To put it in context England did well to get to the Semi by hook, crook or sheer luck.
In reality they do not possess the one or two key players that can elevate the team, nor the manager that can get the best out of what he has to work with.
I keep hearing England are in transition and feel like it is a broken record. England have been in transition since 1966.
Since then Spain, Italy, Brazil, West Germany/Germany, Portugal, Holland, Soviet Union/Russia, Yugoslavia/Serbia,Czechoslovakia/Czech Republic, Argentina, Belgium, Denmark, Greece and now Croatia have all reached the final of a major tournament.
Also 1966 is the last time that England beat what I consider a top tier team (Brazil, Argentina, Germany, Italy, France, Holland, Spain, Uruguay & Portugal) in a knockout stage of a World Cup/Euros in 120 minutes. They beat Argentina, Portugal and West Germany in 1966.
Since then the only top tier team England have knocked out is Spain in Euro 1996 where they drew 0-0 and won on penalties.
I think this is the main problem since winning the 1966 World Cup and moreso since the Premier League is this notion that England have a divine right to be classed as one of the major contenders where in reality they are in the Championship with the likes of Sweden,Czech Republic, Denmark etc. The tier below where on occasion they can overachieve or have a good group of players, or a bit of luck that can take them all the way.
Unfortunately I don’t see that changing anytime soon, but England should be looking to how Denmark did it, how Greece did it, as if you don’t have the players you can’t play expansive football like Belgium. For me a lot of that is down to sheer luck at any given time having a good group to work with or who come through. There is no magic wand. Once De Bruyne and Hazard are not playing for Belgium they will slip away, as they did after the generation they had in the mid 80s.
England did have a fantastic chance to get to the final, but the management let them down. Keeping the same team when for me they should have been 4 at the back and more up top and midfield. Having Lingard and Alli two attacking midfielders in central midfield with Henderson meant we often defended too deep and there was too much space from the back to the attack. If Southgate had realised this England could have got past Croatia and been a lot more solid and harder to beat. I appreciate he wants to England to play like City but the players are just not there to straight up try and copy what we do.
