da dobrowin： The Three Lions lulled fans to sleep with three uninspiring performances but things can only get better from here… right?
da bwin： "They think it's all over. It is now." And isn't that a relief? England's performances at Euro 2024 have been so tough to watch it has felt like an endurance race and the only positive to take from the drab 0-0 stalemate with Slovenia was the knowledge that the group stage has come to an end and things can surely only improve.
England finishing top of their group would normally be something to celebrate but their three matches in Germany had no one smiling as Gareth Southgate's side served up utterly uninspiring football against mediocre opposition, forcing anyone who had the Three Lions down as pre-tournament favourites to reassess.
Southgate has borne the brunt of the criticism and it is hard to not be concerned by the trajectory his team are on. They have won six of their 13 matches since last September, earning just two victories from their last eight matches.
The last time England picked up five points in a European Championship was in 2016, when they sunk to a humiliating defeat to Iceland in their next match. Then again, they had a similar run of results in the group stage of the 1990 World Cup, when they went on to reach the semi-finals.
England can now start thinking about their last 16 match on Sunday in Gelsenkirchen although they will not learn their opponents until the group stage finishes on Wednesday night. And they have a lot of thinking to do.
GOAL breaks down the winners and losers from England's journey through Group C…
Getty WINNER: England
Bear with us here. Despite boring both neutral and England fans into oblivion, Southgate's side are exactly where they wanted to be at the start of the tournament, having won their group and made it to the kinder half of the draw for the knockout stage.
They will avoid Germany, Portugal, Spain and France all the way to the final, and their toughest opponents are likely to be either the Netherlands, Belgium or Italy, who have all been underwhelming.
They are ultimately in the same position they would be as if they had won all of their matches 4-0 or 5-0. They have also managed to avoid any injuries or suspensions. And after making such a poor start, the only way is up.
Advertisement(C)GettyImagesLOSER: Gareth Southgate
Southgate's credit from being the most successful England manager since Sir Alf Ramsey is fast running out and he has played into his critics' hands by overseeing three stale, conservative performances. He also hasn't helped his cause by making just one change to his starting line-up, although he has been reactive with his substitutes.
Despite having an embarrassment of attacking riches, England have produced barely any exciting passages of play and the abiding memory of their group stage games is of the team knocking the ball sideways or backwards in a pedestrian manner. The team have also looked ridiculously lopsided, a result of the manager not picking any reserve left-backs to cover for Luke Shaw.
A lot of fans are losing perspective as a result of the insipid football they are witnessing and a couple of supporters in Cologne were so furious with Southgate that they threw empty cups towards him at full-time. Southgate, to his credit, knows how to handle the pressure better than most and has refused to make the situation worse by rising to the bait.
"I understand the narrative towards me and that's better for the team than it being towards them," he said. "But it is creating an unusual environment to operate in. I've not seen any other team qualify and receive similar."
Southgate will know how quickly the narrative can change and one good performance is all it takes to get the country back on his side. But is he capable of making the necessary tweaks to make that happen?
Getty ImagesWINNER: Underused subs
The pressure is rising against the team's stars, with Bellingham, Kane and Declan Rice receiving most of the criticism after the last two results. Meanwhile, the clamour for the players who have not started to get a bigger role is only growing.
Cole Palmer injected some trickery and guile into the team against Slovenia and made a strong case to start the next game, having been discarded against Serbia and Denmark. Anthony Gordon was given just a few minutes against Slovenia and could help solve the team's woes down the left flank.
England's problems in midfield should also provide an opening for Adam Wharton, who is yet to play a minute of football in Germany but who would surely be a better option than Alexander-Arnold or Gallagher.
The players who were left behind by Southgate have also been boosted by the team's sterile showing so far in the tournament. Jack Grealish's tactical intelligence has been missing while the team have also been crying out for the pace of Marcus Rashford.
GettyLOSER: Trent Alexander-Arnold
The Liverpool star was given the nod for the first two games despite never having played alongside Declan Rice in midfield and the experiment proved to be a big mistake.
There has been a long-running debate about whether Alexander-Arnold would be better off in midfield than at right-back but it is telling that Jurgen Klopp, who brought him through at Liverpool and knows him better than any other coach, never played him in the middle.
His positional awareness off the ball was badly lacking in both matches and when he was the only player to be dropped for the third game, it looked like he was the fall guy. As it turned out, Conor Gallagher looked like an even weaker option against Slovenia but it was telling that Southgate replaced the Chelsea midfielder with Kobbie Mainoo rather than Alexander-Arnold.
His days as an England midfielder, at least in Euro 2024, look to be numbered and his best hope at getting back into the team appears to be at left-back or right-back in the event anything happens to Kyle Walker.