England's Opener: My Own Analysis and Concerns. What is Next?

And just like that, England's 11th European Championships campaign is under way. And despite not starting with a bang, I am convinced that the overly negative hospitality regarding our opening win against Serbia is unnecessary.

Having failed to win 9 of our last 10 Euro tournament openers, winning only against Croatia in our successful 2020 campaign, the expectation to even win our opening game this year was flawed. Our track record in opening games - as seen with our 1 win in 10 - is just so awful, that there really was concern for the fixture, and the expectations to wipe the floor with the Serbians was unrealistic.

There is always an expectation for the England side to demolish any of the 'smaller' sides as opposed to the supposed big names of international football, but this is something that slightly baffles me. If our opposition does not consist of the likes of Spain, Germany, France, Italy etc. then a loss, or failure to win 4/5-0 is seen by the masses as a negligence to our hopes of success. And therefore, only scraping a 1-0 win against Serbia, was hardly embraced with open arms as a strong start to the tournament.

This was, in my opinion, extremely harsh.

Serbia, as a side, ooze quality in various positions, particularly the attack (in both Aleksandar Mitrovic and Dusan Vlahovic), but due to their lower world ranking - currently 33rd - England, the 'giants' of world football - expected by most in this country to be winning all of the tournaments that we enter - hardly had an easy game to play. Featuring the likes of former Lazio star Milinkovic-Savic, former Ajax star Dusan Tadic, Fiorentina's Milenkovic, and many more, England fans seemingly forgot instantaneously the absolute quality across the field that the Serbians boasted, from defence to attack. Matched by experienced head coach Dragan Stojkovic - formerly the long term captain for the successful Yugoslavian side of the 1980s - he is considered to be 'one of the greatest footballers of all time in Yugoslavian and Serbian football.' Winning 6 league titles throughout his career, even including the 1990-91 French league title with Marseille. And having been the head figure of the Serbian national team since March 2021, the former attacking midfielder has instilled real quality and belief in the future of the Serbian national team.

In a very general overview of the game, I can understand some basic concerns held by many following the final whistle. For the initial 35 minutes of the game, I personally thought that England were absolutely excellent. A half that likely could have seen an extra two or three goals had we been that slight bit more ruthless in front of goal. In complete control of the opposition, England's extremely direct approach to the game held extreme promise for the tournament ahead, and topped off with Bellingham's excellently worked goal, our 1-0 lead heading into the second half was nothing less than deserved.

Sporting a changed midfield direction to that of our usual, our alteration from two defensive midfielders to just the one has been a very progressive change in recent weeks. With Rice utilised in the number 6 role from now on, partaking in the brunt of the defensive work from the midfield, Southgate's decision to move Trent Alexander Arnold into a midfield position has raised eyebrows. Perhaps as a means to contrast his inconsistent defensive performances with his outstanding passing capacity, Trent's positioning as an 8, sitting just behind Bellingham as the 10 allows a much more progressive midfield set up, focusing on an increase in chance creation and overall creativity. In the first 35 minutes of Sunday's performance, we witnessed these changes work to an excellent extent, winning the ball further up the pitch through Bellingham's high pressing, of course leading to the finishing of a move that he had sparked himself, in a diving header that may easily have resulted in injury should he have timed it incorrectly. Whilst playing in an unmastered position as of yet, I felt that Trent Alexander-Arnold played quite well on the evening. And despite of one or two errors - particularly his slip allowing Mitrovic a shot at goal in the 20th minute - Trent certainly displayed his outstanding passing range, firing diagonal balls in behind with ease.

Bellingham was once again unplayable, with a deserved man of the match award waiting for him by the full time whistle. Regardless of however many times Jude was wiped out by his Serbian counterparts, his immense composure despite of his youth, mind-blowingly still 20 years old, saw him overlook any attempts that the opponents made in sparking reaction. Having misplaced just 3 of 70 passes throughout his 86 minutes, Bellingham's 5 free kicks won, and 6 dribbles completed were minor aspects of an extremely complete performance, and one that solidified my beliefs in Bellingham's position as one of the current greats in world football.

Serbian football is notoriously aggressive. With crunching tackles, famously defensive playing styles, and an extremely route one attacking sense (whipping crosses into the box for the big players to fight for). As we saw throughout the game, it seemed that the Serbian representatives had possibly been directed to take Bellingham out of the game forcefully, as several crunching challenges met the 20 year old within the first 30 minutes of the game. With their relatively weaker defensive set up going into this tournament, missing the likes of Harry Maguire through injury, and the perhaps wrongly ejected Jarrad Branthwaite from the squad prior to the tournament, England certainly had a job to do to keep the attackers at bay. And with Mitrovic in such lethal form for both club and country - scoring 40 in 43 games for Al Hilal this season, and of course his 58 in 92 for Serbia, it was always going to be a difficult task for the individual tasked with neutralizing him.

The introduction of Marc Guehi to replace fan favourite Harry Maguire was one of controversy, with many members of the public, and even pundits questioning the decision to start the Crystal Palace captain against a physical Serbia side, regardless of his smaller stature as a centre half, and of course his lack of experience at an international level. Having played just 3 games alongside John Stones previously, the partnership of the two defenders was questionable, with the stability of the backline up in the air going into the challenging international stage. But despite of this, Guehi denied expectations and was excellent. Composed with the ball at his feet, the defender showcased his typical ball playing abilities for parent club Crystal Palace - completing 96% of his passes - 51/53 completed - boasting a 100% success rate by the half time point. The 23 year old made 5 passes into the final third, and with an equally impressive defensive showcase, Guehi's 100% tackle success rate, 4 recoveries, 2 blocks and 3 aerial duels won, earned himself deserved praise from the nation following his debut on the competitive stage.

Although, having promoted the performance up to this point, the second half was much less impressive, and perhaps a slight more reserved, with focus turning away from attacking threat, but instead upon the defensive roles required in keeping the dangerous Serbian attacks at bay - maintaining that clean sheet.

Southgate receives a lot of unnecessary criticism nowadays from the England fans, and often times other managers, for reasons that I just can not comprehend. As seen with Ten Hag's criticisms of Southgate - "England will take a 1-0 lead, then he [Southgate] decides to start gambling with making his team compact and relying on moments for the remaining minutes of the game."

Micah Richards made a good use of the words 'Glass Houses' when responding to Ten Hag's criticisms on the BBC coverage following the match, pinpointing Ten Hag's own weaknesses to focus on, rather than Southgate's supposed weaknesses. After all, it is worth noting that Southgate was in fact the frontrunner to replace the Dutch manager, should he have been deposed of in the aftermath of such a poor premier league performance this season.

I felt that this was harsh for a number of reasons, particularly the matter of fact that Southgate, in more ways than one, had little choice but to alter our playing style following Serbia's own changes. Initially quite reserved in their first half, the Serbians' deeper formation, focusing on conceding as few goals possible, before playing on the front foot in the second half forced changes that counteracted Southgate's attacking approach - leading to our deeper positioning come the 60th minute of the game, and from that point onwards our only way of beating the Serbian set up was through counter attacking football.

I felt that Kane was perhaps under the mark for the majority of the game as a result of this. Frozen out by the Serbian defenders - man marking of the European Golden Boot Winner from minute one of the game - his notable lack of involvement in the first half raised eyebrows. Forced to drop further back into our half in the second half of the fixture, this left the top open, and so, upon finally winning the ball back, clearances fell straight back to the opposition, with no target man up top to aim for in maintaining possession of the ball. Upon his direction to remain up top in the dying stages of the game, Kane's hold up play in the latter 20 minutes of the game allowed an eventual flurry of chances, providing him a dangerous chance at goal, which was unbelievably saved by the Serbian goalkeeper Rajkovic onto the crossbar, denying him his first goal of the tournament.

Similarly to this, Phil Foden surprisingly was similarly uninvolved throughout the game. Despite of his unquestionable ability and excellence this season, the 24 year old was far from his best, frequently frozen out of our attacking system by Serbia's right back Zivkovic for most of the game. I personally felt that, unlike Bellingham, the premier league player of the season rarely offered himself to the ball, expecting balls in behind to reach him, rather than looking to find the ball himself. Posed against such a heavily pressing Serbia side, this was never going to work, and his more central role in the second half proved this, with his increased involvement in playmaking as the game slowly dwindled to a close. The difficulties that we face in this England side is the extreme quality that we hold in that number 10 position - of which both Bellingham and Foden each have excelled in this season, Bellingham perhaps as more of a false 9 for Madrid, but, of course, we cannot play two of the same position. This forces Southgate to make the difficult decisions on who to utilise in such spaces. Perhaps Foden should be utilised as that number 10, with Bellingham as the 8 just behind? But who really knows the answer to this solution?

Whilst there is certainly room for improvement, I felt that the opening game of the tournament was a strong start, boding well for our chances should we improve in the attacking sense of the game on Thursday against fellow group members Denmark, following their draw against lowly ranked Slovenia. The defence was a real concern of the masses throughout the build up of the tournament, but as showcased yesterday, when called upon, Marc Guehi clearly possesses the quality to make the step up and perform when under pressure, making a real mark on his competitive debut with clear composure and fight. There is no doubt that the squad oozes brilliance in every position, and with the soon return of left back Luke Shaw - as confirmed by Southgate in his conference building up to the matchday, England could be at their very best in little time, should fitness remain as it is.

Certainly an exciting period to be involved in. I just cannot get "Hey Jude" out of my head.

Roll on Denmark.