How Gareth Southgate can fix England NOW: England 1-0 Serbia tactical analysis

What went well, what MUST change, and every single other tactical lesson from England's opening week victory against Serbia in the 2024 Euros will be brought to you through an in-depth tactical analysis.

England got their 2024 European Championships underway after a 1-0 victory against Serbia on Sunday the 16th June. However, there was plenty to talk about, and critique, after the performance. This video has 3 main sections:

1. England's new spiraling build-up, with the rotations and free roles of Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden, and Trent Alexander-Arnold.
2. Gareth Southgate's poor platforming of individuals, including Phil Foden, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Bukayo Saka, and Harry Kane, despite the brilliant use of Jude Bellingham as a free/hybrid 8.
3. Why England's passive out of possession system is bad news.

Declan Rice had another stellar showing at the base of midfield, and Kyle Walker, John Stones, Marc Guehi, Kieran Trippier, and Jordan Pickford saw out a vital clean sheet.

Connor Gallagher, Kobbie Mainoo, and Jarrod Bowen all made positive contributions from the bench.

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[norighttoscore]

Can’t get enough of this channel. I haven’t found anyone else who can provide this type of in-depth, eloquent, and thoughtful analysis out there! Totally agree on Southgate’s player roles as well! Balance is the key 🔑

[J.K.O]

Different gravy analysis as usual. Love the music addition too. Thanks Fabio👍🏾.

[TBG]

Top vid Harv, Arsenal boys doing us proud!

[ultraslanmc]

Not having Rashford was a big mistake, might not have a great season but people can not doubt his quality. He’s always been way better than Foden in an England shirt.

[AngusGaukrogerDev]

Great analysis, that was super interesting

[Best_game]

Southgate should parner Rice with a secure ball playing midfielder like Wharton who can keep the ball ticking like Jorghino does for Arsenal. Mainoo cannot do this because he has the urge to dribble and attack, I have heard that in his youth days he was a winger, that's why he likes to wander upfield. We need someone who can sit and dictate play, I hope Southgate can trust Wharton for this role, it will free Rice to roam and press higher up.

[bokehintheussr]

The whole Trent point is worrying. It just shows how tactically inept Southgate is that he thought he could play him as a static holding midfielder receiving the ball with his back to play. It takes a completely different profile of player to be able to do that.

[RishiSharma-sfeu]

i honestly think wharton should start. england need someone who can dictate the game and get on the ball on the half turn like him

[JB]

Sunshine and Rainbows❌
Sunflowers and Roses✅

[Anchises]

Why have we never tried Trent as the makeshift left back? Surely he can handle it as well as Trippier. He can invert into the deep Kroos position and be on his correct right foot. Then we can also keep Walker at RB.

[matthewtabor]

Interesting analysis regarding player platforms.
The problem with Foden's free role is that no one actually gives him the ball when he gets in the spaces that he's arguably the best in the world in and we have a completely non threatening left back. Once Serbia realised we had no threat on the left we became unable to generate anything because Bellingham isn't a natural chance creater.
Agree trent is infinitely better at RB, but I think people are conflating being one of the best aerial passers in world football with being creative, if he was more creative he'd be able to find passes between the lines a lot more than he does. If we play him RB and Stones RCB we are going to get so exploited by anyone with a decent left winger, Rice isn't going to be able to sweep that up 10 times a game. If Guehi hadn't been so solid a Stones/Walker CB pairing with Gomez LB would completely unlock Trent for this role and then we would need a switch option LW which could be either be Saka and Foden goes RW to come inside and Trent can hold the width once in the final third (giving us room for either Gallagher/Wharton/Mainoo to play an 8-6-8 with Bellingham/Rice) or Bellingham plays next to Rice with Foden at 10 and Gordon on LW and we hope Bellingham can find the incisive passes we need to play through the middle.

[nicklikethesoup]

I would argue that the way Southgate is using Foden & TAA is indicative that he's not close to cracking this England side since he's been with them for so long, but that's my personal quibble with him as a manager. Rest of this was solid good stuff. Some of the music is a little somber and made the analysis feel a little like an eulogy for a bad performance. Don't think that was intentional, but maybe a little more uptempo to suit the positive vibes at the end when positing the hopeful message would be good.

[rexstout]

I really think they should play a diamond in midfield. We only have one wide player who is at the highest levels - Saka. So if you play him and Kane up front with Saka doing what he normally does, we don't really lose anything.
But we gain.
We gain unlimited power in midfield.

[jaybe]

Kane not being allowed to drop between the lines didn't work at all, a large portion of England goals come from Kane assists or build up play. Even in the first half when we had good possession none of the forward players were good enough to work a chance to him, and the rest of the game he was only getting long balls in the air with two defenders on his back.

[terry]

Through all of Southgates tenancy we have had the same core issue, he is overly defensive. The shape, the players, none it matters when your goal is to keep the ball on the half way line instead of the opponents actual goal. We have players that thrive in and around the box but we never play there.

[charles]

Dont agree on Trent, the player needs the team to jump through many hoops just to fit him in. Wand of a right foot but cant function in any position on the pitch optimally.
Overrated and Overstated, Mainoo needs to start.


Mainoo -Rice
Gordon-Bellingham-Saka
Kane

[jacominaar]

harvey do u think foden is a system player and do u think germany are better than england currently?

[kudakwashechikosi]

You nailed it. He needs to play like kroos

[shammahadesiyan]

England need a runner on the right, not Foden

[thenoodlebuddy]

Have england every tsken a shot outside the box? Thats my issue, ive noticed a lot of goals get wcored whrn a player smashed a goal at the keeper he cant keep hold of it and its just chaos in the box.. this is what england need to do instead of passing the vall around until it gets intercepted. This is the reason why england are boring as hell to watch