2 days ago
England's defeat to Senegal might be their worst ever performance
'England, the lions of Autumn are but lambs come the Spring'. That quote is often attributed to Michel Platini, but I remember hearing it still earlier from the wily manager of Yugoslavia, Miljan Miljanic. Either way, it's always been true.
I have witnessed some astonishingly dire performances from England during countless Springs. We may technically now be in Summer but the key is the players can't be arsed until they are back from their hols. And I don't think I have ever seen a worse performance from an England team than in that 1-3 capitulation to Senegal – the first time the national side has been beaten by an African team. A Francophone African team at that.
Thomas Tuchel will be blamed, of course. But it is hard for me to see past the dilatory, bored, overpaid, dilettante players. Having taken the lead, England played with what the Daily Telegraph called a sense of entitlement, which is correct, but it was worse than that. They were fabulously boring, utterly devoid of either ambition or imagination. Time and time again when they got the ball it would be passed back three quarters of the length of the pitch to the goalkeeper, Dean Henderson.
Senegal employed a tight press which supposedly forced the better technically English players into errors. Why play it out from the back when the press is so avid?
England meanwhile didn't press at all. They allowed Senegal to stroll forwards at will. The English players were second to every marginal ball, created so little and merely watched aimlessly as Senegal knocked in an equaliser. In truth they had been no better in defeating Andorra – Andorra! – by a single, scrambled, goal.
