Gareth Southgate’s straitjacket suffocates England again – but one lesson emerges

Gareth Southgate: England have to be 'right on our game' against Slovakia

There was a minute left to run on Gareth Southgate’s reign, the clock ticking down on a dismal tournament that seemed a demoralising end to the second-finest tenure of any England manager. Until an airborne Jude Bellingham intervened. Until Bellingham underlined that he has that combination of talent, technique and temperament to offer the promise of greatness. There had been reasons for Southgate to replace him: booked for a rash lunge at Lukas Haraslin, he had been unwise enough to lay his hands on the referee. He had endured a poor game.

But there was an instance of brilliance; a bicycle kick, an injury-time equaliser, a lifeline, a goal that may reshape England’s history as well as Southgate’s time in charge. “Who else?” Bellingham shouted. The evidence of the previous 94 minutes was that no one was likely to score for England. The closest they came to a first-half shot on target was when, after 10 seconds, Dennis Vavro belted the ball at Harry Kane’s head and it rebounded 30 yards to Martin Dubravka. For much of it, they were simultaneously going nowhere, going backwards and going out. But Bellingham’s European Championship has now included two glorious goals, albeit with too little in the 347 minutes that separated them.

And Southgate looked in thrall to his supposed superstars, ignoring the evidence of the game, hoping against hope they would deliver, relying on reputations. But some reputations are forged for a reason. Southgate had looked passive for much of a traumatic night in Gelsenkirchen. Yet here he is, in a fourth consecutive quarter-final, after goals from Bellingham and Kane. He triumphed in his game of brinkmanship: part by accident, part by design.

It is safe to say the masterplan probably did not include Bukayo Saka playing right wing-back and Eberechi Eze filling in on the left. When England searched for replacements to the injured Luke Shaw, few considered the Crystal Palace winger. Yet when England scored their winner, Saka and Eze were his wing-backs. Southgate, the manager often deemed too cautious, ended up going for broke: to save his job, to salvage England’s Euro 2024.

It was a close-run thing. The last sound he may have heard before the final whistle was of boos, when he took off Phil Foden. Who, at that stage, had looked the best of the front four, the undroppables and, it appeared, the incompatibles. While others called for revolution at half-time, Southgate sent the same side out again. He was widely thought to have delivered the most pertinent criticism of Sven-Goran Eriksson from within the dressing room – “We needed Churchill, we got Iain Duncan Smith” – and he risked looking like the Swede: wedded to the big names, unable to muster a rousing half-time team-talk.

The accusation is that England are constrained in Southgate’s straitjacket. Certainly their four performances in Euro 2024 have been mediocre at best. Yet there was some imagination to Southgate’s eventual switches: first Cole Palmer came on – making Saka the second of the night’s left-backs – followed by Eze and then Ivan Toney.

If the Brentford striker was to be involved on such a stage, the impression was that it would be as a specialist penalty taker. He emerged instead as a target man. After Eze’s miscued volley, he headed the ball back across the box for Kane to apply the finishing touch. The two goalscorers then posed for the picture, arms outstretched. It was one indelible image of the night.

The other was Bellingham, his feet higher than his head, turning the game, reversing a trend. Southgate’s side have lost leads in crucial knockout ties: to Croatia, to Italy. He has been faulted for the changes he didn’t make, for delaying too long and letting the tide turn. Here he took off Kane and Bellingham: but not when trailing 1-0, but leading 2-1 after their comeback. Ezri Konsa, who will rarely replace Bellingham, became the fourth left-back of the evening.

And England saw off Slovakia; just. In Southgate’s time in charge, they have prospered by beating the lesser sides in knockout ties. They have never come as close to winning one. So much for being in the easy half of the draw. England contrived to make it look fearsomely tough. Admittedly, Southgate had never described it as such. As confusion became contagious, errors infectious, they lacked the clarity of thought that had marked Southgate’s most successful sides. England had a paralysing sense of uncertainty, looking slow against Slovakia.

But they insist they have spirit and, belatedly, they proved it. They have Southgate, a manager who was first an asset and then seemed to be inhibiting them. And they had Bellingham, the man for the moment. This was his version of David Beckham against Greece in 2001, rescuing a wretched display with individual inspiration. And ensuring that, unconvincing and underwhelming as England remain, they are still in Euro 2024.