Far from perfect but the dark clouds have parted for England ahead of Netherlands
England facing Switzerland followed by the Netherlands. A star player scoring a wonder goal before getting into trouble for his celebration. A nervy quarter-final win secured only on penalties after a fall guy of previous shootouts banishes his spot-kick demons. A manager on his way out. And all set against the backdrop of sweeping change in domestic politics.
There are more than a few parallels between Euro 2024 and Euro 96. The big difference is that while that fabled tournament of yesteryear felt joyous, this time it has been a weary trudge.
On Saturday evening in Dusseldorf, however, the dark clouds parted a little and a few rays of light crept into England’s campaign. The performance was far from perfect – in all honesty, it was probably barely even good – but it was most definitely better against the Swiss than it had been in all four previous games. And that is cause for some much-needed optimism as Gareth Southgate prepares for his third semi-final in four major tournaments, on Wednesday against the Dutch in Dortmund.
The most notable improvement in England’s play was that they were operating about 20 yards further up the pitch (see heatmaps below). They may not have created many chances against Switzerland – they only mustered five attempts on goal in 120 minutes of action – but they at least got into the positions to do so and looked as though they might. Said out loud, that is underwhelming but the bar had been set incredibly low.
A new-look 3-4-2-1 system partly thrust upon Southgate by the suspension of Marc Guehi helped England set up camp in their opponents’ half. That allowed Bukayo Saka to get on the ball in more advanced areas and, lo and behold, he looked more like his old self as he tormented Swiss wing-back Michel Aebischer from the first whistle. He put in several dangerous crosses that deserved better finishes before taking matters into his own hands and smashing England’s equaliser in off Yann Sommer’s far post.
The tactical switch was also a welcome sign of flexibility from Southgate, who had hitherto stuck vehemently to a dysfunctional 4-3-3 set-up which was getting the best out of precisely nobody. He now has a decision to make before facing the Netherlands: stick with the three-man defence or, with Guehi available again and Luke Shaw seemingly an option to start at last, revert to his previous system. On the basis of what we have seen in Germany, it has to be the former and it shouldn’t even be a discussion.
There were other bright spots. England were flawless with their penalties in a first shoot-out since losing the last Euros final at Wembley three years ago – so much so that Southgate might be tempted to play for spot kicks in future. And while it was heart-warming to see Saka rewrite his penalty story, there was also a good dose of relief in Trent Alexander-Arnold lashing the decisive shot into the roof of the net. Ivan Toney continues to provide very useful cameos, too.
Let us not forget that much-fancied France have also been woeful, scoring just three times on their way to the semi-finals – two of them own goals and the other a penalty. England, meanwhile, have won just once in 90 minutes, and that was their opening group game against Serbia. Harry Kane continues to lumber around ineffectively, while Southgate is still too reluctant to make tactical changes in-game. Perhaps the best thing that can be said about his side is that they have, somehow, managed to stay in this tournament.
While Southgate himself will need no reminding that Euro 96 wasn’t all Gazza heroics and sun-drenched Wembley singalongs of Three Lions, England did at least dish out a 4-1 spanking to a Netherlands side boasting far more talent than the current line up. That’s a parallel they would be only too happy to realise in the coming days.