England’s Euro 2024 campaign needs a major boost against Slovenia

Time spent in the wake of England’s misfire against Denmark can be best characterised as being about conversation and recrimination. What must follow now is a transformation.

England’s players have heard all the noise that has followed their draw in Frankfurt last Thursday. This time, they have added to it. Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer have probably never had as much free publicity.

On the field, though, change must come and it must come on Tuesday evening in Cologne against Slovenia. Single results and performances in summer tournaments can change everything. They can lift confidence and they can inject energy in to legs heavy after a long domestic season.

Here in Germany it feels as though Gareth Southgate’s team have one opportunity. Not only must England win on Tuesday, they must do so in such a way as to change the way they feel about themselves going into the knock out stages.

‘I think that hits the nail on the head,’ admitted midfielder Declan Rice on Monday.

‘That is what we are all looking forward to doing. Going out there free in a way and performing and showing everyone that we can be the team that we are trying to be.

‘This is a chance, because we are pretty much qualified, to go out there and just express ourself and have that performance where we can make an impact.’

England have been rank here in Germany. Unconvincing in beating Serbia and almost unrecognisable in drawing with Denmark.

Lineker and Shearer have had their say and don’t seem in the mood to stop talking anytime soon. Southgate himself has said that some of his players lack fitness and energy while captain Harry Kane offered a rather damning assessment when he said that the England players were not sure when and how to press the opposition.

Tournament winners have started slowly before. Spain lost the first game of the 2010 World Cup and won the tournament, for example. Italy didn’t win a single group game in 1982 and eventually lifted the trophy.

‘Hopefully it can swing for us as it kind of did at the last World Cup,’ said Rice.

‘We drew with the USA with a similar performance to the one against Denmark and then went on to beat Wales 3-0, which was a really good statement.

‘And the same happened in Euro 2021 when we drew with Scotland then had a really comfortable win against the Czech Republic.

‘I think this is a great chance to go out there and prove some points.’

Rice has not been free of criticism since last week. He accepts that as fair. The 25-year-old was shocked when it was put to him that he has played 126 games in two seasons – ‘that is crazy’ – but said England’s work on the training field this week will see them engage with Slovenia higher up the pitch after spending so much time on the back foot against Denmark.

‘If I wasn’t fit enough or the lads weren’t fit enough we shouldn’t be here in the first place,’ he said.

‘We should be able to compete for seven games. We have got a squad of 26 players that are fit enough, strong enough, fast enough and ready to go the whole way.

‘You’ll see an England team for this game that will have a different pressing style that we’ve been working on. I think you’ll see a team that wants to be on the front-foot and wants to press Slovenia high up the pitch.

‘The coaching staff are fully on the same page as us. If you look at England games, our last 25 or 30 games we’ve played at Wembley, we’ve suffocated teams. I can tell you now it’s not one of our game plans to want to sit in a low block.

‘But from the moment I walked into Arsenal in pre-season until the last game of the season we were together as a collective and worked on that every single day.

‘Whereas here you only get a week, ten days maximum in an international break during the season. There’s a massive difference between getting a whole year to work on something and only getting a certain number of days.

‘My game is about being on the front foot. I love being on the front foot as a midfielder, anticipating passes. I hate having to be stuck in one position and that is why, in the last game, I was really frustrated with myself because I couldn’t get up to their midfield players.

‘I don’t want people to think I am comfortable sitting in a position where I am allowing the opposition to play.

‘That’s the mindset of the team as well and I think we’ll see that against Slovenia in the way we are going to approach the game and the way we are going to go for it.

‘We want to top the group, we want to have a great performance. We want to stop these questions about our energy. We want to show we can press high and be that team that people want us to be.’

Rice was singled out for criticism at the weekend by former Republic of Ireland team-mate James McClean. Rice played for Ireland at youth level and in three senior friendlies before switching to England in 2019.

‘I played with James for Ireland for three games and I got on with him really well so I am not going to sit here and slag him off,’ said Rice.

‘I thought he was a really top guy. When I left Ireland to come to England, I heard a few things he was obviously not happy about.

‘So it might be a bit of bitterness towards me not playing for Ireland but I’ve not got a bad word to say about him.’

If that all sounds a bit petty and trivial, the bigger picture is not. After only two games, England’s summer stands at a crossroads.

‘We know the challenge,’ said Rice.

‘The expectation of the badge, the weight that the badge carries, the expectation of the country.

‘It’s about dealing with that and going out there and playing with a calmness.

‘We are all here for a reason. We all have quality but players can have bad games.

‘I have a chance to put things right. We all have. Then hopefully it can swing the other way’.