Jude Bellingham, celebrating victory against Slovakia, has a very good clips reel of moments behind him at this European Championship, but they do not tell the whole story.Jude Bellingham, celebrating victory against Slovakia, has a very good clips reel of moments behind him at this European Championship, but they do not tell the whole story.t’s day 19 in the Euro 2024 Haus. Cristiano Ronaldo has finally pared his entire on-field performance down to a series of viral reaction memes.
It seems clear two weeks in that Southgate came to Germany with a squad he didn’t really understand. There is a case that his biggest problem at thisis he has forgotten he isn’t a very good manager. When he remembers this he becomes a much better one. OK, so what are Bellingham’s outstanding technical attributes? He has been compared to Zinedine Zidane, but the Frenchman was always the best passer, dribbler and touch-player on any pitch. Currently Bellingham’s superpower seems to be belief, fearlessness, ball-grabbing game-changing arrogance, the power of personality. Which is fine. But how do you channel that into a careful, system-built team?
This is what we try to create, what we crave. It is what furiously literal-minded men on the internet with blowtorches and chemistry books have now fixed on as the key basis of cooking. The fashion for the seared, smashed burger patty is basically a Total Maillard overload, all flavour, all crisped surface area.
More to the point the team are unbalanced tactically. The transformation of this late England iteration into a Bellingham vehicle is probably the worst thing that could happen to Southgate. Here is a manager who has never really loved midfield, or had great midfielders to work with. He wants stability and balance in there. With, say, prime Jordan Henderson in place, England might be pootling through with their usual efficiency.