Opinion
A dour draw against a well set-up USA team and piles of English pundits have their knives our for Gareth Southgate (I know I’ve been critical of him too in the past but I still back him and think he’s mostly done a brilliant job).
The same pundits who cluelessly went nuts after England beat an Iran side who didn’t even turn up for their first game and waited until they faced Wales to put their tournament vehicle into gear.
The same pundits who just love to jump on a bandwagon and try to be the biggest and boldest pacesetter on top of that bandwagon, raving a new ‘in-vogue’ player to be all things to all men when they’re nowhere near it. (Enter Jude Bellingham.)
The clamour about Phil Foden not coming on is so baseless in international football terms that it’s actually embarrassing.
Jamie Carragher lambasted Southgate for not bringing him on. Thanks, Jamie. Have a rest. You’re talking about the same Phil Foden who has done next to nothing for England and has often been subbed out or overlooked because of his anonymous and ineffective displays.
So what if he’s been good for Manchester City? He gets more space there than he does in international football. The kid is very talented but he still needs better players moving around him fluidly to be effective. He has that in spades at City but he doesn’t have it in the England side and he doesn’t impact games as a result.
(Photo by Paul ELLIS / AFP) (Photo by PAUL ELLIS/AFP via Getty Images)
Pundits should understand this but they don’t.
English pundits, including Carragher, all wax lyrical about Jude Bellingham. Young, new, let’s get him in there because he’s a change from what we’ve had and he’s exciting.
Let’s not.
He causes England so many problems defensively, it’s not funny. But I doubt the pundits even notice – they’re all too busy focusing on his attacking play because that’s what they want to see. If you’re going to play centre midfield (and Jude doesn’t pick himself so he obviously isn’t to blame), then you have to be able to defend. Very well.
Jude Bellingham is a headless chicken when England are defending. Watch him. He’s almost never in the right position. He’s trying to catch up with the game rather than anticipate danger and position himself well for it. He lets his opponents get three or four yards goal side of him and then inadequately jogs after them, leaving them wide open to cause havoc.
He runs backwards and forwards chasing his tail. It all makes England very, very open.
I was crying out for him to be taken off way before half-time, let alone when he did go off, and it was only when he was finally removed that England started to look more solid defensively. Credit to Harry Maguire, too, who was excellent throughout.
Yes, Bellingham is very good and his future is huge, but no, he’s not ready yet. He’s too naïve and too much of a liability defensively to be given a berth in central midfield areas, especially in an England team that has struggled defensively this year.
Has everyone forgotten how important Kalvin Phillips has been to England’s structure and success? And have they not realised how much England have missed him? No, because they’re too wrapped up in blowing wind into each other’s sails.
Not many of the England team had a good game against the USA. And not many of the pundits had a good game after it either.
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