Quote Originally Posted by the other bob wilson View Post
I disagree. Traditionally, England have been a more physical, power based team that did not seem to place technique as high up their list of priorities as most other international teams did, but that’s changed gradually to the extent that I would say they now have a squad that is as technically proficient as most others in the world. It’s clear that England’s record since the 2016s Euros places them among the very top teams in Europe and their tournament record recently has them probably in the top five in the world.

It’s great that what has generally been a pretty miserable tournament has been won by the team that wanted to play front foot football no matter who the opposition was. Spain were the best team in the competition in terms of results and performance, but I’d still say it was an opportunity wasted for England because they had a man in charge who just would not release the handbrake as far as playing to what should have been England’s strengths was concerned.

As England went further in the competition and the performances improved to some degree, those who, rightly, were critical of Gareth Southgate found themselves under fire as if his approach had been vindicated - it hadn’t in my view, England made it to the Final despite Gareth Southgate, not because of him.
I don't accept that England are now as technically proficient as the rest of the top teams in the world. Nearly every team they've come up against this tournament has at times displayed a level of composure and vision on the ball that seems to be beyond English players. And we're not just talking about Spain. At times Slovenia, Slovakia and Denmark made English players look so uncomfortable in and out of possession. If they were that accomplished technically they would not have looked so decidedly second-rate.

Over the years English players have improved their ball skills and maintained their physicality but it doesn't appear to be in their DNA to play with the same finesse as the serial tournament winners. A change of manager may or may not help them but I wouldn't put money on the new manager being able to take them to the next level.