When England qualified for the final of Euro 2024, given the way in which they’d play to reach the showpiece, there was enough of a reason for supporters to believe that the Three Lions had their name on the cup.
Gareth Southgate’s side were far from their best throughout the tournament, and yet somehow dragged themselves to Berlin where they’d eventually be undone by a brilliant Spain side.
England did have their moments, but Stan Collymore believes their failure to get over the line in major tournaments is down to a massive inferiority complex that they have.
“It’s always been the same for England for over 50 years. I think that there is this feeling of inferiority at international level because of our record and because of the hype. “It’s coming home, 60 years of hurt….,” he said to CaughtOffside for his exclusive column.
“People say that English players play well at their clubs because they’ve got foreigners around. That’s rubbish. Phil Foden’s performances and Jude Bellingham’s performances were because of Phil Foden and Jude Bellingham, not because they have foreigners around them. Likewise, Harry Kane.
“I can certainly say, thanks to my own brief foray with England, that you feel that you have to play this mythical thing called international football that is more cerebral, that is more intelligent, so you end up doing things you normally wouldn’t, and that’s where the passing along the back comes from.
“[…] I think we’ve got to have a look at what are the hallmarks of English football. One is tempo, two is intensity, three is aggression, and four is attacking, and I think we actually need to have those as cornerstones.
“A lot of the guys that play for England now, they have seen the Barcelona of 2011 and the Spanish sides of 2008-2012, and gone “we need to keep possession and slow the tempo,” but that’s the antithesis of what the very best of English football is about.
“If you want proof, every time that we went behind in the Euros, we upped the tempo, upped the aggression and got back in the game.”
Although one never had a feeling that England were a team that sometimes played like a ‘frightened rabbit in the headlights,’ there was very much a feeling, particularly against Spain, that the Three Lions were always going for the safety first option.
That things were a little cagey and no one really wanted to put their head above the parapet and grab the game by the scruff of the neck like the Turkish or Georgian sides were doing in their games, for example.
If England are consistently making it to the business end of tournaments, then the players need to puff out their chests and play brave, front foot, attacking football.
They deserve to be in such esteemed company, so it’s about time that English football and England footballers believed it.
The post Collymore: England have a massive inferiority complex that’s stopping them winning tournaments appeared first on CaughtOffside.
