England 0-0 Slovenia
RHEIN ENERGIE STADION — Gareth Southgate will Gareth until the end.
Love it or loathe it, you have to admire the belief in his own convictions, the strength to go his own way, no matter the pressure.
While the hurricane of criticism and debate swirled angrily around the England manager he ignored it all, making only one change to the eleven that started the underwhelming first two group games, replacing Trent Alexander-Arnold with Conor Gallagher, for the final match against Slovenia.
It was just about the most obvious change he could make — the same first substitution he made in the Serbia and Denmark matches, in the early stages of each second half.
And, funnily enough, it produced more of the same. A strangely disjointed performance, full of possession and very few chances for the opposition, but not much else at all apart from a bunch of the the most talented footballers on the planet running around the pitch, pointing at spaces, signalling when to press, when to go, calling for passes that never came and playing passes where runs had not been made.
England had plenty of the ball but didn’t seem to know what to do with it, a group of individual world-beaters for their clubs who, when assembled together in a team seem unable to function as one.
It may well be the most underwhelming unbeaten group stage England has ever played in. Topping the group with five points and two goals against countries ranked 21st, 32nd and 57th in the world.
From the off the errors and malfunctions that you had hoped had been eradicated in training sessions were everywhere.
Jude Bellingham passed 10 yards straight to an opponent. Marc Guehi played the ball out from the back to Declan Rice, who for some reason wasn’t expecting it and let it run to the opposition.
Gallagher was supposed to be the answer to England’s problems but was the only player not to touch the ball in the first 10 minutes. And when he did for the first time it was a clearance inside England’s penalty area that shanked straight back to Slovenia.
Guehi passed the ball across England’s back line to John Stones — the sort of pass defenders make and receive dozens of times in games — only for Stones to misplace his feet and watch the ball roll meekly off for a Slovenia throw-in, which happens also to be a fitting metaphor for England’s first half.
They were like pieces of a puzzle that had been mixed up before kick-off and was impossible to fit together, no matter how hard they tried.
When Phil Foden tried, desperately, to make something happen he dribbled inside and slotted the ball through Slovenia’s defence for Harry Kane, who wasn’t quite on the same wavelength.
Foden jumped on the spot and gesticulated, as if to say, Erling Haaland would’ve run onto that one and scored no problem.
Bellingham gave Kieran Trippier an earful when the right-back at left-back failed to deliver a pass to him down the left-hand side, choosing that easier pass inside, as he has done time and again.
He sprinted into spaces only for the ball to go elsewhere, staring around the pitch as though wondering where Toni Kroos and Vinicius Junior were.
Some England fans — enough to be heard — booed them off at half-time.
And Southgate, at least, made a rare half-time change, swapping Gallagher for Kobbie Mainoo, the teenager becoming Rice’s third central midfield partner in two and a half games. It was the sort of risk — giving the 19-year-old a shot — many had called for from the start.
England were instantly much improved, pinning Slovenia in their half for most of the second half, the longest sustained period of attack the team had had since the first 20 minutes of the opening game.
Southgate threw on Cole Palmer and Anthony Gordon, the young wingers. After two games in central midfield Alexander-Arnold came on at right-back for Trippier, so Kyle Walker had a go at left-back — and why not? England have no fit left-backs in the squad.
The boos were even louder at full-time.
This group stage sure has been a wild ride, only not for the right reasons.
