Spain vs Germany example inspires Southgate | Germany Eurocup 2024

After knocking out Switzerland on penalties in Dusseldorf on Saturday, Gareth Southgate walked up to the English stands with his players and started dancing. Just for a few seconds, his arms raised a couple of times. And yet it was almost reckless. Just 11 days ago, when he travelled to Cologne to applaud his fans after…

After knocking out Switzerland on penalties in Dusseldorf on Saturday, Gareth Southgate walked up to the English stands with his players and started dancing. Just a few seconds, his arms raised a couple of times. And yet it was almost reckless. Just 11 days earlier, when he had travelled to Cologne to applaud his fans after a daunting 0-0 draw with Slovenia, the stands had responded with a shower of beers. “Every now and then you think, ‘This job has to be enjoyable, right?’” he said. “If I can’t enjoy that moment, then I feel like it’s been a waste of time,” he explained. “I can’t deny that when it’s taken as personally as it has been in recent weeks, it’s quite difficult.”

The manager has just taken his team to another major semi-final, their third in four attempts, and has done so under intense criticism. Despite a collection of brilliant talent, there is no one who has been written about more than Southgate, in charge of the flattest England side in European history but who has found a position where he can be strong, resisting the siege of attacks and external distortions, and has seen a certain alibi in Luis de la Fuente’s Spain.

Southgate’s final line of defence against criticism for the poor performance was to argue that there were bigger issues: “Even if everything is working, you still have to show other qualities to win tournaments and these players have shown incredible quality: resilience,” he explained. “I watched the game last night (Spain-Germany) and I told them that. It’s not just about playing well. “Spain changed their game, they were given seven cards… They found ways to win.”

His conversations with players on this issue of character are becoming increasingly important. Kane also defended himself against criticism of poor performances, pointing in this direction: “When you look back at all the champions over the years in these big tournaments, the first thing you have to show is resilience. And we have plenty of that.”

It’s the same message that Southgate conveys, proud of the reaction in the two games they found themselves behind. Also from the penalty shootout against Switzerland. “England used to be very good at starting games 25 minutes ahead. But in the knockout stages we weren’t grown-ups, we didn’t know how to play in tournaments. This group is different. They hold onto possession for longer periods of time.”

Southgate’s more mature approach suggests that this search has led to the kind of fruitless selection that irks his critics. His England team have produced their least dangerous performance at the European Championship since 1996, and this is the first match for which StatsBomb has data. According to their model, they are creating just 0.91 expected goals (xG) per game in Germany, below the tournament average of 1.09. And certainly below the other three semi-finalists: Spain (1.66), the Netherlands (1.35) and France (1.29).

“We haven’t always had it right, but overall we’ve shown the resilience of teams that have won tournaments for years: Italy, France, Spain… Not everything is pure football. There are other attributes that they had. And we show a bit of street nature,” he said. He returned to an idea that has haunted him since he started working in the lower categories of the English federation: the English player lacks the street records that go beyond football to cope with games in extreme situations.

To feed this character, the role of resistance that he found in this tournament does not hurt. He tries to use it, even to avoid criticism of the style: “On the one hand, there is where we would ideally like to be. And on the other hand, how we need to find solutions to all the obstacles and problems in order to move forward.”

Like the moles he targeted on Saturday: “Three days before our tactical plan was revealed… We live in an incredible world where it’s very difficult for us… Any element of surprise we might have had is gone… three days before the game. “It’s pretty incredible.”

Southgate has suffered greatly during this European campaign but he will hope to learn from the difficult journey, taking Spain’s seven yellow cards against Germany as an example.

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