Why are England Playing Like Plucky Underdogs?

Looking at the England team heading into the world cup and you would think they have a decent enough squad to go and win it. They have reached the semi finals of the last world cup and a penalty was all that went against them to win the European Championship. At the start of the year they have looked very strong. The international break after the season end was a bit of a write off as every player was tired and didn't want to be there. England got trounced 0-3 at home to Hungary and most of the players looked off it. France, Germany and Italy lost as well so you can put it down to tiredness. But Gareth Southgate the England manager looks to be under pressure. Now I would have thought that Southgate has money in the back and his job is safe. I heard an interesting statistic about Southgate. England have only won 14 games in knockout competition at the world cup. 5 of them were won under Southgate. But English fans are not happy with the conservative way that the team plays. They are used to the premiership with most teams pressing hard up the pitch. A style which is almost impossible to replicate at international level which is why Trent Alexander Arnold will not get a look in at this world cup. He will be lucky to make the squad.

England have been playing a 4-4-2 against teams that are weaker than them over the last number of years. They will play a 4-4-2 against Iran in the opening game of the world cup. When they face tougher opposition they immediately revert to 5 at the back. This brings their stronger opponent onto them and they pretty much use a counter attacking system. But the question is why do England need to play this way. Surely they have the fire power and midfield to compete with the best teams in the world.
They have Sterling, Kane , Grealish , Foden pretty much all world class. They have Rice , Mount , Bellingham in midfield again world class. Wing backs excellent in Walker and Reece James. The only thing that is a bit dodgy is that Harry McGuires form has fallen off a cliff ever since his arrest in Greece last year. Now Harry has been playing well for England up until the sending off against Hungary and the 2 mistakes against Germany last night. But it is not going to improve for Harry. Erik Ten Haag is not going to start picking him in his form even in Europe so he will not be getting game time at the world cup. Harry is best playing left of a 3 with another Centre Half who is a good talker. Eric Dier is that person so this would be the most likely Centre Half pairing with Stones in a 3 at the back. Stones got injured last night so who comes in to replace McGuire in a 3 at the back. Tyron Ming's is the obvious choice but his form is terrible as well. Tomola hasn't played for England yet so he is hardly going to replace Harry. So then you are looking at a left back to come in and play as a Centre Half. Kyle Walker springs to mind. It is a worry for Gareth Southgate heading into this world cup.

But why do England have to play so defensively if they are indeed one of the strongest teams especially in attack. Can this argument be challenged. Look at the French attack. Mbappe , Benzema, Greizmann, Camavinga , Dembele. Look at Brazils, Neymar, Vinicus Jr ,Jesus Richarlison. If you looked at Raheem Sterling last night he played well, good attack but when he had to think about shooting he fell asunder. Kane is off his best and looks tired and before last night England did not score in open play in 450 minutes, So maybe England are not so great after all.
Southgate tried to loosened the reigns during the summer during the nations league matches but England fell apart so you will not see Southgate try it at the world cup. He will play conservative and hit on the counter. It will not be great football to watch but they may still get to the latter stages of the world cup.
International football has to be played much more basic than at club level. You have a limited time to train the players in your own method so you cannot get too complicated. The England team has managers influences such as Pepe, Conte, Ten Haag, Klopp. So it is impossible to set up a complicated full press if all these players have their own managers methods drilled into them. There is only 7 days between the last premiership game and the world cup. 7 days to cement the international teams playing style. It's a tough ask for any manager so they decide to air on the side of caution and play conservative defensive football until they get to the knockout stages. During the knock out stages another stressful event of making a mistake to cost your team a place at the world cup creeps in so whatever attacking football the manager wants to play is pretty much ignored but nervousness.
Another thing that has been creeping in also is Southgate's loyalty to certain players. McGuire and Shaw come to mind. They are not playing for their club but yet they are getting game time. I remember Southgate saying that this would not happen but it seems to be that needs must in the case of this world cup. McGuire will be in the squad but can he afford to play him?

In fairness to Southgate he has achieved more in his 7 years than England have in 40 years so he deserves this world cup. It may be a different story in December. The FA love Southgate. He is a product of their system and they will not pull their support over a few friendly games pre world cup but the writing may be on the wall in December. But then Southgate may have achieved all he set out to achieve and his work will be done. Who knows, football may be coming home but unless they sort out their defense they I wouldn't hold my breath.