I think Bellingham is very talented, has had a great season and deserves his place in this England team. But I don't buy this narrative that he's enormously mature for his age. That's fine in itself - he's little more than a kid, develop him right and I'm sure he'll be a real leader in 5 or 10 years' time. But right now I think he needs the manager and the more experienced players to remind him that this is a team game, he's not the saviour of English football, and he has a role to play that's more than just doing whatever and going wherever he wants.
Watching the other teams so far this tournament, you can see that the vast majority of them, especially the better teams, have a plan and a structure and play in patterns. That doesn't mean there's no room for improvisation or creativity, it's just about teammates knowing what to expect of each other. I appreciate this is harder in a national team than at a club due to not playing together so much, but plenty of other countries manage it.
We have too many players being given too much freedom. Bellingham is one but he's not the only one. The defence pretty much sorts itself out most of the time because it's naturally a less ego-driven area of the pitch. Further forward, Southgate needs to lay down the law about what spaces people need to take up and what patterns of play the team is aiming for - and that needs to be based on how best to win matches, not appeasing players who'd rather be doing something else.
And that includes Phil. I love Phil and would much prefer him to be playing centrally, but if the decision is to play him on the left then we need to get him occupying space on the left and attacking from there. And if he's not the best in the squad at that role, play someone else there. Last night the left-hand side was an empty space for most of the match. It won't work against better opposition.
