There has perhaps been an unexpectedly high level of pragmatism in England’s performances at Euro 2020, which continued with Tuesday’s 1-0 win over the Czech Republic.
Despite grumbles at the aesthetics, it’s hard to argue with the results.
Of course, we all know what happened that year, but for England to follow in the footsteps of that World Cup-winning side, there surely has to be a degree of evolution in their play.
The buildup was complicated by Mason Mount and Ben Chilwell having to self-isolate after being deemed close contacts of Scotland midfielder Billy Gilmour, who tested positive for COVID-19 after Friday’s 0-0 draw here at Wembley.
Mount’s importance in England’s opening matches may have influenced Southgate’s decision to rotate his team, but the inclusion of Jack Grealish and Bukayo Saka still sated the desire of many fans and pundits to see the co-hosts line up with more obvious flair options to freshen up an attack that looked disjointed against the Scots.
Saka was integral to England’s bright start, during which England hit the woodwork early on for the third game in succession when Sterling lifted a shot over Czech goalkeeper Tomas Vaclik only to strike his left-hand post.
Grealish and Luke Shaw combined well down the left.
England were seemingly content to see out the match with an increasingly conservative use of possession, heightened by Southgate’s substitutions from introducing Jordan Henderson at half-time with one eye on the last 16, with later additions of Jude Bellingham and Tyrone Mings helping shore things up.
There’s nothing wrong with a safe approach that at this stage, especially given the convoluted lead-up to the Euro 2020 involving players joining up late from club engagements and others returning from injury.
Tournaments are not won at the group stage, only the group itself, and England have achieved that.
It’s not yet clear what his best team is and while that gives England a degree of unpredictability, it also makes the full week’s preparation they now have before returning to Wembley next Tuesday in front of an increased 45,000-strong crowd absolutely vital.
But the difference for the next game compared to this morning, where we wanted to change the way we were defending and we couldn’t get onto a training pitch to do it, we had do it in team meetings.
They also created the fewest chances of any team in their group: Scotland, who finished bottom, made 28, Croatia 24 and the Czech Republic 22.
Perhaps the consternation towards their performances in some quarters is based upon the distance between how exhilarating the team can look on paper and the moderation they’ve shown to this point.
Asked by ESPN whether he knew his ideal lineup for the last 16, Southgate replied: “For the last 12 months, whenever I’ve written a team-sheet down anything more than two days before a game, it has changed.