Why Switzerland could cause England Problems, and what England can do about it
Half of the Euros Quarter Final stage has been played, with Portugal and Germany eliminated in close games against France and Spain. Lets discus these games, and more in this week's Football Latest.
Half of the Euros Quarter Final stage has been played, with Portugal and Germany eliminated in close games against France and Spain. Lets discus these two games, as well as the upcoming challenge that England face in the form of Switzerland.
Match Review - Spain vs Germany
This was certainly a game of two halves, where the first half was incredibly slow, lacked rhythm and lacked energy from either side. In contrast, as soon as Dani Olmo’s goal went in for Spain just after half time, the game ignited into a thrilling battle for most of the rest of the game, with Spain’s defence only solid enough to hold Germany for 37 minutes before the 89th minute Germany equaliser. It then took Spain until the 119th minute for them to find a brilliant headed winner and take them through to the semi finals of the Euros, and they will certainly be the favourites against an out-of-form France side. This game would have been an appropriate final, between probably the two best teams in the tournament so far, but sadly, this tournament comes to a bitter end for the hosts Germany, and this also marks the last game of the career of Toni Kroos, who has already announced his retirement after this tournament.
Match Review - Portugal vs France
In a tight encounter between evenly matched sides on paper, France beat Portugal 5-4 on penalties. However, despite the end result, I cannot believe that a 41 year old centre-back Pepe is still starting and performing for his country. He managed to win a 1v1 duel with rapid French striker Marcus Thuram who was fresh off the bench, with Pepe having been on the pitch for the entire 90 minutes of that game so far. At the end of the day, I don’t think Spain will have much trouble beating France in their current state in the semi finals, with France still yet to score a non-own goal from open play, but France will certainly give Spain a tough game when they play next week.
Switzerland could cause England Problems.
England have had a common problem in a lot of their Euros games so far, which is their failed pressing system. They try to press teams high up the pitch, but with one incisive pass forward, teams like Denmark have been able to find space in behind the midfield and progress the ball forward to create good chances. Switzerland boast players like Granit Xhaka and Manuel Akanji, who we have seen able to make these incisive passes past teams’ presses so far, and if England don’t fix this press, then they could face real danger from this great transitional side. So how can England fix this? If England really want to be this exceptional, high pressing team, then they need to pick the right players who are willing to press. This means that Harry Kane will either need to be given strict instructions to stop dropping deep in important passages of play, or he need to be dropped entirely and be replaced by a pressing machine like Ollie Watkins. That would be a bold decision, but even that one change could have an important impact on England’s press. Other players like Anthony Gordon are also excellent pressers, so introducing him could also be useful.
2 weeks ago, I published a Football Latest newsletter stating that moving to a back three with Trent Alexander Arnold and Bukayo Saka as wingbacks could be a system that could work for England for a number of reasons, and you can read more about that here. Less than two weeks later, it is revealed that Southgate has been using an almost identical formation to the one that I spoke about in that newsletter in his England training sessions, so my only logical conclusion is that Gareth Southgate is reading my newsletter. I think this is a pretty compelling reason to subscribe to this newsletter, and share it with your friends and family so that they can enjoy it too. I hope you enjoyed reading, and I will see you next week, hopefully to be saying that England are through to the Euros semi finals.