Best of Both Worlds: England Must Alternate Ben Chilwell and Bukayo Saka at Euros

What most annoyed England fans about the Euro 2016 defeat to Iceland wasn’t the defeat itself. England’s second-round capitulation to the Scandinavian minnows was rightly seen as a national disgrace — fewer people lived in Iceland than in Leicester in 2016, to add bitter context. But what most hurt about it was that the writing had been on the wall all along. Roy Hodgson had not once shown anything like a commitment to a fixed formation, nor a distinguishable style of play, nor much preference for particular personnel. England looked totally amorphous at Euro 2016; they arrived in France with their fingers crossed. What was always bound to happen did.

The clichéd stock phrase that ran alongside that is: “He didn’t know his best XI and stick to it. What did he think was going to happen?” Hodgson was criticised for this indecisiveness by top pundits, fans and journalists for a very long time. The point was only strengthened by the 2018 World Cup success of England under Gareth Southgate. He did make sure he was prepared for the tournament before boarding the plane with his players.

But a distinction must be drawn here. There is a key difference between a manager knowing their best players and a manager selecting the same players in every game. Consistency is vital in football — teams only build chemistry when their players have played together and learned each other’s strengths and weaknesses.

But consistency isn’t the most important factor for teams seeking to win major tournaments. Pragmatism is. The margins at the summit of international football are so tight that efficiency is pivotal. A manager must discover what maximises their side’s talents. A synergy must be found between the individual players and the team’s overall output.