgson putting Wayne Rooney in his midfield at Euro 2016, Gareth Southgate has fallen into a familiar trap. His tactics are leaden, his starting XI is unbalanced and one of his biggest mistakes - being seduced into fitting too many similar types into a one-paced attack - has made England by far the hardest team to watch at Euro 2024.
The good news, though, is that there is time to fix England before their last-16 tie in Gelsenkirchen. A few tweaks could easily help England to build on their slight improvement in the second half of their draw with Slovenia. The first change is obvious enough: Conor Gallagher out, Kobbie Mainoo in; get the teenager on the ball in midfield and don't worry about his defensive weaknesses. As for the second, Southgate has to address the left-back problem. He needs to recognise that Kieran Trippier is struggling on the ball and is also going to be targeted by better attacks.
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