Why the England Squad Has No Balls

Despite the result finishing in England’s favour, Saturday’s win over Nigeria was nowhere near as complimentary to the Three Lions as the 2-1 score line suggests.

While England had a respectable first half, during which they scored both their goals, Nigeria totally commanded the second 45 minutes, as England’s tenacity seemed to dissolve like a wet tissue.

The incessant need to faff around with the ball on the halfway line exemplifies how any urgency to put the ball into dangerous areas is stretched far too thinly across Gareth Southgate’s squad.

England completely dominated the passing statistics, but that is not a statement full of praise.

Their best passers were their back three, with Stones, Cahill and Walker completing more passes than any other player on the pitch. Of the 554 passes England attempted, over half were aimed at the midfield and only 170 of them were aimed at the final third.

That is worryingly low. 

Compare this to Nigeria’s best passers and all three of them were their most attacking players, with John Obi Mikel, Alex Iwobi and their attacking full-back Brian Idowu.

Unfortunately for England, their lack of attacking pressure in midfield means that it makes the forwards’ job that bit more difficult. Harry Kane may be England’s best striker since Alan Shearer, but he is not Cristiano Ronaldo. He cannot dribble around eleven men single-handedly all the time and then score. It simply won’t happen.

Raheem Sterling, coming off the back of his highest ever season goal tally at Manchester City, could potentially provide another attacking option, but if the service from the midfielders isn’t there then we’re just adding another target that no-one is going to aim for.

When Southgate announced his squad back in May, there were several pundits, as well as a heap of fans, who believed that Jonjo Shelvey’s omission was a mistake, as his style of play at Newcastle this season has been almost exclusively forward-thinking. Given the recent performance at Wembley, I’m starting to think they were right.

Eric Dier was arguably the worst culprit against Nigeria and even though Jordan Henderson has been trying desperately to prove to the contrary, he is not the next Steven Gerrard.

Dele Alli has been doing reasonably well in his central attacking role, but it’s becoming quite obvious that he thinks he’s better than he actually is, and that mis-placed confidence gets him trying things that he simply isn’t able to do. He’s been doing it all season. Spurs had the fourth most possession of any Premier League side all season, but Alli still lost possession a total 102 times, more than any other Spurs midfielder.

So why don’t England want to pass it forward? Why do they have such a lack of intensity going forward? Very simply, they’re still scared to make a mistake.

Across pretty much every England generation for the last 25 years, there have been notorious instances where a player has made a huge mistake that costs the team in some respect. Rob Green and Scott Carson’s goalkeeping nightmares in 2010 and 2007. Wayne Rooney’s red cards at the 2006 World Cup and in the EURO 2016 qualifying. Even Gareth Southgate’s infamous penalty.

These kinds of things will linger in the England camp over the years and become legend, be that through their own experiences on the field or the media’s continuous reminders.

With every tournament that England enter, the phrase “no expectations, no pressure” is always thrown about. The notion that a team will play better when they aren’t expected to do well is actually hilariously counter-productive. If your entire fanbase thinks you aren’t good enough to achieve something, how do you expect to build any kind of confidence to prove them wrong?

You may remember, as the players left the pitch following the goalless draw with Algeria in the 2010 World Cup, Wayne Rooney sarcastically told a passing camera: “Nice to see your home fans booing you. That’s what loyal support is.”

Not only could you not blame him, but the situation is practically the same now, except instead of boos, they just get silence and that pessimism amongst fans is doing nothing but damage to the squad.

Fans need to get away from the media bandwagon of dumping on England’s hopes and believe in the side again, but if it doesn’t change, then this dismal atmosphere will likely continue.

Why do England have no balls? Because the fans aren’t giving them any.