When England limped to a goalless draw against Slovenia, I'd enjoyed my favourite 45 minutes of "watching England" up until this point in the Euros.
3 . I fell asleep 😴
This was the highlight for me. I've made the mistake of trying to stay awake during England games before but not this time. This time, I happily let my eyes close and that was that. Only to be woken up by Slovenia's celebrations at the final whistle.
This remained true until last night.
Pre-Match
In our win against Switzerland, there were signs of improvement and a hint that the best was still to come.
The change from 4-2-3-1 to 5-2-2-1 (or 3-4-2-1 as the more optimistic like to call it) had unleashed Phil Foden in his natural position alongside Jude Bellingham and it was this formation that Southgate opted for again last night. The entire team look more comfortable - with most playing in their best positions.
There were no surprises in the starting XI with Marc Guehi coming back in for Ezri Konsa and the much criticised Harry Kane once again tasked with leading the line. The Kane / Southgate relationship now becoming a source of mockery amongst England fans.
1st Half
From the outset, the England players (with the exception of Harry Kane) did something they hadn't done all tournament - move.
When the player on the ball looked up, other players were moving forwards and the greatest demonstration of this was our 3 Centre Backs. Every time we were in possession, one of them would push up and run beyond the midfield - something that England have so dearly missed the entire tournament.
← Attacking This Way
Kyle Walker, John Stones and Marc Guehi Touch Map (Source)
It was so refreshing to see and as a result, we were dominant in the 1st half.
Despite our dominance though, things didn't look quite as solid at the back. A poor touch by Declan Rice saw Xavi Simons dispossess him and strike a beautiful shot past Jordan Pickford to put the Netherlands 1-0 up after just 7 minutes.
English viewers at home won't have panicked, just as the English players didn't. If anything, my optimism grew - at least now we'd be forced to abandon the negative approach we'd witnessed in the preceding 5 matches.
As @gduran mentioned in his article, Phil Foden was on it and the Dutch were unable to stop him from cutting in and unleashing some terrific shots. Denied a goal that would better Yamal's the night before by the width of the post.
It didn't take long for England to pull the score level with yet another contentious VAR decision.
It's well known in football that after a player has had their shot, the defender has free reign to inflict whatever pain they wish upon the attacker. They can lung in at waist height, fly kick their head or simply punch them in the face - so long as they appear to hint at an attempt to play the ball. So when Harry Kane's shot flew over the bar and his follow-through was met by Denzel Dumfries' attempted block, only the most optimistic of England fans would have cried for a penalty.
As England fans were hoping that Kane would limp off and Ivan Toney or Ollie Watkins could lead the line, word crept through that there was a VAR check. Laughed away by the English commentators as simply being ridiculous - "They check everything" exclaiming the "refereeing expert" brought in to provide analysis. Then the referee was referred to the monitor... hello... they change their mind 99% of the time when this happens...
I would be astonished if this is given (Lee Dixon - Ex England International)
I'm quite surprised that this is being sent because it's not a clear and obvious error and in fact this refer recommendation is for this not to be a penalty (Christina Unkel - Ex Referee)
Unbelievable and understandably, Ronald Koeman was pretty pissed off at the end of the game.
Despite Harry Kane being unable to move, there's no doubting him from 12 yards - firing an unstoppable penalty into the bottom corner to make it 1-1.
As I mentioned before, England were far superior in the 1st half - dominating the ball and creating far more than the Dutch who scored with their solitary shot on target. On 35 minutes, the Netherlands were forced into a change as Memphis Depay succumbed to injury - perhaps fortunate as it allowed Koeman to sure-up the Dutch Midfield.
Despite the dominance, England were unable to press home their advantage, the half ending at 1-1.
2nd Half
As an England fan, Half Time after a dominant 1st Half fills me with dread. Southgate having an entire 15 minutes to depress the players - removing any enthusiasm and momentum that we enjoyed in the 1st Half. Koeman also knew that something needed to change so he brought on their prime donkey - Wout Weghorst with the simple instruction to "hurt John Stones".
Weghorst was quickly involved - kicking Stones well after the ball had been played and the camera picking up Stones saying "What are you doing?", clearly unhappy with the tackle. Undeterred, Weghorst threw him an elbow later in the half.
The 2nd Half was tough viewing. With my eyes glued to Kane's lack of movement - his leadership rubbing off on the rest of the team. Whereas in the 1st Half everybody was moving, the 2nd Half was "back to normal" and by 60 minutes, it started to feel so typical and a Dutch goal imminent.
Fortunately for us, the Netherlands weren't keen on running either but their Set Piece threat loomed large (with the tallest population on Earth apparently).
The game had gotten so bad, that the-mrs-gorilla commented:
Is this that fat man football?
Political correctness aside (she was spot on of course), I think she was referring to walking football.
Harry Kane's Touch Map Source
As is customary when we're not losing, we were dropping deeper and deeper. Kane increasingly determined to sit deep and was seen as a deep lying playmaker more than as a striker.
So frustrating and as usual, Southgate saw what I saw 20 minutes later. Waiting until the 80th minute to make the necessary changes.
At that moment, we'd just had a goal disallowed - Kyle Walker running offside when he could have so easily held his run and stayed on.
The changes - Ollie Watkins and Cole Palmer to replace Harry Kane and Phil Foden. Exactly what I would've done 20 minutes prior.
Confidence inside me grew and I confidently told the-mrs-gorilla:
We'll win this now that we've got 11 players
Exactly the same conversation I'd had at Half Time with a good friend - simply stated: "Ollie Watkins could win us the Euros" with my reply of "If he gets on the pitch".
It feels good to be right.
In the 90th minute, the subs combined. Ollie Watkins made a run, Cole Palmer passed to him... one touch to get the ball out of his feet, another to hammer the ball into the bottom corner past a helpless Verbruggen.
Ollie Watkins looked like he was going to cry. The reaction in fan zones across the country no different to the celebrations in the-gorilla's household.
So here we are. 45 minutes of England showing what we're capable of from 6 matches and we're in the final of Euro 2024.
I have no doubt we'll need to improve again if we have any hope of beating Spain on Sunday and if we do, the much criticised Gareth Southgate will go down in history as England's most successful manager since Sir Alf Ramsey. And I'll still be glad to see the back of him.
Highlights
the-gorilla's Alternative Steemit Interface
In case you didn't know, I've created an interface to help you find content that you're interested in more easily.
Posts by voting bot users, abusers and spam tags are hidden and you can search by multiple tags - allowing you to find the content that you're interested in more easily.
👉 Launch Alternative Steemit Interface 👈
the-gorilla's Club Status Tool
I've also created a tool to help users review their club status - showing them where their power's coming from, how much they're powering up, transferring out and who they share a wallet with amongst other things.
Please use it wisely.
👉 Launch Club Status Tool 👈
