England vs Slovakia: Why Kobbie Mainoo must start Euro 2024 last-16 clash
The sheer incompetence of England’s Euro 2024 performances so far has ground fans down to a point of no return. Speak to just about anyone about the team and they’ll brand them an irredeemable disaster who have sucked the joy out of watching football. Yes, it truly is this dramatic for some.
That sort of national collective psyche is damaging and has a curious effect on the matchday experience. They head into it expecting nothing, become restless at the first misplaced pass, then by the 30th minute are willing to excommunicate the 11 men out there trying their hardest; they can simply do no right. There’s a hint of confirmation bias about it all, and the side effect is that any actual progress or improvement isn’t registered.
That means that the clear and obvious shoots of green on show against Slovenia were missed by many. The wide-ranging review of the match went along the lines of "just more of the same," but that sentiment is only truly valid for the first half. Steadily, as Gareth Southgate rolled out his substitutions in the second period, England got better and better; by the end of the match, they looked like something approaching a functioning football team. It’s a low bar - let’s not pretend otherwise - but despite the fact it was the only group game they didn’t score in, it was probably England’s best overall performance of the three.
That road to recovery was sparked by one substitution in particular: Kobbie Mainoo.
Sent on at half-time in place of Conor Gallagher, the Manchester United teen set about knitting together a midfield whose seams had once again burst open. That’s his thing; that’s what he does. There’s no doubt he should have been allowed to do it a bit more this summer.
The difference he made was immediate and dramatic. There was a period right at the start of the second half where England’s midfield, suddenly, looked a lot more fluid, and it was camped aggressively in Slovenia’s third, moving the ball around well and winning it back high when it slipped loose. This generated pressure, momentum and confidence.
Again, we must stress the low bar for success here, but it was night and day from that cursed average positions map against Denmark, where the midfielders and forwards barely made it over the halfway line.
England starters average positions vs Denmark
Mainoo completed 97% of his passes (33/34) and chucked in a tackle for good measure, moving across midfield and linking play as and where required. He also got into the box a handful of times, which Gallagher did not do once, and Trent Alexander-Arnold did not do once in the previous game against Denmark.
Kobbie Mainoo touch map vs Slovenia
He wasn’t the only substitute to have an effect: Anthony Gordon got precious few minutes but tried to be positive on the left; Cole Palmer looked spritely and willing to take on a man who had just spent 75 minutes trying to handle Bukayo Saka; and we saw a glimpse of Trent as an actual right-back, with Kyle Walker moving to the left.
Brick by brick, it felt like Southgate finally set about rebuilding his house here. Unlike the panic triple sub in the Denmark game, which barely had an effect on proceedings, these were staggered, well thought out changes that gradually lifted England’s level, with Mainoo chief among them.
He simply has to start in the Round of 16 and beyond - if England get any further. The evidence is there now that there’s 45 tangible minutes to point to, rather than just theories and concepts.
