Southgate fights Holland for his ‘life’!

It is true that England have never won the European Cup and that they reached the final for the first time in their history in the last edition and have not won any major title except for the 1966 World Cup which was held on their soil, but the expectations of their fans are always very high in any tournament, so what if they see the players of the current generation among the best in the history of the “Three Lions”.
The English did not do much to justify their performance in the current European Cup held in Germany, but they still reached the semi-finals.
They beat Slovakia 2-1 in the last 16 in a match in which they trailed until the last minute of normal time before Jude Bellingham’s acrobatic overhead kick saved them, and then came close to being eliminated by Switzerland in the quarter-finals before Bukayo Saka scored an 80th-minute equaliser to force extra time and then penalties.
Since the group stage, in which they achieved one win and two draws, England coach Gareth Southgate has faced a lot of criticism that he is not making the most of his star-studded squad.
The English fans, who are still waiting for what they consider to be the return of football “to its home” and chant this slogan in every tournament without achieving it, went so far as to throw beer cups at Southgate after the goalless draw in the last round of the group stage with Slovenia.
While Slovenia’s players and fans celebrated wildly at the other end of the pitch after their historic qualification to the last 16 for the first time, Southgate and his players were met with boos when they headed towards the England fans.
Southgate was targeted with beer mugs that missed him but left a clear impression on his psyche, especially since they came after several days of criticism from former England players following the disappointing 1-1 draw with Denmark in the second round.
“I’ve never seen another team qualify and get such a positive reaction,” Southgate said, appealing to England fans to create a positive atmosphere around the team. “I’m very proud of the players for the way they’ve handled things.”

“These are not ordinary matches.”

“The players kept their composure in the game when they came into it in a really challenging atmosphere. It took me back to my days playing for England,” he added.
“I am very happy to be here, we will only succeed if we are together and united, my job is to guide the team through this to make the most of it and stay on the right track,” he continued.
Southgate claimed that England’s relative success during his eight-year tenure, which included a runners-up finish at the last European Championship and a semi-final exit at the 2018 World Cup, had created expectations that his team was currently disappointing.
It does not seem that these criticisms bore fruit and changed the reality of the situation in the team, which only shot on goal five times in 240 minutes in its matches against Slovakia and Switzerland in the round of 16 and quarter-finals.
Former England striker Alan Shearer described the team as “rotten” after the match against Slovakia.
Responding to a German journalist who said it was “not fun to watch England play” after the win over Switzerland, Southgate said: “I’m sorry about that, but our intention is always to play good football. In football there is an opponent who tries to stop you. These are not normal football matches, these are national events and there is a lot of pressure…”
“Our team was under a lot of pressure from the start. They are doing a very good job,” he continued.
Southgate claimed that England’s opponents played defensively and even blamed the German pitches, “but we are still in the semi-finals for the third time in the last four tournaments.”
After reaching the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup and losing the final of the European Championship in the summer of 2021 on penalties to Italy, England began this tournament among the most prominent teams nominated for the title, alongside France, who also reached the semi-finals without convincing and with a boring style of play similar to the “Three Lions”.

Dutch test

Now Southgate knows he is playing for his “life” and his continuity in the job as his men face an exciting Dutch side who have scored nearly twice as many goals in their five games as the English, despite the latter playing 60 minutes more.
With Cody Gakpo and Wout Weghorst, Ronald Koeman’s side have a variety of different weapons that can cause England defensive chaos with plenty of open play that could give Southgate’s men some attacking freedom.
One of the most prominent points that the public takes on Southgate is that he refrains from making changes, which has made Cole Palmer, one of the best players of the season in the English Premier League, content to sit on the bench without playing any match as a starter so far.
Despite his decisive role, Bellingham looked exhausted after a long, brilliant season with Real Madrid, while Phil Foden appeared like a ghost of the player who shone with Manchester City.
There are fears that, as happened in the 2018 World Cup semi-final against Croatia (1-2 after extra time), England could lose control of the game against better opposition if Southgate is not proactive, leaving him vulnerable to more than beer mugs being thrown at him.