England embarrass themselves with 10-game unbeaten run that proves they’re no Brazil

Editor F365
England celebrate the point in North Macedonia
England celebrate the point in North Macedonia

There’s no doubt that England were a bit sh*t on Monday night but they were missing their best centre-half, any actual dedicated left-back and their world-class attacking midfielder, and largely rested their world-class striker. There are caveats.

England have qualified with ease for Euro 2024 and are unbeaten in 10 games throughout 2023 while conceding just five goals.

So although a draw in North Macedonia is not ideal, England are still joint-favourites to win Euro 2024.

So obviously…

‘England failed to back up Gareth Southgate’s autumn statement that he wants to be the world’s No. 1 team,’ writes Tom Barclay.

Oh you’re having a laugh, Gareth, with your silly nonsense about targeting the No. 1 spot. Of course what he should have said is that actually, England – who have reached the final, semi-finals and quarter-finals of their last three major tournaments – are absolutely sh*t, and fourth in the world rankings probably flatters them.

If only they could be more like the current No. 1 ranked country in the world Argentina, last seen losing 2-0 to Uruguay having managed only three shots on target at home.

Charlie Wyett continues the theme in the inside pages of The Sun:

So for the time being at least, Gareth Southgate’s hopes of toppling Brazil in FIFA’s world rankings must be put on the back burner.

Best team in the world? You’re having a laugh.

Southgate knows there will have to be one hell of an improvement when the Brazilians come to London for a March friendly.

Hmmm. Somebody might want to tell Wyett that Brazil have failed to win any of their last three games, drawing 1-1 with Venezuela and then losing to both Uruguay and Colombia.

In fact, the live FIFA rankings – ahead of Brazil playing Argentina – has them dropping to fifth in the while England go third. It’s almost like the rankings are not based on one game.

Admittedly, England were not helped by a string of injuries for these two games which included the loss of John Stones, Luke Shaw and even James Maddison.

And they were facing a stubborn team that drew with Italy here in September having beaten them in a World Cup play-off in 2022.

But although it is stating the bleeding obvious, if you want to be the best in the world and maintain incredibly high standards, you have to be beating North Macedonia away.

Again, not how it works. France are likely to be top of FIFA’s rankings next month and they went into last year’s World Cup having won just one of their last six games. They then reached the World Cup final and only lost on penalties.

Although it is stating the bleeding obvious, being the best in the world is not about winning every single game, but enough of the ones that matter.

England are patently not the best team in the world but drawing in North Macedonia does not preclude them being in the conversation just because you got cold and bored in Skopje, fella.

Over at the Daily Mirror, John Cross used all his years of expertise following England to bring this insight:

One thing is for sure, if England want to be anywhere near the best then they will have to use their best players.

Genuinely difficult to argue with that.

In the Daily Mail, Sami Mokbel mocked Gareth Southgate’s reaction to the game…

Maybe Gareth Southgate was watching a different game.

‘I felt the performance was good, the mentality was excellent and we totally controlled the game,’ he said.

‘The way they defended and the pitch didn’t make it easy to find the final pass.’

Which is eerily similar to Mokbel’s own assessment literally a few paragraphs later…

Much of the game resembled an attack versus defence training drill. England probing, keeping the ball efficiently as they sought to breakdown North Macedonia’s jam-packed defence.

So you’re saying England controlled the game but the way North Macedonia defended made it difficult?

England had 75% possession and 16 shots to North Macedonia’s five. That would definitely qualify as England controlling the game, even if they ultimately failed to make that possession count.

In the Evening Standard, Dom Smith writes:

Gareth Southgate’s message to his players this week was simple: you are only as good as your last game.

He genuinely didn’t say that but carry on…

If that is the case, then England are in trouble. Stilted in attack and stretched in defence, Monday night’s draw with North Macedonia exposed their over-reliance on their two best players.

For all the talk about England’s enviable riches and wealth of talent, it was concerning quite how much they missed Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane.

Show Mediawatch a team that is not over-reliant on their two best players. You know what the good news is? It is very, very unlikely that they will both be missing again. Huzzah.

Also, we could add once again that they were also missing their best centre-half and an actual left-back.

If you’re going to write that ‘Southgate already has the spine of his team locked in, seven months from what is expected to be his last tournament’ then at least acknowledge that at least four members of that team were missing in North Macedonia.

Mediawatch