Eamon Dunphy: Disjointed England got lucky against an awful Serbian side

With England and major tournament finals, it is always a time of great expectations. Or, if you are not from England, grate expectations.

For their players, the pressure is relentless; for the rest of us, the hype is tiresome.

“Football is coming home,” they predict.

Since it was last ‘home’, international football’s biggest trophies have travelled to Italy (1968, 1982, 2006, 2020), Brazil (1970, 1994, 2004), Germany (1972, 1974, 1980, 1990, 1996, 2014), Czechoslovakia (1976), Argentina (1978, 1986, 2022), France (1984, 1998, 2000, 2018), the Netherlands (1988), Denmark (1992), Greece (2004), Spain (2008, 2010, 2012) and Portugal (2016).

Can this be England’s year?

Not on this evidence.

While they have more attacking talent at their disposal than ever before, it takes more than talent to win tournaments. You need to keep your nerve. England couldn’t even keep the ball last night.

Certainly their manager showed signs of panic, bowing to media pressure to include Trent Alexander-Arnold in the team.

The Liverpool player is a full-back, not a midfielder.

That’s the bottom line.

He should have been on the bench. Instead Gareth Southgate included him as a starting midfielder and managed to completely unbalance his team as a result, a situation exacerbated by Kieran Trippier’s positioning at left back.

He is not a good fit there.

Nor is Phil Foden on the left; his best position being on the opposite flank.

To be fair to them, there was a lot to admire about Declan Rice’s display, that calmness, organisation and leadership that he brings, while Jude Bellingham is emerging as an outstanding player.

Superstars are often fragile. Not this guy. This tournament could be the making of him. The way he took his goal last night was incredible, the bravery, the intent, the timing of it. He is a class act.

The Serbs weren’t.

Throughout the first half, England were comfortable, completely in control of their destiny.

All they needed was a second goal, but the longer the game went on without one, the more they lived on the edge. That danger of being sucker-punched was real; the blow of drawing this game would have been enormous.

In fact, had England dropped points to Serbia, they might as well have packed their bags and come home because the Serbs are that poor.

England have way more talent than them. Yet they forgot to show it.

They were rudderless in that second half, nervy, sloppy, awful to watch.

Compared to Germany and Spain, England have looked the worst of the favourites so far.

Questions have to be asked of Southgate’s decision making.

Like why did he have Trent in midfield? Why is Luke Shaw in the squad if he is not fit? Why was Foden on the left?

As a coach, you need courage to make the right decisions.

Can Southgate do so?

Put it this way he has to because if England don’t get their act together soon, then football won’t be coming home. But England will … before the quarter-finals.

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