No matter what team we all support, every football fan has at least one thing in common - a love for attacking football.
It doesn’t matter how well-oiled a hard-fought 1-0 victory might be, it’s just not the same as the chaos of a free-flowing 4-3 win. We, the spectator, want goals and we want them now.
It’s even harder in knockout football where one mistake can undermine all your hard work and spell the end of your entire tournament. As Sir Alex Ferguson famously once said, attack wins you matches, defence wins you titles.
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This is perhaps well summed up by England’s World Cup offerings so far. A 6-2 victory over Iran in their opening World Cup game was heralded as fans were spoilt with half-a-dozen Three Lions goals. Never mind the shoddy two conceded, Gareth Southgate’s boys scored six, ladies and gentlemen!
But then, when they had the chance to book their place in the round-of-16, England followed it up with a drab 0-0 clash against the United States. Booed off at full-time, despite still having one foot in the knockout stages, supporters were not entertained.
Southgate’s changes against USA have understandably been criticised, as he threw on Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson alongside Man City’s Jack Grealish with 20 minutes left to play and left his Etihad team-mate Phil Foden unused on the bench. In truth, supporters had been calling for changes much sooner and they wanted attacking ones.
The attacking introduction of a Foden could have helped unlock the USA defence after all, and returned desired goals. In contrast, Henderson is unlikely to come on and win you an England match by directly adding to the scoresheet.
Yet despite the grumbles in some sections at the Reds’ skipper’s introduction, there was nothing wrong with such a change. While England might arrogantly believe themselves superior to the United States, rightly or wrongly, they were very much second best in midfield against the Americans in Qatar.
Mason Mount and Jude Bellingham started alongside Declan Rice in an unchanged engine room, but they were left chasing the shadows of Weston McKennie, Tyler Adams and Yunus Musah. Something had to change as USA threatened a shock victory, and Henderson provided just that as he demonstrated while he is valued so highly by Southgate and Jurgen Klopp - even if he is no longer guaranteed to start every game.
Showing his organisational skills immediately as he barked instructions to Mount, he helped to calm down England’s midfield and not only get them on the ball, but retain possession as well. Suddenly the threat of defeat was no longer a risk as the Three Lions had control for the first time in the game.
The only issue was they still struggled to create any real opportunities. And in truth, even if Harry Kane’s stoppage-time header had found the back of the net to clinch an unconvincing 1-0 victory and progression to the R16, how much would that really have papered over the cracks?
By bringing on Henderson, Southgate opted to stick rather than twist. He preserved the draw rather than chase the win, knowing full well a point was enough to keep England in the driving seat to reach the knockout stages. But this isn’t what fans want, especially not days after being treated to six goals by a free-flowing Three Lions.
While it might not be pretty on the eye, Southgate’s ‘safe’ style works, in tournament football at least. He has led the Three Lions to a World Cup semi-final and European Championships final before, becoming England’s most successful manager since Sir Alf Ramsey in the process, by setting up his side to avoid defeat.
But when it’s time to roll the dice and take risks, he’s found lacking. He will always stick rather than twist. Perhaps that’s partly why we’re now at 56 years of hurt.
Foden’s lack of game-time in Qatar has been a shock but it’s a different story when it comes to Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold. While the defender is more than capable of winning you a game, playing to his strengths does not come without risks.
Klopp has addressed this already this season when the Reds struggled defensively. But the German is happy to gamble to get the best out of his generational talent, knowing that for the majority of his reign it has paid off for the mentality monsters.
But England aren’t Liverpool and Southgate isn’t Klopp. Mr. ‘Play Safe’ won’t rush to utilise Alexander-Arnold as a result, even if, like Foden, he was one of his country’s most creative players left unused on the bench. He has already said only a few months ago he views Kieran Trippier, Kyle Walker and Reece James as better all-round players.
Why try to score when you can instead avoid conceding, it would seem?
Manchester United legend Gary Neville would seemingly support such a stance after Liverpool’s win over Tottenham Hotspur earlier this month as Alexander-Arnold battled with Ryan Sessegnon.
“He does rash things. In a World Cup, there would have been a penalty against him today and in a second phase or a quarter-final, he’s given a goal away,” the former right-back said on Sky Sports. “I don’t think Gareth will trust him in a knockout game.”
Yet despite this lack of trust, Alexander-Arnold is a player who has played plenty of knockout football before and won every major honour going with Liverpool. As a result, he had the perfect response when Neville’s criticism was put to him.
“I can only go off the knockout games I’ve played in,” he told ITV Sport . “I think looking back on the ones I’ve played in, the big games, the big moments in football, and I’ve been fortunate to have a lot of them.
“I think I’ve performed and stepped up to the plate very well. I’ve handled that pressure. I like to play with that pressure and I think, for me, the bigger games, the ones that mean the most, they’re the ones that bring the best out of me.”
Neville would double down on his belief that Southgate doesn’t trust Alexander-Arnold following England’s draw with USA, but admitted he thinks he should play and would for the likes of Brazil.
"I think he’s worried about him defensively,” he said. "If we’re not confident of playing him when we’re playing USA, who had a comfortable third game when we were going to play the whole of the bench. We haven’t got that now and that’s fine, no panic here. Other nations, France, Spain, Brazil would have Trent Alexander-Arnold and Foden in their starting 11.
"I understand it from watching it a little bit having watched Trent Alexander-Arnold, you see a game of that where we lack creativity - you think them two players should really be in there.
"I’m torn because I’ve got a lot of respect for Gareth and what he’s achieved - he’s achieved the most since Alf Ramsey. But we’ve got a couple of talents sat on the bench in the form of Trent Alexander-Arnold and Foden who are capable of opening up the game.
"Alexander-Arnold has some of the best deliveries you’ll ever see from full-back and on that right side when Rashford came on, he had Henderson and Trippier so he was blocked from getting that delivery in.
"I think those two coming off the bench is a little bit disappointing, if you’re trying to win the game they’re world class talents."
Unfortunately for Alexander-Arnold, Southgate’s stance doesn’t look set to change anytime soon and Walker’s return from injury seemingly places him further down the pecking order. His England defence’s priority remains defending, regardless of abilities and necessity to win a game at the other end. If he’s not turned to in group games when you can afford a mistake, it would seem Neville’s pre-tournament prediction could be about to come true.
Fortunately, it’s a different story for the defender back at Liverpool where Klopp knows when to gamble and isn’t afraid to take such risks. Yet he has the safety blanket of a solitary defeat rarely meaning complete elimination.
Of course, Southgate will stand by his methods with his tournament record speaking for itself. His attempts for conservative control on the pitch have taken England further than they’ve ever been in tournament football since 1966.
Ultimately, there is nothing wrong with playing safe and preserving what you have and in Henderson, he has that perfect marshall for when it is time to stick. But it’s not pretty and it’s not popular, with criticism only temporarily muted with each England win.
After all, it’s one thing to win unconvincingly but deep down we all want our sides to win well. And it’s all very well being knocked out, as long as you are knocked out the ‘right way’. Are we not entertained?
If he remains unwilling to unleash that ‘je ne sais quoi’ in search of a victory, when it really is time to twist, the Three Lions will fall short when it matters most once again. Alexander-Arnold remains one of his best options for opening up a game in such circumstances, a genuinely world-class match-winner, yet Southgate still has no idea how to use him.
The novelty of this defensive style guiding his side to semi-finals and finals has now worn off. And if Southgate’s not careful, with the pressure continually rising from the impatient, unimpressed masses, such are the stakes that accompany the self-proclaimed ‘toughest job in football’, this time the lack of offensive football and limited use of his most talented stars could cost the England manager his job.
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