Gareth Southgate has done it again – England 1 Switzerland 1 (England win 5-3 on penalties) | OneFootball

Gareth Southgate watched on as his team progressed to the semi-finals, England 1 Switzerland 1 after 90 minutes, then with no goals in extra-time it was penalties.

The England players holding their nerve with all five successful, so a 5-3 spot-kick win it was.

It all feels very Groundhog Day, yet another Gareth Southgate negativity masterclass against very average opposition, yet once again carrying massive luck to get through.

England for sure vying with France in this tournament as the most boring but lucky side, as fates conspire to produce the potential horror of an England v France final.

The old saying of history is written by the victors couldn’t be more true here, certainly where pundits and the media are concerned. So many of them are willing to ignore yet another Gareth Southgate shocker, in terms of both team selection and tactics, only to be rescued by pure luck to end up going through.

Another largely woeful display by England where they created so little goal threat and were left thankful as Switzerland let them off the hook. After an initial slightly brighter start by England, though still with minimal (zero?) goal threat, the second-half and extra-time saw Switzerland easily the better and more ambitious side. Harry Kane shocking as he barely moved all game in terms of helping with any goal threat, the likes of Bellingham and Saka left clearly frustrated as their efforts were wasted with such an ineffective striker as the spearhead of this blunted England set-up.

Despite how badly England played against Slovakia and the all-but-invisible goal threat that saw them without a single shot on target in the opening 90 minutes in that last 16 match, Gareth Southgate made only one enforced change, Konsa for the suspended Guehi.

Southgate keeping Kieran Trippier on the left but as a wing-back, Saka as the right wing-back, with Walker, Stones, and Konsa the three centre-backs.

Saka was pretty much England’s only threat in the opening half but then that faded as Switzerland took command after the break, Gareth Southgate with his usual rabbit-in-the-headlights routine as he didn’t have a clue what to do to turn it around, just going with his same eleven on the pitch, as though everything was going great.

We could all see it coming as Switzerland pressed and pressed and Southgate had England so negative, on 75 minutes the inevitable goal came. Fabian Schar with an excellent pass into the box that eventually reached Embolo to strike.

England hadn’t had a single effort on target by this point, woeful.

Southgate responded with three subs brought on, all to play left side – Shaw, Eze, and Palmer. Anthony Gordon retained his place on the bench, as usual. Beyond bizarre.

Against Slovakia, it was a lucky desperate long throw with 30 seconds to go and a brilliant bit of individual talent from Bellingham that saved Gareth Southgate and England.

This time it was Bukayo Saka. Southgate making all the subs on the left (including Trippier off) but as England’s only real threat all game, it was no surprise it was Saka who scored with England’s first shot on target with 10 minutes to go. Switzerland will be kicking themselves as a rare defensive mix-up saw the Arsenal winger allowed to run inside unchallenged and from the edge of the box his shot went in off the post.

Surely all out for the winner now then… not exactly. Gareth Southgate of course his usual negative self, failing to capture the moment and momentum, as the game drifted to extra-time.

Gareth Southgate left Anthony Gordon sitting on the bench, Toney and Alexander-Arnold came on in extra-time.

In those added 30 minutes, only the Switzerland manager going for the win, Southgate clearly going for penalties.

Incredible luck in the final stages as Shaqiri saw his corner kick come off the woodwork with Pickford well beaten, then a superb ball into the box from Fabian Schar saw Burnley’s Zeki Amdouni fail to finish when he should have done.

Gareth Southgate crawling over the line to penalties and the rest is history.

All credit to the England players with the bottle and composure for penalties, scoring all five as Man City’s Akanji failed with his. Fabian Schar super cool with his composed spot-kick, letting Pickford commit first.

Winning is of course the all-important thing BUT only a fool would not look at what has gone on so far and think if only England had a decent manager willing to play to the attacking strengths of his squad, then the Three Lions would be triumphantly surging into the semi-finals playing some great football, creating plenty chances and scoring goals.

Instead this farce of crawling past a number of poor to mediocre sides and relying on massive luck to do so.

Switzerland was the team who could and should have won and it was the same, but even worse, against Slovakia.

On Saturday it took 80 minutes for England to have a shot on target and in over 120 minutes of football, they only managed three in total. This kind of luck very rarely lasts and as usual in these major tournaments, as soon as England plays a decent-quality team, Southgate’s luck predictably isn’t enough.

The incredible Southgate luck saw France, Spain, Germany, and Portugal all in the other half of the draw and from that point surely a massive failure if England didn’t get to the final.

Holland are an ok side but one that England should be able to comfortably beat if having their best team on the pitch and attacking, with Gareth Southgate no doubt set to continue his negative defence-based plan, it is in the balance.

It is Spain v France at 8 pm kick-off on Tuesday (9 July), then England v Holland 8 pm on Wednesday (10 July) in Dortmund.

Worth pointing out that in five games at the Euros so far against poor to average opposition, only one of the five has England won in normal time (not needing extra-time or penalties). That was the very first game when for half an hour or so England actually looked quite good, before then ending up hanging on for grim death in the second-half as Southgate ordered his players to defend deep and in numbers.

England matches at the 2024 European Championships so far:

England 1 Serbia 0

England 1 Denmark 1

England 0 Slovenia 0

Last 16:

England 2 Slovakia 1 (AET)

Quarter-finals:

England 1 Switzerland 1 (England win 5-3 on penalties AET)

Semi-final:

England v Holland (8 pm)

Final:

8 pm Sunday 14 July

Final score:

England 1 Switzerland 1 (England win 5-3 on penalties AET)

The England team v Switzerland:

Pickford, Trippier (Eze 78), Walker, Stones, Konsa (Palmer 78), Saka, Rice, Mainoo (Shaw 78), Bellingham, Foden (Alexander-Arnold 115), Kane (Toney 109)

The bottom line for me is that the pundits and media are now just running with what’s the point of saying anything about how poor Gareth Southgate is anymore, as he refuses to change his approach. So they (media/pundits) are happy to simply celebrate the lucky wins and hold off on Southgate, however, if his usual ultra-negativity and poor team selections cost England against Holland, then they will be back to pointing out the blatant truth and savaging him, for not allowing this England team to be the best it can be, especially in an attacking sense.