If Gareth Southgate has already warned his players to ignore criticism, he’s going to need to lock them away in Erfurt after this. This was a 1-1 that meant a lot more than failing to win this match. It raises the biggest questions yet over whether England can even come close to winning this tournament. Almost nothing about the team works right now. If that seems harsh – given they have four points and are still on course to top the group – it is about how Southgate has currently made this team so much less than the sum of its parts.
The biggest problem is in midfield, which admittedly isn’t new and has been a long-term issue. The concern is how Southgate has so far compounded it. Why persist with the Trent Alexander-Arnold experiment, when it obviously didn’t work? Why keep him on at half time, only to change it minutes later?
