Onwards to Qatar 2022!

Now that the tournament is over and a few days have gone by there is room for an open and honest discussion on what we've seen and how we should move forward. This England team has done a great job both at the world cup and at the current euro's but have failed to climb the final hurdle. Sceptics are free to look at the comfortable fixture list en route to our exit and say that we are a front running team, whereby we only show up against smaller nations. This cannot go ignored as England's performances vs countries with comparable talent has been less than satisfactory to say the least. Patterns are developing and they must be addressed if England are to progress. To believe that to go from a semi-final in one tournament, then to a final and furthermore to win it sounds logical, but the reality is other countries will improve and it will only get harder to progress at these tournaments. 

What will we do if we're drawn in a "group of death". What happens if we draw the Netherlands or France in the first knockout stage. Are we confident of overcoming these obstacles? Maybe. However all options must be on the table in order to move forward. 

The structure of the national team is working, with many players coming through the ranks of successful youth teams. With young players such as Phil Foden, Bukayo Saka, Mason Mount, Jude Bellingham and others on the precipice of the first team the future is incredibly bright. So to make wholesale changes such us, changing the manager or cutting ties with some ever present members of the squad may seem hasty. 

With a squad full of Premier League winners, Champions League Winners, Fa cup winners, Championship winners and more, this country has huge potential to achieve what generations before have failed. So what holds us back?

Losing a final on penalties, in the fashion that we did lends to the argument that it was just bad luck that stopped us from winning the title. The Italians didn't beat us either. Had a few more penalties gone in, we would be going to next years World Cup as European Champions and there would be little room for questions. I admittedly am more impatient and with the stage set for an honest discussion I'd like to put forward three potential changes England should consider in order to take that final step. 

1. The Manager

2. The Style of Play

3. The Talisman

Criticising the greatest English manager certainly in my lifetime isn't something I particularly want to do. Southgate hasn't been perfect but he has been very assured in his decision making, in my opinion has been very consistent with the way he sets out his teams to play. His man management has shone through as the relationships he has with the players at least from a distance looks fantastic. Which has allowed him to maintain working links with players such as Jack Grealish despite controversial decisions at his expense. He's often shown faith in players who otherwise may not have been selected but they've always repaid that faith. 

Now that a foundation has been built we must ask ourselves, "has he reached a ceiling". Southgate has no qualms with taking a defensive approach to games. Coming into this job, defence was a huge problem for England. The development of Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw and others have brought quality and depth to the back line. England are currently blessed with an array of elite forwards. Between Raheem Sterling, Harry Kane, Marcus Rashford amongst a few others the potential for not only successful football but ENTERTAINING, attacking, free flowing football has shown to be beyond us especially against larger nations. 

Too often in big games I believe Southgate concedes the possession in favour of the Back 5 that has served this country well. We have shown, especially in knockout games that we are more than comfortable to take games to extra time. While this measured approach takes maximum concentration from our defensive players and a lot of discipline from players that are designed to be more expressive. The final vs Italy I believe the game plan with such a defensive line up suggested that we did not want to concede early and intended to change if we were ever in need of more attacking intent. Scoring so early meant that the job was done and as the game went on we found ourselves closer and closer to our goal. If only one team has intentions to score, I assume that eventually they will. We offered little in the counter which can be placed on the forward players and thus we invited enough pressure to eventually allow Italy back into the game. 

But what is more of a pattern against bigger sides is negativity from our midfielders which I believe is intentional, but unacceptable. We aren't blessed with great talent in midfield. Jordan Henderson, our most experienced midfielder is a phenomenal leader but does lack the attributes to maintain possession vs better opponents. The resurgence of Kalvin Phillips and Declan Rice has offered us a lot of hope with their victory over Germany being a huge boost for their value. It must not be forgotten however that Germany had more possession and created more chances. I understand the sentiment that all that matters is the result, however we must appropriately reflect on the game and acknowledge that our "defend first" approach puts the game in the hands of the opponents. Time and time again our defensive displays have gotten us over the line, nonetheless, there are better ways other than sitting back to hold onto a 1-0 lead.

Moving on from Southgate could backfire terribly and the fear of going backwards is much greater than the excitement of any potential candidate. With the national teams success it's easy to overlook the fact that Southgate is actually yet to win anything as a manager in his career. I do believe that there is room to thank Southgate for taking us this far and and still look to give the job to an experienced manager with a more refined, dominant style of play. Much like Nigel Pearson's sacking at Leicester. In very much different circumstances and lesser stakes, still the changing on direction in a more experienced managers hands unlocked new things for Leicester. It can be argued that now more than ever, a manager like Arsene Wenger may be better suited to bridge that gap between finalists and champions.

Now, the Harry Kane conundrum. I strongly argue that the reliance on him as our talisman takes away from our full potential. Kane's individual numbers always have been and always will be impressive.  At Tottenham over the last few seasons Kane or the management staff at Spurs have decided to have him come deeper in order to create more opportunities for others. In this England team however is Kane the best option to create from a #10 position, if so, play him there and start another striker. He is currently taking up the space these creative players are more suited to occupy. Mason Mount became a shadow of his Chelsea self while playing behind Kane, especially in the final where he became anonymous and I as an observer could not tell you what he was there to do. I had some sympathy as creating for a striker who doesn't offer you any option as an outlet and has little to no urgency to do so is a bit unfair. With Harry Kane in the team, we're subjected to playing around his limitations and there is a better way.

Over the past 3-4 years England have played 4 top 10 ranked teams (Belgium #1, Spain #6, Italy#7 & Denmark #10) We lost to Belgium 3/4 times we played them. The only victory the English have over Belgium, Harry Kane started on the bench and came on with the score already 2-1. The Semi-Final defeat over Denmark was our first triumph in 3 attempts. These results are a small sample size but I am sure that we are just as good and better suited to play against stronger opposition without Harry Kane. If this isn't addressed by the next tournament then we'll rely on our defence to hold out again which I don't have much confidence in as a Championship winning tactics.

I understand that he is captain and a great goalscorer, but looking at the game as a whole he spends too long offering nothing and the pundits are left blaming the team for "lack of service". Looking at his goal contributions this tournament, they were largely inconsequential as the only goal that mattered was a rebound off a missed penalty. Combined with a largely anonymous record in the knockout stages of the world cup and a less than special Euro 2016, I've seen enough to say that Harry Kane needs to earn his time in this team. Between Henderson, Kyle Walker and Raheem Sterling there are more qualified candidates for the captaincy and at this point the image of Kane is far better than the reality. For England to go forward this needs to be considered seriously.

Southgate strongly trusts his process and his players, and the nation in turn trusts him. Still, there is much work to do if football is ever to come home. Our management structure, Our playing style and our talisman are all under question in my opinion as we begin preparations for the next world cup. With or without the changes I suggest, England have a good chance and I believe this group of players can go all the way.