Gareth Southgate's gamble is yet to pay off - and England need to change system as a result

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Evening Standard

·2 July 2024

Gareth Southgate's gamble is yet to pay off - and England need to change system as a result

Imbalance has caused Three Lions problem in all four games

The first mutiny from England supporters came a few minutes after Slovakia’s goal, during what appeared to be an innocuous passage of play.

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Kieran Trippier picked up the ball on the left touchline and, with options opening up ahead of him, turned inside on his right foot and played a safe pass back to Marc Guehi, prompting loud boos.

As England’s stand-in left-back, Trippier has spent the first four matches of the Euros mechanically cutting back on his preferred foot, and he was an understandable, if unfortunate, lightning rod for fan frustrations in Gelsenkirchen.

England’s left flank was utterly non-existent again for the best part of Sunday’s dramatic last-16 tie, Trippier offering nothing remotely resembling width or thrust.

In fairness to Trippier, he is not a left-back, and Gareth Southgate’s insistence on playing Phil Foden, who will always drift inside in search of the ball, ahead of him has only increased England’s impotence down one half of the pitch.

By the end of the match, Southgate had used four different players on the left of defence, including Bukayo Saka, who had expressly said 24 hours earlier that playing him out of position was not the answer to the team’s problems.

Meanwhile, England’s only natural left-back, Luke Shaw, never looked likely to come on, even when Trippier was forced off injured just after the hour. Southgate acknowledged afterwards that England were “unbalanced” and said Shaw, who has not played since February due to a hamstring problem, has “a chance” of featuring in Saturday’s quarter-final against Switzerland. Shaw’s best-case scenario, though, is probably 20 minutes from the bench if England are comfortable, which seems far-fetched, given the way they have played so far.

Luke Shaw has been in training but is yet to feature for England

Adam Davy/PA Wire

And then what? Is Southgate really going to risk starting Shaw in a semi-final or final, should England get that far? It is unlikely, leaving the manager likely to keep muddling through with Trippier and opponents increasingly aware of a glaring weakness in England’s structure.

Southgate has been a canny but cautious squad-builder, but taking just one unfit left-back to the tournament was a catastrophic error of judgement.

Even with Guehi suspended on Saturday, it is unlikely that Joe Gomez or Lewis Dunk will play any part against the Swiss. All the while, a series of capable left-backs — Tyrick Mitchell, Ben Chilwell and Lewis Hall among them — are watching on from home.

Even a left-footed centre-half, such as Levi Colwill, would have given England a shot at being more balanced without losing too much defensively.

Southgate’s reasoning was likely that Trippier would be more trustworthy in a major knockout game than Chilwell or Mitchell. But England have not played a Germany or France, and their chances of doing so are significantly decreased by not having a natural left-footer in position.

Changing systems is arguably Southgate’s best hope of a more balanced side, but would be an acknowledgement that his gamble with Shaw has backfired.