Gareth Southgate’s ingrained conservatism did not cost England here – but it may before long

It was Sven-Goran Eriksson who inadvertently captured the essence of England. “First half good; second half not so good,” the Swede would say, so often that the phrase belonged to what became known, during the 2006 World Cup, as “Sven bingo”. But it felt, watching England’s lopsided 1-0 victory over Serbia, as if he had alighted on some eternal truth about this team at major tournaments. For while this was only their second ever win in a European Championship opener, the performance followed a time-honoured pattern, where a frenetic start gave way to a shapeless conclusion, with a drop-off in fitness so steep that you found yourself looking to Gareth Southgate to do something, anything, to put it right.

The transformation was maddening. For half an hour it seemed as if we were watching a rejuvenated England, dominant and decisive, with Jude Bellingham imposing himself not just through a stunning header but a deliciously sly bodycheck on Filip Kostic.

It was like enjoying an unusually intense caffeine hit. Except then, inevitably, came the energy crash. Exuberance gave way to exhaustion, the players’ legs looking heavy and the manager apparently at a loss to stop the slide. Not until the 69th minute did Southgate reshuffle, replacing a tiring Trent Alexander-Arnold with Conor Gallagher, a human Duracell Bunny.

There was a nagging feeling we had seen this script before. Yes, England gained priceless points that gave them control of their group. And yes, Bellingham’s sheer authority as a No 10 at 20 years old was nothing short of wondrous. But the contours of this game – an early high, then a plateau, and finally an alarming descent – were familiar. This is not simply a question of interpretation: look at the statistics across the two halves, which show England becoming less effective in every crucial department. From 328 passes in the first half, they managed 264 in the second. Their passing accuracy fell from 91 per cent to 87, and their share of possession from 55 to 51.

England ultimately made the heaviest weather of an examination that should, after an opening act to savour, have been routine. That is unlikely to trouble Southgate unduly, given the history before his arrival of tentative beginnings on this stage. Remember 1-1 against Switzerland at Euro 96? Or the Golden Generation’s 2-1 defeat to France in 2004? Against such precedents, this game could be seen as a masterclass in efficiency. But this should not obscure the reality that, if England are to go as deep into this tournament as their collective talent mandates, they must learn how to impose themselves for 90 or 120 minutes, not 45.

Long before England’s arrival in Germany, Southgate had expressed concerns about fitness. When he named an expanded squad of 33 last month, he admitted that the sheer number of worries about how players would hold up was without parallel during his eight years in charge. “We’ve never had so many unknown situations,” he said. “We’ve got an important physical challenge in that some players are going to need a bit more work.”

The drastic dip here signalled the fulfilment of that prophecy. In the stands, England supporters were jubilant, belting out Hey Jude in honour of the strutting Bellingham, not to mention a fresh pastiche of Bruce Springsteen’s Dancing in the Dark, with the lyrics: “Phil Foden’s on fire…he’ll be playing the Germans off the park.” On this evidence, the German squad can sleep easy in their beds for now. For Foden looked the most jaded of anybody, a pale imitation of the Premier League’s player of the season, muscled out by Serbia whenever he tried to drift inside to link up the play.

He was far from the only player to fade: Kieran Trippier was increasingly shaky at left-back, while even Bukayo Saka’s irrepressible energy began to tail off. This was, as ever, the understandable consequence of gruelling club campaigns. But the problem was self-evident early in the second half, with England gifting Serbia, whom they had thoroughly outclassed until this point, a plethora of chances to strike back. While the set-up required immediate surgery, Southgate played a waiting game with his substitutions, only injecting the dynamism of Gallagher and Jarrod Bowen in the final quarter. The introduction of Kobbie Mainoo for Bellingham, conspicuously England’s best player, was baffling.

In the end, Southgate’s tendency towards caution did not cost England, as they headed back to their Blankenhain camp clutching the win they had craved. But it was worrying to witness this team sit back again on an early lead, just as they had, to great cost, against Croatia in 2018 and Italy in 2021. The great teams know when to go for the kill, and yet you wonder if this is a gear England even possess.

Southgate does at least appreciate the complex internal momentum of these tournaments. He has adjusted well before, with England timing their run carefully at the last Euros, only to come unstuck in the agonies of penalties in the final. The anguish on that occasion was the imponderable: if only he had implored his players to be more ruthless against the Italians after Luke Shaw’s second-minute goal, could it all have turned out differently? His ingrained conservatism has been widely perceived as a handbrake. Even with this all-important fillip of beating Serbia, he did little to convince his detractors that he had changed.