So it turns out that contrary to pundits’ bleating about England selections during Euro 2024, just chucking all your best players onto the pitch in unfamiliar roles is actually not as effective as having a system that makes sense.
A lot of the criticisms aimed at Gareth Southgate as England crawled through the early stages of the tournament on their hands and knees were valid – but the notion that he should find a way to squeeze every single attacking talent at their disposal into an ill-fitting shape was always absurd on its face.
"England have Cole Palmer, Bukayo Saka, Jude Bellingham, Kobbie Mainoo, Phil Foden… massive, massive talents and we cannot afford to mismanage them,” said a grumpy Gary Neville after the goalless draw with Slovenia. “We are the only country in the world who continually ask, 'where can these players fit?'"
These fixtures are worth experimenting in
The former England right-back went on to use Spain in their pomp as a example of a side that found a way to get their best players into the side, which is… not entirely true.
Spain had Marcos Senna in the side ahead of Xabi Alonso for the Euro 2008 final. Fernando Torres and Cesc Fabregas played from the bench in the 2010 World Cup final, while David Silva was an unused substitute. In 2012, they eschewed strikers almost entirely because they didn’t particularly have any good ones: Torres was by then a shadow of his former self and David Villa was injured.
Perhaps Lee Carsley had that final triumph in mind against Greece after losing Harry Kane. The interim boss went with a system without a recognised centre-forward, instead getting Bellingham and Foden to lead the line while Ollie Watkins and Dominic Solanke spent most of the game twiddling their thumbs on the bench.
The result was a mess, and late though Greece’s winner may have come after Bellingham’s equaliser, there was no arguing the visitors deserved their Wembley triumph.
Carsley said of the gambit: “We tried something different and tried to overload the midfield. We tried it for 20 minutes yesterday, we experimented, and [we're] disappointed it didn’t come off.
“It’s unrealistic to expect too much and we will have to try again. All the goals were from mistakes, which is disappointing. It is definitely an option going forward. When you have someone of [Harry] Kane’s quality though it rules it out when he is available. But in the future you have to have the courage and ability to try things.”
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While we would probably call it quits on the experiment there – England have perfectly good strikers they can use – Carsley is not wrong, and we actually don’t mind that he used this game to have a look at something different.
Much as England should be beating Greece in any context (and no disrespect shown to Greece there)... lads, it’s the Nations League. It doesn’t matter.
There’s a whole World Cup qualification campaign still ahead, and the additional play-off places afforded by Nations League form are for sides who do not expect to qualify through the regular means. If England fall into that category, they frankly have bigger problems.
If there is ever a time to take a look at something to see if it works or not, it was here. Not in the group stage of a major tournament, not in a vital qualification game.
It would have been easy for Carsley to play it safe and go with something more conventional. We’re not exactly applauding the fact that he didn’t – frankly, he over-thought it – but we can at least respect the cajones.
What England did for a lot of the Euros was not impressive and did not especially work, so it was worth having a look at something else. This solution didn't work. The next one might.
As a bonus, this experience might just shut up some of those voices who are apparently perpetually mortally offended that England cannot simply field 14 players.
It’s easy to list players who are out of the starting line-up and suggest they might have made a difference, but with the wealth of talent England have on the wings and at number 10, difficult choices are inevitably going to have to be made. That’s what you want – not a team that automatically picks itself.
