Why England’s Performance Was Both Good & Bad: Serbia 0-1 England | Euro 2024 Tactical Analysis

Would love to hear your feedback on this, cheers lads!

DISCORD – https://discord.gg/9HPpD2hk
TWITTER – https://www.x.com/ZeddersLad

well of course it was going to be England to bring out the first boring game of the Euro so far beating Serbia 1- nil in a game that recorded extremely low XG I think both teams combined didn’t reach a one very little action either way there was some good moments throughout the game and as English fans do they they’ve gotten a bit carried away I think with the slating of the result and criticizing it intensely and was it an amazing game to watch God no like there will be many many better games this tournament was it the complete disas master that you seem to get in the hyperbolic sense from England fans no it wasn’t it was a run-of-the-mill going through the motions game which showed that we had flaws which I spoke about in my video uh the other week when I previewed this tournament but it also showed off some things which I quite like and I think things that South Gate doesn’t get enough credit for and this is what I’m going to be doing with this this video I don’t want to come across as either the extremes you know uh I feel like people when I made the preview of the England tactics going into the tournament have the tendency to do that where it’s blind faith and blind loyalty and it’s coming home and we want to support him and others are like southgate’s crap we’re never going to win anything with Southgate I mean what’s the point of even bothering when he plays such dinosaur football which isn’t even remotely true but whatever that’s the opinion that some people have and I’m not going to do that I’m not going to go either way I’m going to try and keep this as balanced and as and as Fair as possible and critical if I feel like that that’s what’s needed and also I’m going to praise him if I feel like that’s what I think is warranted I’m not just going to bow to an agenda either way CU I think both think that the other is the dominant one in that situation and both are just kind of as misguided as the other in my personal opinion so that’s my opinion am I Southgate in am I Southgate out I’m kind of neither I’m kind of a bit on the fence at the minute with Southgate I think I think A change is coming and if he doesn’t do well this tournament then I think it’s just time to try something new I think four tournaments now is enough of a go uh and we I I don’t bow to the idea that we have a good enough Squad to win it but four tournaments he tried it and he and he’s done fantastically well but it just feels like the end of a of a cycle and we start a new with the next gaffer dependent on if we don’t win it if we win it then obviously you have to keep him whether he wants to stay is another issue but anyway that was a bit of a tangent I’m going to get into this now I’m going to start with Serbia in the attack first of all okay so Serbia in their original stages of buildup would be as you’d expect from the shape it would be the three or slash Five 2 three and they’d build up a little bit short and the reason for that is is because they’ want to suck at England into their press and to bring them further up the field and create distances between England’s pressing five and their more defensive five so you’d see a massive Gap in between Jude Bellingham and Trent Alexander Arnold here in the 28s and Dean rice who was sitting a little bit further in front than the two center backs for reasons we’re going to discuss in a second it would basically be man-to-man press it would be Harry Kane onto the Central Center back you’d see Phil foden pression from Wing back into wide Center back you’d see sacka doing the same and the 28 for England on the 28 for Serb and in bringing England’s press onto them Serbia would look to hit it long to the front three he would stay very narrow and very together with each other and it would be Alexander mitrovic dropping in to compete for this ball with Declan rice uh he’d sometimes have the assistance of sergy milinkovic savich as well but the reason is is because basically they want to win that Jewel as it goes up to them and Alexander mitovich offers you a great aerial threat and a great physical aggressive presence in winning those Jews I mean we know from his time in England bloke fights everyone even officials and the reason Dean rice was kept a bit further back was because in stones and gayi England lack that physical you know aerial presence in Maguire and they haven’t taken a Super Bowl replacement other than Lewis dunk who just doesn’t really seem like he’s up to the level of International Football I think stones and gahi did well but you do lack that and Dean rice offers you that and that physical presence and he and he went toe-to-toe with mitovich in these situations and it would be to quickly lay it off to sergy milinkovic Savage we know how good technically he is so mitovich could peel off into this side of stones vlahovich could get into this side of gayi he’d get the wing backs rushing forward from the deep position to join the attack and TR that back four and it meant more space for the ball to go into mitovich down this side or vlahovich down this side and England defended these situations really well I will say gay he handled vlahovich excellently as much as we’ll talk about Kane’s performance and how literally was involved you’d have been forgiven for thinking vlahovich wasn’t on the pitch at all again I’ve made a video on him dissing him and I’m not a massive fan of his and that game showed all his frailties he’s good when the balls given to him in the Box other than that he offers nothing nothing at all they couldn’t unlock that England won their jewels in that sense they pressed well and they forced the ball long and they won the aerial jewels and you have to give them credit because just having gayi in that Center back who is weak in the air Palace fans will tell you that that isn’t one of his strong suits dealt with the physical presence really well I thought he had a really solid game and as the game went on and Seria started to get a bit more confidence growing they would push a bit further up and show more of a possession base game so if I just sort this out now and what they do is they try and spread that England press wide so pavlovich who was the left Center back would push into a left back position and then you get Goodell usually but it could be lukic as well but generally be gell dropping in to make sort of a center back position milinkovic pushing up as the sole Center back but partnering into a back four with velkovich pushing up as the sort of FO right back in this position lukic was the pivot in between defense Midfield he was generally used as a decoy to take care of a marker in this position and it meant that the and it meant that Kane and the wide players had a lot more width of the field to cover this also meant that you’d have Jude Bellingham or or Trent Alexander Arnold pushing further up to press leaving a bit more space in the Midfield rice had to get more involved as mitovich would drop into this position on the left so that would take care of rice you’d also get milinkovic Savage ping into this position on the right as well so it meant that Belling or Alexander Arnold couldn’t fully commit one of them had to drop in as Bellingham took care of the 10 and vlahovich was left as the striker the issue is though is that mitrovic and milinkovic Savage would pull wide around England’s shape which forced them a little bit deeper it forced Phil foden back it forced England into a bit more of a Midfield three and a Midfield five Bellingham pushing in here and Sack around here and as a result they could use the wide areas to overload England and get through and that was their intention all game so you’d have pavlovich for example in this position taking the ball out taking it to this area here sacka would have to commit he could pull that pass to mitovich who could then release ktic down this left hand side who could produce Crossing opportunities in defended the Box really well though so it never really came to anything at the end of the game there was a flurry of chances where Serbia could have done something but for the most part England defended it really well but Serbia did tactically adapt throughout the game and they really did show a level of quality to work around England’s shape and because of that new shape England couldn’t commit to the Press because of the width they had to cover so they had to drop in Space the only issue is is in the second half when it was a bit more disappointing for England they dropped so deep so so deep and they weren’t engaging the ball at all and as a result Serbia were given more license to play and they were almost showing a bit too much respect by getting on the ball and playing it and that was one of the reasons why that second half performance ringland was really really poor but held out in the end just about some good individual performances Kyle Walker Mark gayy were fantastic Dean rice did a brilliant job in the middle of the park as well so no complaints in the end and look it’s in southgate’s DNA that’s just who he is he sits off he protects the 1 nil he doesn’t go for the 2-0 but I just think with the attacking quality that some teams are showing in this tournament and the way teams are pressing so far in this tournament you’re asking for trouble by bringing pressure on to you and I’m not sure we’ve got the back four against better teams as Serbia with no disrespect to hold on but we did get the clean sheet in the end but how did England attack we’ll go over that now okay so when England were on the ball they were in a sort of three fluid four in Midfield and three up top now Kieran tripo’s task was staying high and wide at left the issue is he’s not an attacking left back the the attack really breaks down because of the lack of width he offers he doesn’t stay high and wide as sacka does on this side he drops in a little bit deeper and if he receives the ball he’s not going to take it down the wide in the tackle fullback he’s going to look inside and look for the passing option same with Phil Fen who’s not comfortable coming onto this left hand side he drifts which was all part of the game plan anyway and so it was a lot easier for Serbia to deal with it down that side because Kier and trippier was generally a lot more deeper meant that the right wing back for Serbia could come into this area and press him which allowed vlahovich to jump up and press alongside mitovich in this deeper phase for England and as a result it just means that Serbia can oppose thems a bit more in the game England very rarely attacked down that side and that’s going to hinder them a bit more as we go on but the few times they did try and build up it it just wasn’t a go CU they couldn’t but they did favor the right hand side though and I thought there was some things in attack and I know the attacking performance has been criticized and look we didn’t create many chances it has to be said but there were some things about it I really liked and the reason for it is is because of this fluid Midfield 4 now as you can see here it’s looking like a bit of a box but it wasn’t a box it was fluid you’d get Dean rice who would stick in front of the back three and the movement of Trent Alexander Arnold Jude Bellingham and Phil foden was brilliant the fluidity they showed in rotating their positions receiving it in front of the Midfield 4 and in between defensive Midfield was excellent some of their combination playing and some of their fluid off the ball movements was breathtaking up points Kane playing a lot more of a disciplined role than he usually does he would pin back the center back sometimes occupying two center backs at once and it was almost a hares roll from Kane where he was just an occupier usually you get Kane dropping into positions to progress the ball from deep and he didn’t he was a more disciplined Striker and I’m going to say this is a good thing it got slated after the match but Harry Kane did that against Iceland in the warm up and it meant there was no space at all in between defense midfield for our attack intends to operate having Kane pinning Defenders back gives license for Jude gives license to Trent gives license to Phil foden to get on the ball in these areas and attack players as a result cuz the defense can’t squeeze up to the Midfield I mean look you can argue whether this gets to the best out of Kane’s fantastic qualities when it comes to dropping deep and playmaking but it served the team well and that’s what G Southgate has got to do and that did it brilliantly do we need to see better performances from Kane going forward and look he would have had a goal if if it wasn’t for a w save from The Keeper so he scores that we look at this performance a lot more differently and as I say these movements caused Serbia all types of problems sometimes you get Phil F and dropping in to receive the ball here from Dean rice or or the wide center backs and progress on as Jude Bellingham searched here Trent Alexander Ral is you know comfortable taking the ball all over the pitch and this is where I think Serbia really struggled with these this fluid three is I think the tasks were for the wide center backs to go and press either let’s if I just move Trent alander Arnold back either Bellingham or phone in this position the only issue is because of their movement they didn’t quite know when to commit felt like there wasn’t uh the safety for them to go and press cuz they dropped a bit too deep or they had to deal with the overload of Trent Bellingham and Fen so let’s just say if pavlovic went to press Bellingham here and Trent was operating in this position that was a space that Trent could attack and they were left exposed as a result also the fluidity was made a lot better on this right hand side as sometimes You’ get Kyle Walker driving forward with the ball here to attack the right flank sacka could come inside and play in the half space and Trent would drop in and fill in as the right center back and use his fantastic passing range to affect play further on didn’t dictate play as much as I would like him to Trent I thought his his performance on the ball was me at points we’ve seen better games I’m still not ready to drop him for the next game I would still go with Trent CU I think tactically he performed his role very well we just need to see him impose himself on the game like like we know he can get the best out of his passing range but a lot of that also is because of that lack of width on the left hand side it meant Serbia could squeeze over to this side of the pitch because there was such a lack of threat on that left hand side for England and if we had a Luke sh if we had even a Ben chilwell then Trent could use this his passing range to unlock that and it opens up this play tremendously like the idea that we haven’t taken an attack and left back in this in this tournament and if Luke Shaw can’t play any minutes in the first group game after six months out how fit is he going to be for the rest of the tournament I don’t know but England did exploit this right side very well at points and the reason for that is is because of pavlovich looking to take care of Jude Bellingham or Phil F or whoever just happened to be in this position it meant there was a little bit of space now in between Wing back and left Center back that sack could attack into this area here and with Kyle Walker offering that overload on the right hand side he played that ball down that right hand side that created the opportunity for saaka to get a cross in pavlovich was always chasing Shadows down the this side and if you listen to the commentary and Jesus Christ I love alir I think he’s brilliant but you’ll never hear more by his commentary from a person in your life throughout the game they kept mentioning how pavlovich was struggling hardcore with sacka no he wasn’t he actually did fairly well considering the overload he had at points down that side how many times did Saka really beat him um you know I’m not saying he had a great game but he didn’t have the disaster class that he was made out to have and that combined with Jude Bellingham and his late runs into the box to get on the end of the cross cross and head in for the only goal of the game is top draw and England winning this tournament depends solely on Jude bellingham’s performances he is that X Factor that a lot of countries want to win them games he’s fantastic I can’t speak highly enough about him but England didn’t really create enough down that right hand side because of the fact they were squeezed over to this side it meant that Serbia could could control the that area the pitch decently and and very few times they left themselves get really exposed the back three defended the the Box really well and they sort of close up the distances between each other could have used a bit more from the Midfield and I said this about the Scotland game that Midfield four was only concerned about what was in front of them they’d maybe a to press Trent on the ball here or Dean rice in the ball here if if they were going to contribute to the defensive action they weren’t concerned with the players in between the lines Scotland did the same and it cost them against Germany I don’t know why teams are so easy to forget that area of the pitch from their midfielders that’s just me and and I think that’s something that teams defending teams that are going to be on the back foot for the majority of this tournament are going to need to learn to adapt to but in the second half it it started getting a lot poorer for England Serbia improved in the second half with their off the ball work as I’ll just show here so Serbia were pressing a lot more on the front for second half by going manto man mitovich and vlahovich would take care of stones and Gaye Wing backs would push onto fullbacks and the reason for that is because foden would tuck in a little bit more and was taking care of velovic milinkovic was one-on-one with Harry Kane and you’d get the remaining midfielder usually good elge taking care of Bellingham following him in if he dropped in a little bit deeper pavlovich on Paya Saka in this position and as a result it meant that England were playing some very long range silly balls up to the top because at points it just left England sort of isolated one-on-one in these areas with Harry Kane sacka and Phil phone and Jordan pickford’s passing from Deep was really poor I thought I think Jordan pigford’s distribution gets very overrated I’ll be honest a lot of them are just mental hoops from back to front and we couldn’t make it stick players stopped showing for the ball in that second half Jude Bellingham uh Trent Alexander arov Dean rice they weren’t moving there wasn’t as much fluidity in the second half and it just felt how they were dropping off defensively they dropped off offensively as well I don’t want to be negative about it but that costs you and I don’t think that’s as much from Southgate I think off the ball that’s a Southgate thing on the ball you still need your players to step up and demand the ball in these areas and it just wasn’t happening as much and as I say the the players in attack just got isolated even if they could win their Jews Serbia would recover quick and take up any loose balls and recycle attacks from there as much as a bit of a bland performance it was from England at points it was the best kind of bland performance you can have because they just did their job still stuck to the basics and accomplished those very well it’s the first game of the tournament we’re notoriously slow starters but we won our first group game three points which in a group stage where three teams can go through it’s enough to get you through really but I’d love to know what you guys think love to hear your opinions cheers Lads in a bit