England fail to ignite with another lacklustre display

Declan Rice had said before this game that it might only take one match to transform England’s tournament and that might now be true… although not because of anything Gareth Southgate’s side actually did. They again didn’t do much at all.

- MIGUEL DELANEY

They still somehow find themselves on the more forgiving side of the Euro 2024 draw due to results elsewhere. Southgate won’t have to worry about any of Germany, Spain, Portugal or France until the final… if they make it that far.

That is why that run can be a negative, too. Such an opportunity potentially brings more pressure, for a team that barely look like beating anybody right now.

They toiled against a defiant and now qualified Slovenia for a 00. That it followed the chaos of Group D, which means England may now play Netherlands in Gelsenkirchen on Sunday, only made it all the more pronounced. They look one of the most boring teams in a tournament that has generally been so entertaining, having only scored two goals in three games.

The “performance” didn’t come. The solutions didn’t come. It still looked like Southgate has a team and a squad he doesn’t fully have a grasp of.

As to what he can do, well, changing one player in midfield is just one issue rather than the move he seems so fixated on. Kobbie Mainoo was at least better, giving England their most extended spell of possession in the team. It just didn’t produce much because the attack isn’t properly linked. Too many players want to occupy the same space. Harry Kane looks more leaden than we’ve ever seen him in an England shirt, like he’s slowing everything down. It’s not like much of the rest of the team is racing ahead, though.

That might point to the one thing the England squad can keep telling themselves. They can grind their way through this tournament, in the same way Portugal did in Euro 2016. Southgate and his staff have based so much of their approach on research of that team and France 2018.