FIVE games in, and perhaps we’ve reached the stage where we have to stop worrying about what England are incapable of doing. We know they’re laboured and predictable in attack. We’ve seen enough over the course of the last five matches to accept that they’re not going to suddenly start slicing teams apart with incisive, creative football.
They barely ever shoot, let alone score, and the left-hand side of their line-up remains a mess. Instead of waiting for things to click into place, let’s accept that none of that is going to change when they line up against the Netherlands on Wednesday night. And yet, here they are, preparing for their third semi-final in the last four major tournaments.
Prior to Gareth Southgate taking over, England had only been in three semi-finals in the whole of their existence. For all the flak that has been hurled in his direction since his side arrived in Germany just under a month ago, England’s under-fire boss is clearly doing something right. SUBSCRIBE to The Northern Echo - read the paper on our brand-new app, access premium website content, remove adverts and join our exclusive members-only rewards club How have his side managed to make the semi-finals when, over the course of five matches, they’ve only really produced half-an-hour of anything resembling decent football, and that was right back in the early stages of the opening group game against Serbia? While England have once again benefited from being on the right side of the k.
