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England may have just finished producing His best performance in the Eurocup But critics from the Netherlands, France and Spain still harshly criticised his performance against Switzerland.
The most important publications of the three Other semi-finalists of Euro 2024 were scathing of Gareth Southgate’s side after their quarter-final penalty shoot-out win.
Netherlands: “It sounds more like a Shakespearean tragedy”
The harshest criticism came from the Netherlands courtesy of The Telegraph Marcel van der Kraan, who wrote: “For almost 75 minutes, England-Switzerland looked more like a Shakespearean tragedy than a tough battle for a place in the Euro semi-finals. The English, with their abundance of talent and quality, provided no entertainment whatsoever.
“Fifteen minutes before the end, everyone in the packed Düsseldorf stadium thought that a team worth 1.5 billion euros was going to be sent home by a country where they have 450 types of cheese and only 11 decent footballers.
“Most of the entertainment surrounding the England team at this tournament comes not from the players, but from their wives. They provide more pages of entertainment, discussion and glamorous performances in Germany than their highly paid men.”
Van der Kraan went on to cite “juicy details” about the private lives of Kieran Trippier and Kyle Walker, the latter of whose wife and four children were forced to share the same stadium with the mother of his other two children.
And he added: “The fact that these things and the ladies in pink trainers and Chanel bags on the catwalk in front of half a dozen private planes attract more headlines than Harry Kane, who again ran the fewest kilometres against Switzerland, or the whole boring English team (…), says it all.”
France: “An exceptional glow on a sad night”
In France, The teamThe notoriously brutal player ratings also made for grim reading for England.
Walker received his third 3/10 of the Euros, Trippier, Kane, Ezri Konsa and even Jude Bellingham only received 4/10, while Phil Foden, Kobbie Mainoo and John Stones managed just five.
Declan Rice and penalty shoot-out hero Jordan Pickford were both rated as deserving of 7/10, with goalscorer and man of the match Bukayo Saka the only player to get 8/10. Manager Gareth Southgate was given just 5/10.
Calling England “lackluster,” The team He said they had been “perfect” in the penalty shoot-out only “after two hours of play in which they had every difficulty in the world to be dangerous.”
Saka has long been his side’s only attacking threat and he added: “In difficult situations, the English have turned to their best weapon since the start of this Euro: individual exploits. This time, the best weapon was Bukayo Saka, a rare piece of brilliance on a dismal night.”
Spain: ‘Bellingham did little, like the rest of his team’
from Spain Brand Unsurprisingly, the centre of attention was Real Madrid’s talisman Jude Bellingham, whose last-gasp overhead kick had bailed England out of jail against Slovakia in the previous round.
Victor Romeo wrote: “Jude Bellingham is exhausted and if the helmsman does not pull the cart, the cart will not move forward. England went through to the semi-finals of the Euro Cup, but their great star is far from his best form. Like the rest of his teammates, except for the scorer Saka against Switzerland.
“Jude had his first significant action in the 31st minute, when he forced (Fabian) Schär to receive his first yellow card of the match and sparked a ‘Hey Jude’ chant from the crowd. Before and after that, he did little, like the rest of his team.
“In fact, the English ’10’ was seen on several occasions desperate because of the play of his teammates, for not offering opportunities when the ball went up in the pivot position or, when he was offside, for not keeping up with his pace.
“Another mediocre game from ‘Jude’, but again, a key one for Southgate’s team.”
What have the opposing players said?
The players of England’s semi-final opponents, the Netherlands, were much more forgiving of the performances of Southgate’s team.
Liverpool striker Cody Gakpo said: “I think everyone knows England have a very good team with very good players. We have that as well, so hopefully it will be a good game.”
Asked about his poor performances in Germany, he replied: “But they win. They win. So, yes, it’s a good sign. Like us. (Winning) is the only thing that matters, in the end, yes. The most important thing is to win. You can play very good football, but if you don’t win, you’re out.”
Manchester City defender Nathan Ake added: “Sometimes competitive football isn’t always about playing well. They’re in a semi-final again. So, yeah, I think every team in the semi-final deserves to be there, otherwise they wouldn’t be there.
“We know the quality they have, the individual quality. As a team, they are in the semi-final, so we know it will be difficult. I think we have some players, to be fair, who are also from the Premier League. So most of them know how physical it will be, how difficult it will be.”
