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- [00:01]
Salesperson
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- [01:03]
Chase Representative
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- [01:31]
Jacob Whitehead
Chase bank and a member FDIC subject to credit approval.
- [01:34]
Aura Representative
This podcast is brought to you by Aura. By the time you hear about a data breach, your information has already been exposed for months. On average, companies take 277 days to report a breach. That's nine months where hackers have access to your personal data. That's why we're thrilled to partner with Aura. Aura is an all in one digital safety solution that monitors the dark web for your phone number, email and Social Security number, sending real time alerts if your info is found. It also includes a vpn, password manager and data broker removal to help keep you safe for a limited time. Aura is offering a 14 day free trial plus a dark web scan to check if your personal information has been leaked. All for free@aura.com safety. That's Aura.com safety to sign up and protect your loved ones. That's a u r a.com safety terms apply. Check the site for details.
- [02:30]
Ayoa Kimwlere
The Athletic so England have squeezed through to the quarterfinals thanks in part To a moment of genius from who else?
- [02:41]
Jack Pickbrook
Here's the overhead kick from Bellingham.
- [02:44]
Ayoa Kimwlere
Post match. Jude Bellingham was happy to silence critics.
- [02:48]
Jack Pickbrook
Sometimes feels like there's a. There's a bit of a pile on and for moments like that, it's nice to kind of throw it back to some people, I suppose.
- [02:55]
Ayoa Kimwlere
So does it matter how England play as long as they win? I'm Ayoa Kimwlere. Welcome to the Athletic FC podcast. While joining us today, we have the Athletic writers Jack Pickbrook and Jacob Whitehead, who are in Gelsenkirchen to watch England play yesterday. Jack, let's start with you. England are through to the quarterfinals of the Euros by the skin of their teeth. But from your piece which dropped today, England were also very close to repeating what happened in 2016 where they were knocked out by Iceland. But was it all smiles with Gareth Southgate in the press conference afterwards?
- [03:37]
Jack Pickbrook
It was a bit strange because when he walked in, I felt like I'd seen a ghost. You know, I felt like this shouldn't have gone like this. Like he was sat in the press conference, smiling away, talking about everything they'd done in the week and, you know, is Luke Shaw gonna be fit for Switzerland and what's the plans for next week? And I just thought you were you and he must have known this. You were this close, this close to having a completely different experience. Because, I mean, England would like 99.9 of the way to a full Iceland and then somehow Jude Bellingham managed to rescue Southgate. But if that hadn't happened, then it would have been, you know, will you resign, Gareth? You know, you've let your country down. The whole mood would have been like the polar opposite. England would now, I think, be flying back to the uk. It would be almost impossible to see how Gareth Southgate could continue as England manager after that. It would be, I think, the end of the Gareth Southgate era because nobody would be giving him a new contract after getting knocked out to Slovakia. And so it's just weird sitting there having that sense that what we were watching and experiencing was so different from and so unlikely compared to the scenario that we were all expecting as we watched the game. Like, England were completely, completely saved from certain doom by that Bellingham goal.
- [04:55]
Ayoa Kimwlere
Jacob Harry Kane said it post match that, you know, it's a results game and they got the result. That's all that matters. Right? England are through to the next round of the Euros. They live to play another day.
- [05:08]
Jacob Whitehead
It is and it isn't, I suppose if there's last Minute bicycle kicks which create 1 nil, 21 wins the whole way to Berlin, then people will probably be fine with it. But they played incredibly poorly. And before the game I was speaking with athletics Ollie Kay and we were almost talking about how it was a little bit of a no win situation for Southgate. Either they lose, and I'll borrow Jack's phrase of going full Iceland because I liked it so much, or they sort of won unconvincingly. And the only way in which they would kind of emerge of any sort of credit, because it is quote only Slovakia, what a sort of misnamer that was, would be through winning three or four nil. And in the end it turned out that there's another way out which was to win in a way which is so sort of fantastical that that sort of pure moment overshadows the sort of dearth of the rest of the performance, I guess.
- [06:01]
Ayoa Kimwlere
Yeah, it's that overwhelmingness that's really been interesting in the tournament. And did we see any remarkable improvements from the group stage at all, Jacob, in any way, shape or form? Anything redeeming from England?
- [06:16]
Jacob Whitehead
Not in totality there moments which were good. I think Kobbie Mainu had moments where you saw how he got England moving forwards, playing under half turn, but at the same time it felt like other players got worse around him. And for me, one of the most troubling things was the body language for most of the game. I mean, the amount of times we talk about a French shrug, I mean, it was a very anglicized version of it for 90 minutes. The image that truly stays in my head is after 87 minutes, Jordan Pickford caught a long shot from the book and sprinted to the edge of his area, try and fling the ball out to his players. And no one was making a run. They were just standing there. And the fact that that was the case with five minutes left, really, I thought they're doomed. And the idea that it was a long throw which did it before that sheer moment of beauty is at the same time it's both beautiful and damning because it's something which they hadn't worked on. And sort of relying on a sheer moment rather than any sort of system to get them out of trouble.
- [07:16]
Jack Pickbrook
Yeah, I thought England were worse in every department yesterday. I didn't think they could play worse than they did against Denmark and Slovenia, but they really found a way because they, they took everything they did badly in those in the previous games in the group stage, you know, couldn't play through the opposition press Couldn't turn possession into chances, no outlet, unbalanced midfield. And they added, on top of that being really bad defensively, which they hadn't done in the past. You know, they looked, they were so open on the break. The goal was an absolute mess. And I agree with Jacob, like, my main mental image of the game yesterday is an England player on the ball, under pressure, not having any options, either side of him waving his arms in air, in anger, his teammates thinking, I don't want the ball. Why don't you take it? You take it off me. I don't want the ball on my. At my feet. And then eventually they're giving it away, or getting tackled by a Slovakian player, or just shouting at one of his teammates for putting him in that position, or all of the above. Like, they looked so panicked at the fact that they had to come out there and play a football match. And that's what I think brought it back so much to Iceland, is that you could really see the fear on the England players, particularly in that first hour or so. I actually think they did settle down a bit in the second half, but in the first half, like, they, they really, a lot of them look like they didn't want to be there. And that is a really damning thing to say about, you know, a Euro's knockout game.
- [08:33]
Ayoa Kimwlere
Yeah. Jack, were you surprised by the starting lineup? I mean, I think MINU was really the only additional change to, to that starting lineup. You know, this is a team that's been criticized for a lack of fluidity and unbalanced players, not being really up for it, all those kind of things. And still Gareth Southgate seems to stick with the same men so far.
- [08:53]
Jack Pickbrook
Well, yes and no. Like, I. I was surprised in the sense that England have got a lot of problems that they haven't fixed. But I wasn't surprised because in the press conference on Saturday, asked Gareth, you know, are you going to. Are you looking for small tweaks or big changes going to this game? He basically said small tweaks. He said, you know, we don't want to. We don't want to disrupt what we've. What we've been doing so far. And, you know, if they, if hadn't been that Bellingham goal, a lot of people will be saying this morning, why didn't he fix the problems in the team? And yet somehow they still managed to get away with it. And that really brings us to wondering, is he going to try and fix these problems this week? He's got a long. He's Got a lot of time between now and the Switzerland game on Saturday afternoon where maybe he could start to think about, you know, are we going to play with the left side now? How are we going to build out from the back? Are we going to have an outlet better than Kieran Trippier? But at the moment, it's. Given that he's stuck pretty doggedly with these players so far, I wonder whether it will be basically the same team in the quarters.
- [09:43]
Jacob Whitehead
I think one of the weird things for Southgate last night was that the players who struggled in terms of not reaching their own performance levels were some of his key players in his team, which makes it very hard for him to actually make any changes. I mean, I think for the majority of that game, Kane was poor, Bellingham was poor and Rice was poor. They did turn this around at the end quite extremely in, in Bellingham's case. But it kind of led to Southgate also having to make these very kind of odd substitutions. And you kind of left with this sort of hilarious kind of 316 at the end of. At the end of normal time, which eventually settled into quite a pragmatic 5, 3, 2, but with kind of E as as wing back, which was quite entertaining. But that's kind of why it feels hard for Southgate to solve. It's not like there's a couple of players in the fringe of the squad who you can sub out and everything will be fine. He needs to find a way to get his most important players firing. And if they're not doing that in an England shirt, it kind of points to something kind of deeper within this squad and their motivations.
- [10:44]
Ayoa Kimwlere
Well, we've been critical. He's not been at his best a shadow of his former self this season. But watch this. That is why he plays for Real Madrid. That is why he saved England and saved Gareth Southgate. Let's talk about Jude Bellingham, and we've mentioned it a few times, that moment of magic, it was really something special. But also, I guess Jacob, a player that hasn't really performed at his optimum in this tournament, but when he did score, you know, that celebration, he was mouthing. Who else? Pointing at himself, doing the chatter sign with his hand. This is a lad that can back himself.
- [11:25]
Jacob Whitehead
It's been such a strange tournament for Jude Bellingham, in the sense that in the first game against Serbia, first half especially, he was pretty much kind of taking on the Serbian team on his own. And I do think that sometimes, because it's been such a poor general performance, that he has sort of felt the need to play a bit of hero ball, take it on himself. And then that's not necessarily helped his game at Real Madrid. He's got great players around him. And of course, Bellingham is a brilliant player himself, but that kind of facilitates and empowers him. That system hasn't been there for England, but yet, I suppose when you do play Heroball, eventually you are going to be the hero. And Belling's got the talent to back that up. He mouthed, who else? And I think we kind of. As much as that possibly says about the occasion of England squads, we know and he knows that we know that he was probably right.
- [12:13]
Ayoa Kimwlere
Jack. Hero ball's dangerous, man. Especially in tournaments like this, you can't surely rely on these. I mean, we love it as football fans, but you can't rely on these beautiful moments because, you know, against another type of opposition, England will get punished.
- [12:29]
Jack Pickbrook
Yeah, they will. Hero ball is exactly right. Like, there was no. Nobody else would do that. I don't think nobody else would try that or have the confidence. It's not even just like the physical and athletic skill to pull it off. It's the confidence to try that when you've been pretty substandard for 95 minutes. Southgate said in the press conference afterwards that with 50 minutes left, he was thinking. He was thinking, should I hook Bellingham and Kane just because they look so exhausted. I spent a lot of the game thinking Bellingham's gonna get himself sent off here, because do you remember he got that silly booking the first half? And after he got booked, he put his hands on the referee and I thought as soon as he did that, I was thinking, oh, my God, he's gonna get sent off already. It's like Rooney 2006 all over again and in the same stadium. And so. So to play that, to play that badly, and to be honest, I thought he was really bad against Slovenia. I thought it was bad against Denmark as well. Obviously had a great start against Serbia and then just pull that out of the bag was unbelievable. It's almost. That's. That's my main memory of last night, is it's almost literally unbelievable to see that. I still think that the England. The way that England play is, I think, going to get punished against Switzerland. But then, you know, they've got away with it so fast and maybe they will continue getting away with it.
- [13:33]
Jacob Whitehead
There's a world, isn't there, that with England players looking like they're playing so far within themselves, that Bellingham might have Thought, hang on, I could do a bicycle kick. But the sort of lasting image of this tournament here could be me in a crumpled heap, upside down on the floor, having shinned it wide with a minute left, which is effectively England's last chance to stay in the European Championships. And that's a lot of thoughts to go through in that moment. But players were playing as if they were thinking about, what's my reputation going to be after this match. That didn't matter to him at that moment. And I think that's why he puts himself into position so many times to do that.
- [14:10]
Ayoa Kimwlere
Yeah, I guess you do feel that this is a player that thinks about all of these things in terms of his media Persona and how he tries to conduct himself on the field. You know that quote at the end of the match, you know, when the reporter asks him, you know, who writes your scripts? And Bellingham just goes, I do. You know, you get that, dare I say, a sense of self importance, but this is a player that just. Just doesn't want to turn up on the pitch. This is a player that can see himself standing on the top of the mountain as one of the greatest players in the world. Jack. You know, if you can also back it up when the chips are down, that's a sign of a top player.
- [14:43]
Jack Pickbrook
Yeah, he. He is absolutely brimming with main character energy. I actually can't think of another. I can't really think of another England player had that in the same way. Maybe Rooney, maybe Gerrard, maybe Beckham. But then I think that Bellingham is kind of Runyesque. Like the number of massive moments he's had, he's only just turned 21 the other day, and I think a lot of it probably stems from playing with for Real Madrid as well, in the sense that that is just the mentality of Real Madrid, isn't it? It's. It doesn't matter if we play badly because we will score a goal at the end. And like, so much of what Real Madrid have achieved in the Last sort of 12 years has been built on that kind of. That kind of mentality. And clearly Bellingham has really taken that on board over the course of his season there. You know, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if we're not in the game, because at the biggest moments, we will come good. And he's clearly brought that into. Into the England camp. And you know that that is an incredibly effective, that's incredibly powerful mentality in tournament football, because tournament football is ultimately is decided by moments as much as it is decided by performances. And it's in those, you know, it's in those kind of clutch moments. I think England have probably been a bit lacking in the last five or six years. You know, they got themselves into good positions in 2018 and 2022 and Euro 2020. Weren't able to make the most of them. And now they've got a player who. Who thinks and acts a little bit differently.
- [16:04]
Ayoa Kimwlere
Yeah, I mean, I'd be interested to get both your perspectives on this. You know, Bellingham did also speak about, you know, the. The massive pylon. It felt like, you know, from fans, the pressures of. And what sometimes that does to players. You know, he talked about taking it personally as well. Do you think it was fair to criticise the fans in that way, Jacob?
- [16:25]
Jacob Whitehead
I think what we sometimes forget about Jude Bellingham is that we're all still so new to him. A, he's 21. B, he's never played, or he hasn't played in England since he was 16, 17 for Birmingham City. A lot of people follow England for major tournaments and so, outside of that, won't see him playing regularly for Borussia Dortmund, for Real Madrid. They might not even be watching the Champions League. And in a way, sort of general coverage reflects that. And so when he has a couple of poor games, that will be the sum total of what a lot of people have seen of him. And so it means that that reactivity will be even higher than it would be for a player who's almost, in a way, had more of their own narrative set. The only narrative we have about Bellingham is he's this demigod figure who scores and writes his own scripts, and, yes, he's gone and done that now, but when there's anything which doesn't live up to that, people are going to react to it. It might not be fair if you look at his entire career so far, but because it's so scant, that's why people are going to react more extremely.
- [17:30]
Jack Pickbrook
I think it's very indicative of his mentality that he thinks that he's been getting criticized and piled on in, in the last few weeks, because as far as I'm aware, he's had very, very positive coverage over the course of sort of, I guess, five years, five or six years since it came to prominence. And, you know, and rightly so, he's a very. He's an unbelievably good player. He's having a really exciting career and I think conducts himself very well. But the idea that he's been getting hammered by the critics, I think is fairly ridiculous. Like he, you know, I know that there were, you know, some people in the media were calling for him to perhaps were questioning how he, how he works with Phil Foden and maybe it'd be better to play one rather than the other. And. But I don't think that's, I don't think, I do not think he's been subject to unfair criticism, but I guess that's just kind. That's quite a modern mentality, isn't it, to see, I think people are really inspired by, I don't know, Michael Jordan, you know, the Last Dance, where you can see that Jordan is almost like blowing up this sense that he's being criticized, that he can turn it into personal motivation. I think a lot of, I kind of feel like a lot of footballers and particularly young players look at that and kind of adopt that, adopt that mindset because they think it can be helpful to them. And I just wonder if this is an example of that same phenomenon.
- [18:54]
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- [19:58]
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- [20:01]
Salesperson
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- [20:03]
Jack Pickbrook
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- [20:11]
Aura Representative
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- [21:10]
Jack Pickbrook
You're listening to the Athletic FC podcast with I.O. accamulere.
- [21:13]
Ayoa Kimwlere
Right, let's, let's move on to tactics. Jack, does it look like England are playing with any real sort of tactics coming into this tournament? Because from the group stages to what we saw yesterday, especially the first half, I'm asking myself how on earth are you getting the best out of this incredibly talented squad?
- [21:32]
Jack Pickbrook
Yeah, England got some great tactics. They got the tactic where they stones and then Walker and Gay, he pass it to each other very slowly for about five minutes and then Pickford hammers it 80 yards everyone's head. They've got the tactic where they play a diagonal to their outlet running down the wing which is a 33 year old right back called Kieran Trippier who cuts back inside and loses momentum. They got the tactic where they wait for a long time and then eventually pass the ball to Bukayo Saka at a point where he's got like three opponents swarming around him in his back and he's facing in his own goal and can't go anywhere with the ball. They've also got the tactic where they have the ball for ages and never get a shot away.
- [22:06]
Ayoa Kimwlere
That's the other one.
- [22:07]
Jack Pickbrook
Yeah, that's maybe, that's maybe like the unifying tactic that brings it all together. So yeah, they got some great tactics and it's been four games getting used to them so far and I'm really looking forward to seeing these tactics again on in Dusseldorf on Saturday.
- [22:21]
Ayoa Kimwlere
You know Jacob, look, substitutions are also fascinating. Took out of Southgate so long before he made a solid substitution considering the team were performing under par. Was that surprising to you?
- [22:34]
Jacob Whitehead
I was surprised he didn't make any changes at halftime given just how poor they were. And I get the tactic of being like, well here's a chance to fix it, go out and give me 10 minutes. But it's not like this game existed in a vacuum. It had previous games to actually show something sort of going on to Tony at the End. I mean, it worked really well because he still did create that moment of chaos. He created a cushioned header for Kane. But like, let's not pretend that this was some sort of master plan. This was a total move of desperation from him in the end. And in a way, other moves, such as sort of bringing ON EZE With 10 minutes to go, just hope he can sort of dribble at someone, is a similar sort of pattern. There wasn't a sort of system there as shown by sort of a weird formation we ended up in. It was just my player can beat your player. Let's hope Jack does that.
- [23:23]
Ayoa Kimwlere
Does that worry you, the lack of an evolution for this team since what we saw in the opening stages of this competition to where we are right now?
- [23:32]
Jack Pickbrook
Well, look, I think. I think there's clearly some big problems that he hasn't solved yet. Equally, I'm not sure he's really got the resources to solve them. Like, he doesn't. He doesn't have a fit left back in the squad. He doesn't have. He doesn't really have a sort of midfielder with the characteristics that he wants. Like, he doesn't have someone who is good on the ball and can keep the ball and is good without the ball. You know, like Gallagher's good without the ball but not with the ball made. Is good with the ball, but not without the ball. Trent Alexander Arnold is good with the ball, but maybe not so good without the ball. I don't think in midfield it's not like he's got a Mason Mountain player who can do both or he's certainly not got like a sort of, you know, peak level Henderson or Phillips, as he said. So I just don't think he's really quite got the resources. I mean, I think he's made lots of mistakes over the last year or two that have brought us this point. But I do have some sympathy with Garrett with Gareth Southgate, which is that other than maybe playing Gordon or Palmer a bit more, I don't really. I don't think even that, I don't think would solve all the problems that he's got in the team.
- [24:32]
Ayoa Kimwlere
So for you, that midfield is a massive issue. But also, dare I say, you don't think he's. I'm just trying to clarify it. You don't think he's got the personnel that he needs to play this fluid kind of football that we're all hoping he can play?
- [24:48]
Jack Pickbrook
Jack, he certainly doesn't have a fit left back, which I think is the big issue. He doesn't really have a sort of sterling Rashford type player which I think is another big issue. He doesn't have a midfielder who well balances Rice and Bellingham because Bellingham's got so much main character energy. They need another midfielder who will do the dirty work. So I mean people laughed at Southgate when he said they miss Phillips, but they do miss Phillips or at least they missed the Phillips of three years ago from the last Euros. Definitely. Massively they miss Mount. And yeah, like people will say he's got to play Gordon, hasn't he? And yeah, maybe Gordon be better and maybe he should play Palmer. Although I don't know if I'd actually play Palmer. Visaka mate, it's a kind of 50, 50 call that. But I don't think that he has all of the players in the squad that he needs to play the sort of standard of football that people expect. So of course he's going to be looking for sticking plaster solutions then brings.
- [25:38]
Ayoa Kimwlere
Me the question Jacob, then, you know, are we missing certain players, Harry Maguire for instance, on the, on, you know, set pieces, are we missing a Rashford? If you, if you take in a half fit, Luke Shaw, surely Marcus Rashford, that semi fit can offer you something should, should be in this England squad.
- [25:55]
Jacob Whitehead
I think they still got the players to be far more comfortable in, in this sort of game and for me one of the issues was just their kind of inability to, to problem solve. Once they did have these players out on the pitch, I mean Slovakia managed to sort of, I mean they talked to their right winger inside which kind of forced England to build up through trippier and once that's what they did right from right from the start, packed midfield forced England out to that side and kind of inability of England to work out another way to deal with that. Whether it's kind of drop midfielders deeper and build up or to have another bring rise between the center backs to also bring your left winger deeper to give Trippy a bit more support. Kind of the complete absence of options there which has led to this sheer anathema was the issue for me more than the personnel themselves. I think he probably had enough options to not have to rely on Jude Bellingham's last minute ave egg cake.
- [26:58]
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- [27:45]
Jacob Whitehead
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- [27:48]
Aura Representative
This podcast is brought to you by Aura. By the time you hear about a data breach, your information has already been exposed for months. On average, companies take 277 days to report a breach. That's nine months where hackers have access to your personal data. That's why we're thrilled to partner with Aura. Aura is an all in one digital safety solution that monitors the dark web for your phone number, email and Social Security number, sending real time alerts if your info is found. It also includes a vpn, password manager and data broker removal to help keep you safe for a limited time. Aura is offering a 14 day free trial plus a dark web scan to check if your personal information has been leaked, all for free@aura.com safety that's aura.com safety to sign up and protect your loved ones. That's a u r a.com safety terms apply. Check the site for details.
- [28:47]
Ayoa Kimwlere
Okay, let's, let's look to Luke Shaw, who's not made an appearance yet in the tournament. I know he was named on the bench yesterday. Has it been a massive oversight, Jack, in bringing a player with this lack of fitness to this tournament? I know we are still lacking a left back, but isn't that more indicative of the system that we've got at this moment in time that we've not been able to produce a solid enough left back that can play at this level?
- [29:14]
Jack Pickbrook
I don't. It's not like there's no options. I mean, you know, Ben Chilwell's not had an amazing season at Chelsea, but he's there. Tyrant Mitchell's had a decent season at Crystal Palace. I think that Southgate's kind of boxed himself into a corner a bit by saying it's only his only option is a bloke who hasn't played since February. And I think we're now seeing the limitations of that because, I mean, yesterday England had Various. They had sacker at left wing back at one point or they had soccer at left back. They had.
- [29:39]
Ayoa Kimwlere
Which a lot of people have been calling for, me included.
- [29:42]
Jack Pickbrook
Yeah, yeah. So I can't complain about that. But they had. And then Eberici Ezzy went to left wing back and you know, you think if Ezzy is better option than Shaw for extra time in that role, then that really says quite a lot about how unready Shaw must be. And Southgate said yesterday, you know, he just needs a bit, a bit more training this week and they can see what level he's at. But I mean clearly they've taken a huge punt and it hasn't come off yet. So yeah, I think again Southgate has particularly given he's got a 26 man squad. Why not take a Chilwell or a Mitchell or somebody else who definitely can play in that position. I don't really get it.
- [30:19]
Ayoa Kimwlere
Yeah, Jacob, like, you know. Yeah. Okay, let's say Luke Shaw is fit. I mean you are now entering one of the deadliest stages of the competition. Is he even going to be match ready for that intensity?
- [30:30]
Jacob Whitehead
There's clearly been an error here in terms of understanding quite how injured Luke Shaw was. I mean it's been four games now. The fact that when England were looking for a left back, he wasn't even an option. He didn't warm up at any point that I saw during the evening and ESRI Conso ended up filling in there. So the idea that yes, he's got another six days to recover, but the idea he's gone from not even warming up, not even being an emergency option because if he didn't even an emergency option, this certainly qualified as an emergency. In fact, he wasn't even there. For him to start a game in six days times, I cannot see it happening at all.
- [31:05]
Ayoa Kimwlere
Okay, well, England face Switzerland in the quarterfinals and Switzerland beat Italy convincingly on, on Saturday. Should England be worried, Jack?
- [31:16]
Jack Pickbrook
Yes, yes. Switzerland are really good. They're really good. They're. They're like a really well organized team. They're aggressive. They, they kind of play as a unit. I think this, I think this tournament is throwing, it's kind of showing up. There's a difference between teams who are just the sort of some of their parts or just a list of players on a page and teams who are actually really well organized. It's why like Georgia being so impressive, Austria being so impressive and I think Switzerland are kind of in that, in that mold. Like yeah, they've got good individual players but Yakin's made them a really well organized unit and I just think they'll exploit England's pro. I think all the things that England are bad at, you know, they can't play through a press. I think England actually look increasingly vulnerable on the break, which is not a problem I thought we'd have at this tournament. England don't turn possessions, chances. I just think we're probably going to come up against a tactically superior team unless we see some radical rethink from England this week. I'm. I am not optimistic about Saturday's game.
- [32:12]
Ayoa Kimwlere
Yeah, of course. Mark Que. He's also not going to be playing because he picked up a yellow card in yesterday's match and he's out of that game. Jacob, who do you see coming in that position to solidify? Because also we talk about defensive lapses of concentration yesterday. Jon Stones didn't seem quite on it in that first half either. Who sits next to him?
- [32:32]
Jacob Whitehead
It's pretty open. It feels like ESRI Conor has been the first sort of name who's sort of come in. I think he's probably played the most minutes off the bench. I suppose some of it's kind of what you want in terms of sort of psychologically, who do you want, partner? Do you sort of go for a character like Lewis Dunk who's kind of sceneless stuff? Do you go for probably the raw ability of Connor? I mean Joe Gomez is another option. I mean the fact we haven't talked about him so much as a left back option considering he's played so much there for Liverpool, I mean that's another, another option which Gareth Southgate has in front of him. But I mean, just looking ahead to Switzerland, I mean I watched their first two games in Cologne and the fact that their strength kind of so far has been midfield where Granit Xhaka and Roma Farrell both have shouts of being in the team of a tournament. I mean really, it's quite troubling seeing as that will come up directly against England's own problem area.
- [33:25]
Ayoa Kimwlere
One thing that really, it just really bothers me and when, especially when people talk about imbalance, is that actually Jack, I don't, you know, I don't think all teams that do well in these tournaments have to be balanced. But it's that collectiveness that's really important. I mean you look at Greece right when they won the Euros, we have a recognizable striker. They were barely scoring goals. You look at when Portugal won it, it probably wasn't their best football, but collectively they turned up how do we get this England team to collectively turn? Because of course you might not have everything you need to your disposal, but it's a mindset shift, surely.
- [34:04]
Jack Pickbrook
Yeah, it's a really good question, isn't it? It's. Is the problem just like a sum of all the tactical issues with the team or is it some kind of fundamental issue of, of chemistry? Because my sense that the chemistry is actually pretty good. Like, I think the England players are pretty happy. I think, I think the spirit will be massively improved by this result. I don't think they're, I don't think they're hating like in Blankenheim at all, but I think that there's like a long list of tactical problems and these tactical problems make it look as if the chemistry is really off. Like we talked about the bad body language yesterday, players shouting at each other, players shrugging at each other. They're going to have to solve those tactical problems over the course of the week because those tactical problems are going to be exploited far more effectively by Switzerland than by Slovakia. Like Slovakia was so close to beating us yesterday and it's not even just about 1 nil. They had some good chance in the first half. They had that long range lob over Pickford after that quick free kick, which was about a yard or two away from winnings of the game for them, 2 nil. So England could easily have lost and now they're going to be coming up against a team who is more experienced, got more technical ability in the team, probably a bit more confidence than Slovakia had. So yeah, I mean I do, I do think that you need, obviously you need togetherness to win a tournament. Maybe England do have that, but I also think they've got a long list of fires that they need to put out for sure.
- [35:25]
Ayoa Kimwlere
Well, let's see what happens as England take on Switzerland in the next round of the Euros. Jack Jacob, thank you so much for your time. Don't forget to rate and review the podcast. We've also got post match reaction from the Totally Football show and also the daily Football briefing is there every morning for a bite sized roundup of all the day's news. Thank you so much for listening. We're back tomorrow.
- [35:51]
Jack Pickbrook
You've been listening to the Athletic FC podcast. The producers were Guy Clark, Mike Stavro and Jay Beal. The executive producer was Ailee Moorhead. To listen to other great athletic podcasts for free, search for the Athletic on Apple, Spotify and all the usual places. The Athletic FC podcast is an athletic media company production. The athletic.
- [36:22]
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- [37:17]
Jack Pickbrook
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Jacob Whitehead
Remember.
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Ayoa Kimwlere
Blowing into a video game cartridge or.
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Jack Pickbrook
Taping songs off the radio?
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How about Saturday morning cartoons?
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Jack Pickbrook
Hey, AOL chat rooms. Did we just age ourselves? Yep. We're Mike Fenoya and Charles McBee, two comedians getting nostalgic and asking that nagging question, Are we old? Relive the laughs, the cringes, and the nostalgia. Are we old? Podcast right here on acast.
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