The defeat to Iceland was the first time since 1968 that England had lost their final match before entering a major tournament. Everyone understands that the loss at Wembley was just a friendly one, but it exposed many negative problems for the "Three Lions" when the final round in Germany is less than a week away.
When the final whistle blew, there were many cries in Wembley towards Gareth Southgate. That was a defeat right after the English coach removed James Maddison, Jack Grealish and Harry Maguire from the list to Germany. Once again, the 53-year-old strategist's personnel decisions are being questioned.
Against Iceland playing physically and ready to defend, the England stars showed inhibition and lack of confidence when holding the ball. The deadlock was most clearly shown when it was not until the 21st minute that the home team hit the target for the first time. Since the 0-0 draw with Scotland at EURO 2020, England have had such a bad statistic.
"Game like this helps the whole team concentrate highly as the campaign is approaching. It cannot be denied that the current situation is quite chaotic, it also comes partly from the players being afraid of injuries. However, even if we won today, it cannot hide the errors that have been exposed" - Southgate shared after the match.
The "Three Lions" defense against Iceland is considered quite poor and the factors in this line brought to Germany by Southgate are not really synchronous in quality. England are missing many defensive stars due to injuries such as Harry Maguire, Ben Chilwell and Reece James, along with doubts about Luke Shaw.
"The team is having physical problems with many players, everyone sees that. From the end of the qualifying round to the friendly series in March and recent matches, the coaching staff must develop the best management plan to keep the players from getting exhausted.
We have tried to focus on solving the situation in the qualifying round since last fall. After that, things became more comfortable when the club arena began the final stage. Although the calculation is like that, today the team's physical condition is not good and that is the first thing that needs to be fixed" - Southgate shared.
In the match, in addition to the problem of poor physical preparation, the English players also showed a very disjointed connection, in many situations each player played differently. This is quite confusing because just a few months before, as Southgate said, England played very well in the qualifying stage.
A team's ups and downs are normal, but as EURO 2024 is approaching, going to rock bottom could keep things out of Southgate's hands in the first game on Sunday. In a tournament with no way back, the English coach was forced to find a way.
