Why Gareth Southgate's England Tactics Aren't Working (Yet) 

When Adam speaks, Gareth Southgate takes notes! 😎

Thought the problem was Southgate setting us up too defensively, now i have seen him set us up to attack i realise the problem is that Southgate is setting us up. Quarter final max

By far the best football content around. Thanks and keep it coming.

I think their brains, usually hard- wired for intense competition, were just not switched on yet. Anthony Gordon said he hadn't played a football match in 4 weeks. I'm new to watching your videos, Adam. Fab. Looking forward to more excellent delivery. Thank you!

They'll do well. It's common for players to be less intense in friendly matches prior to a big tonourment. No one wants to fatigue or get injured prior a tournament. England are a major challenger in this tournament.

I think Deschamps has the right idea for International football, although its the old Marseille style.fromm the esely 90's. Solid disciplined defence and midfield, then let the forwards do what they want, keep it simple.

I do think if you add Gallagher, Bellingham and Saka, we'll definitely see some improvements. However, the point about synergy does raise some concerns about how many of the players in this squad just aren't used to playing together.

Pressing intensly and aggresively: sounds like a Gallagher job to me

number one rule taught to under 10s at latest is if your defence is playing a high line there must be pressure on the ball especially in midfield,this was known b4 we even heard of pressing or counterpress or geggenpress or pressing que's it was known as closing down by sprinting and getting stuck in,nothing complicated

Great analysis. You're spot on about Mainoo. I've been trying to tell people he's a press resistant, box-to-box midfielder (more of an 8) and not the no. 6 destroyer everyone seems to think he is. This game showed it.

Mainoo is absolutely nowhere near international level. Stop buying the hype because of the club he plays for. He’s quite good, that’s it.

Maybe trying to have a high pressing system with players unfamiliar with each other is a mistake? When Liverpool signed players under Klopp it could take months for them to learn the press, it's not something you can do half heartedly because of the space left in behind if the opposition play through it.

Gallagher's press is highly underrated

Our team needs to learn what a professional foul is. We are too nice. Brazil kicked the shit out of Bellingham and got away with it so many times, frustrated him and took him off his game. And as an attacking team, Rice needs to learn what a forward pass is and I’m praying Shaw is fit soon.

Lets be honest, the team were still trying to take a breather between the end of the season and the start of the Euros. They don't want to get injured etc. Lets not panic everyone.

Bottom line is, this was a friendly. You cant take anything out of a friendly just before a big tournament. I wouldn't read too much into the Iceland result. Imagine England smashed them 4-0. You'd already be reading "It's coming home". This is a nice refreshing change of pace.

Fastest growing Football Channel and deservedly so. All thanks to great analysis from Adam.

I agree with most of that, but it 100% _does_ matter where your defensive line is when your forwards are pressing correctly. Top teams will find a way out of the best press at times, and if your back line is too far back, there's going to be a huge amount of space for their attackers to work in. That's been our problem under Southgate: the absolute ease at which teams are onto our back 4 four within just 2 or 3 passes. The Brazil friendly really showed that. Top teams will kill you if your not nice and compact.

Formation is one thing- but more important is tempo and tempo control it is like we only have 1 gear when the ball is in our half 12th man is tempo and it is never used by england

I love this analysis - makes so much sense and the off-the ball examples are on point. Gallagher seems like the most obvious pick to deal with the midfield issues, but I'm confused that Southgate didn't give him and Rice any time together in the friendlies. The whole left side of the pitch is a bit of an enigma going forward too. I tend to think pushing the back four up is the best option for the group games. Plays to Walker's strengths, who isn't the greatest at bombing forward on his own and posing a threat.

Another huge reason to include Trent is that he has a profound understanding of the pressing/counterpressing game thanks to Klopp.

Looking at defensive frailties, and getting trent on. Revert to the 3 at the back. Walker, Stones and Guehi. Experience and pace. Stones xan drift into midfield sometimes Teent at R/wing back. Tripper or maybe Gorden as Left back. Middle, Rice and Bellingham Front 3, Saka, Kanr and Foden

A lot of this stems from our tactical approach going forward. We're one of the best teams at keeping the ball but with nothing to show for it. We are slow to build up, forcing us to look for tight little flicks to break teams down, which against a well organised defence isn't cutting it... Leads up to pushing the team very high and committing players which when the ball is turned over we're there for the taking. I'd like to see us playing more direct, we have the pace and the talent to create more chances. Look at Iceland, they had minimal possession but looked dangerous every time they had the ball, does anyone remember our 4-0 loss to Hungary? We largely dominated the game but Hungary were killer in their approach.

You fix it with the way Liverpool do by putting Trent from fullback to midfield. The same city and Liverpool do

As an OH Leuven fan, I'm really happy our Johny boy scored and won against the big England, should've been twice though

Great explanation. Thanks. Really enjoyed that.

Personally, I think it's high time England adopt the 1933 Arsenal formation, as seen on Harry Enfield, and play in black and white.

callager has to start for this english team for this tatics to work he has that gegen press ability

Amazing football content! Honestly so impressive

As a United fan myself, I appreciate your analysis and the evidences you’ve shown to highlight that it ain’t Mainoo’s fault. Coming to the “United Gap” I’ve been seeing this mistake all season and you’re bang on with the reasoning. The forwards at United press at different intensity compared to the midfield and the defence. You can see Hojlund or Bruno over commit while the wingers just hold back and opponents play through the team so easily.

For the 1st goal, Foden didn't track back on the Iceland no. 10 who releases the ball in the opposition penalty area and then runs through and picks up the ball in space to provide the assist to the goalscorer!!

Question: how do we get a similar video about the US national team, who is also wildly underperforming their talent level

Excellent video. A perfect illustration of why Bowen should be in the side ahead of palmer. Far better at the press, far more disciplined and fit, and a better finisher when the chances arrive.

"yet?" hilarious!

This was the most cant be assed pre-tounament game ever!! Not bothered. Lets see how far we get this time.

Friendlies really don’t matter. Iceland going for it because they’re not at the tournament. England desperate not to be injured. I really think it’s that straightforward. (And I’m Scottish)

Credit where credit is due, that was a top save Adam!

I honestly hope Southgate and the England squad watch this brilliant analysis.

I’d love an analysis of why our attack was so toothless. Despite a lot of attacking possession we achieved few clear chances and it was hard to see any pattern.

Pushing your forward line so far up the pitch, makes it so much harder to retain possession. If you look at the defeats in major competitions, everyone will know it's our inability to retain the ball, that leaves chasing shadows. We inevitably tire and concede momentum, which makes it nigh on impossible to regain.

This was a friendly, I expect us to still show up defensive like we did in 2020 where we didn't score too many but barely conceded. OR 2022 where we were the top scoring team in the whole tournament up to the QF.

without Shaw fit we should just go to a back 3. Gordon has the engine to get up and down the left, Trent can play wide right where he can switch play (and kept out of the middle where he's not press resistant or defensively stong enough), Walker is kept back for defensive duties only which ensures we aren't caught out on the counter or with balls in behind as easily and we retain all our attacking players. Belingham and Rice paly in the middle and forwards are Foden, Kane, Saka/Palmer.

If Southgate is insistent on 4 at the back then I'd assume given England's strong offensive players: FORMATION: 4-1-2-1-2 In effect: Rice is the Holding (DM) midfielder which imho is his best role especially given Bellingham behind the front two should be a combo of box-2-box and AM and creator given his world class abilities. His energy should also add up in defence as well as attack. In front of Rice, in midfield either TAA + Foden or Gallagher/Foden. Saka up on the left could be subbed with Palmer and Kane the other up front. Fundamentally with 4 defenders and Rice in front solves the hole. Frees up England to load up on offensive players with Bellingham the pin in the middle balancing. A lot depends which attacking players work well together, press with high energy and contribute to dangerous goal situations more successfully. On paper Saka is a threat but Palmer seems to bring out other players as well as contribute to goal situations on form stronger and may be a better option up front with Kane? Equally Kane is great and should be able to feed other players as well as strike at range or in the box so Foden if he's not working in midfield replace with another player. Overall it's the balance and maybe Rice being deeper is the key to setting up the balance for England given the flood of offensive options they have while avoiding that massive space in front of the defence? Shame England can't go to 3 at the back with confidence and rotate more in midfield...

WHAT a save

Sooo the problem is intensity. Not gonna be a problem come kickoff in the WC

Not working is an understatement, he can’t change his tactics to suit a game plan full stop.

Austria wins crazy friendly games, but hardly ever even qualified UK will be fine and at least win a few for the fans

I’ve watched Gareth’s England be so easy to play against for years and it all seems very easy. The ease the opposition get to the edge of the box is mad.

Great commentary - as ever !

Rice was as much at fault as Mainoo for that goal but to protect Rice they went after Mainoo and blamed him. This is the people in the media with 0 knowledge of football giving an opinion based on personal bias. Southgate replaces Foden and Palmer with Bellingham and Saka and it's completely fixed. Phil Foden, Kyle Walker and Cole Palmer have been at fault for multiple goals this season because of their lack of positional awareness. (Just think back to Martinelli's winner at the Emirates)

Was waiting for this

People saying pep doenst play with risk cuz he controls possesion and plays high line When one slip up and your defense is wide open

I always struggle with players who have been beaten, gently trotting back slowly, even when the ball is just meters away. Is just bizarre to me that they're not getting stuck in, or busting a lung to get back into defensive areas, even in a friendly.

United fans: "at least if England have any tactical failings in the summer it'll make a change from hearing about this enormous gap in midfield constantly" Southgate: "Hold my beer..."

Netherlands just beat Iceland 4-0. It's hard to ignore that when England may well meet the Netherlands along the way. I haven't heard anyone say that the Netherlands are one of the favourites, so there are still bigger fish to contend with. Hmmmm.

I only saw the last 1/2 hour & England showed a lot of individual promise on the ball, often getting past a man, but.. when they were passing they often panicked and the ball went into the air and they lost it again cheaply. Iceland, on the other hand, had a lot more discipline of being calm and playing to feet and keeping the ball slightly longer and not getting flustered. England also took a few half chances that weren’t on and when they moved the ball around the final third they couldn’t force any gaps in the Iceland defence. I think they could have, though, if they had just had a bit more patience and made even a couple more passes and trying to draw someone out of position.

The midfielders are ambling back for the second goal instead of busting a gut to provide some additional cover.

This is a very open Euro's. France should be the favourites, but they are not invincible. England are, whisper it, in transition and their defence is very much a work in progress. In attack they have a group of talented but still young players. This tournament might be a year too soon for them.

Can't believe you gave us the double finger to end the video, absolutely appalled

If you are going to press high, you better have a quick defense and midfielders that can also run back to help out.

There’s even a case for Rice where Guéhi is, Wharton where Rice is. Don’t trust any of our CBs bar Stones.

obsession with 'pressing' will kill the game. its all a bit graham taylor for me

Bro, those were two middle fingers at once -at us. You can't explain yourelf out of it.

Nobody wanted to get injured which is why the pressing was off. They will do better in the tournament but are unlikely to win it. We always get wobbly when in the lead then defend deeper and deeper rather than going for it.

Hi. Please analyse Portugal. We've been looking good, and it's great to see Ronaldo happy again

When mums can't afford Iceland there's always lidls😂

Who is here after the Slovakia game? I just wanna know how a team filled with stars can play so badly.

Nice video as always. But who's Knosa ?

Great analysis. Looks from today's training videos that they are working on pressing! If they get it right, which they know how to do, and we get the balance right, we SHOULD be fine... until we meet France or Portugal that is. I would also be wary of Denmark. We have to get a good result against Serbia otherwise we could be in for a tough route through this tournament.

4 - 0 greetings from the Netherlands ;). Watching that match might also give insights. Side note: Rice turning himself more into an 8 instead of a 6 has cost himself, west ham, arsenal and most importantly England so much.

FourFourTwo suddenly providing an analysis of where Waistcoat is going wrong (after 7 years of constant failures) is like the arrival of the Tory manifesto after 14 years. It's game over and we need to ebay this guy out. Him being paid 6 million per year reminds me of Paula Vennels getting 5.1 million and us realising that even the Government secretly wanted her out due to her inabilities. Overpaid, underwhelming and crap, is all you can say about Waistcoat's England era. Oh for George Raynor, eh?

If Southgate needed a press resistant midfielder who can also press, he should've just taken Curtis Jones

the main problem is the profiles in the defensive personnel. Walker is best playing effectively as a third centre half to maximise his recovery pace. Trippier on the opposite flank mitigates his key strength which is ball progressing because all his angles are wonky. Between these two and the abundance of wingers who like to play in the half space theres a real width problem going forward and spacing issues when defending. Guardiola and Arteta have the best two teams in the league this season set up with a 3-2 in defence. Covers the internal channels more effectively and would have been better placed to block these through balls that got Iceland joy. Southgate should just set the team up the same way, although you can only do so much when you've got no left footed left back

A press only works if you press as a unit.

England is still coming to terms with Rest Defence. The squad choices added speed to the backline and flexibility for when the press doesn't work, they'll get it done. Kobbie won't start, a more athletic Gallagher will support Rice and sure it up. Think the 3 Lions might have a chance.

Get yourself off to Germany Adam, Southgate could do with a mentor 😊

absolutely zero reason for that line to be that high up the pitch. The drawbacks FAR outweigh the positives. Southgate has this obsession with playing a high line up the pitch in order to hem in any chance of a quick counter but it actually serves the opposition as we saw against Iceland. If he set the line back further into there own half then there is less chance of a threw-ball over the top or around the back four. Our players don't play together often enough to use an offside trap like you see implemented in club football. We have seen this at multiple tournaments now and it just doesn't work

Have you ever thought of being a manager?

No need to panic, but we do still have a clown in charge who has no idea what he’s doing tactically beyond “5 at the back makes us hard to beat, let’s do that”. This is a talented group of lads and he’s not at their level

Taking friendlies seriously: absolute clown hours

This is the issue with 4-2-3-1. If we played 4-1-3-1-1 or 4-1-3-2 it wouldnt be an issue because you keep the DCM permanently deeper.

Why was Saka on the back pages?? What's wrong with the English press?

If pressing is the problem then just play Conor Gallagher. He's the best man for the job.

Any chance of a video about Scotland? Very interesting qualifying campaign, winning their first 5 games only conceding 1 goal, a Haaland penalty. Asking as an interesting Welshman

Mainoo won't start. Bellingham will. I suspect we will regret not taking Grealish. He controls possession

To my mind this is a clarion call for Gallagher to be starting, as the commentator finally said.

Saka will help with the press traps as will Foden if he’s on the wing - city and Arsenal forwards are some of the best pressers in the world

Title should’ve been, Why Gareth Southgate’s England tactics have never worked…

Not quite fair with your analysis mate, whatever happened to Rice who was supposed to be the main Defensive midfielder?

I know u mainly do European football but I’d love a video on how Gregg Berhalter’s strategy (or lack thereof) is ruining the USMNT

As a Dutchman, I am a big Southgate fan. With him at the helm, there's no chance for the English to win any titles :)

Crystal Palace were crap and negative with Hodgson in charge, get a positive coach and their on fire .I'm worried like everyone else that Southgate just hasn't got the know how to lead England

Interesting analysis as always, Adam. But I disagree that the defence was "not the problem". You say that inadequate pressing up front led to chances against, but I'd argue if the defence was more robust and mobile and sitting on the half-way line behind them forward pressers could be more confident to shut Iceland down in their defensive third with a compact England midfield and defense behind them. England's defensive unit v. Iceland was very poor, and it appears that may also be the defence v. Serbia. That needs to change. Trippier at left back is just stupid. I'd play Saka at left back where he's excelled in his earlier career at Arsenal and would still generate assists and goals in this England team. Peeps will say you can't take Saka out of the attack given his massive goal contribution to England over the past 2 years, and they have a point, but the potential replacements, being Palmer or Bowen, are not a huge downgrade. It's all about how Southgate manages his resources to create the best team to win. My suggested team (4-2-3-1) is: Pickford Alexander-Arnold Walker Stones Saka Rice Bellingham Palmer Foden Bowen Kane

We all knew judging by Southgate's approach recently and squad selection he wants to perhaps stop being as defensive as he usually is. However, we will need to actually score and do so via open play and not set pieces. Quite the predicament he is in. All this talk about our attacking options being the best depth in the world but none of that matters if we're not playing Iran every game. Last Euro we were known for defence, only scoring 2 goals in the group stage and not conceding until the semi final. Southgate obviously knows he needs a different approach this time. He says defence wins tournaments but you need to actually score in order to defend something lol Jude Bellingham, Cole Palmer, Harry Kane, Phil Foden and Saka were easily in the top 10 best attackers season just gone. Knowing England, though, we will likely average a goal a game via penalty looool I hope I am wrong.

With the Euros starting, it's my time again to not be this analytical and logical. That's boring. The English losing to Iceland The French with a 0-0 against Canada The Dutch beating both 4-0 without really breaking a sweat. Clearly what's going to happen is an orange takeover at the Euros, as going by friendly results is clearly always the best way to make predictions :)

Imagine Southgate actually watching all these videos to learn why his “tactics” aren’t working 😂

I dont think they were in sync in that match I saw foden put balls in behind for gordon but he wasnt making the run Theyre not used to each other or their not just switched on cuz theyve gone a bit without playing When the competition begins and eveyone is in the mood they'll get in the groove Fodens game was off as well His first touch was off

How can you say it wasn’t Kobbie Mainoo when the slowed down video (1:48) CLEARLY showed how slow he was to react from a very simple run from deep into his area of the pitch, which then led to him running at the defence and scoring. Definitely Mainoo’s error imo

Objectively, outside looking in as a Singaporean and an Arsenal fan, Southgate just doesn't know how to utilise players. He's gotten off on the best players the country has to offer - which is bloody substantial. He has neither the foundational, formational or tactical nous on how to leverage the strengths and offset the weaknesses of THE BEST ENGLISH PLAYERS ; I'd go as far as to say that this crop of very obvious talent today, would've smashed several shades of shite out of the "Golden Generation" IF PLAYED PROPERLY

Excellent knowledge thanks - BUT Why do you say beat off and not beat by?