You wouldn’t know that England defeated Serbia from watching Monday Mailbox, where Trent Alexander-Arnold, Harry Kane, and Gareth Southgate are all given harsh treatment.
Emails on England and other topics related to Euro 2024 can be sent to theeditor@football365.com.
Of course, it’s important to strike the correct balance between “criticism” and “critiquing” while discussing a winning performance in a tournament’s first group game. England maintained a clean sheet and scored through open play. Not a single injury or booking. Guehi did a great job for her debut. Not a single clanger or confidence-shaking blow. The finest player on the field was ours. Being extremely dull in the first game shouldn’t happen, and it doesn’t guarantee how you’ll perform in the elimination stages (like as the 2024 ties against France and Croatia).
That being said, may we now discuss ‘arry Kane?
I must now acknowledge that I have a small bias. that I consider him to be a fool, a liar, and unquestionably “that sort of player.” That it’s not “bad luck,” but rather a natural result of the constraints placed on his system; that his best performance at the club level required him to play when only partially fit, and that the opposition won at a walk-off pace. While Sterling and Mount didn’t perform very well against Italy in 2024, ‘arry’ didn’t appear to have a chance to score in that match either; England’s first three VAR penalties were easy ones.
It follows that I am able to evaluate his performance objectively and with an open mind.
Kane appears to be the player who will score goals no matter what.
Was it not apparent that Saka, instead of Walker catching up, was bloody excellent and distorted space-time continuum to overlap himself, only to find our renowned goal-scorer-extraordinaire nowhere useful?
Gareth should obviously make some adjustments. Trippier is good for the group stage, but in a knockout, that strategy isn’t working. The Foden cutting in has to be investigated and used more effectively, or avoided. Trent wasn’t a complete failure, but that’s not how success usually looks.
