‘Tournament seems to be very badly timed’ for Southgate and Three Lionspublished at 16:00 4 July
England v Switzerland (Sat, 17:00 BST)
James Horncastle
European football writer on BBC Radio 5 Live
Image source, Getty ImagesI think a lot of teams could’ve beaten Italy the other day
in Berlin when Switzerland came up against them. Switzerland threw a lot of things, that top
club sides throw at clubs in Champions League games.
Players playing in hybrid positions, making
runs that take lots of time in order for the chemistry to develop between
players and they pulled Italy all over the place.
England have got better players than
Italy, but they do have some of the same structural flaws that Italy have.
Switzerland are also a reminder that a team can suddenly
click because this time last year, they were drawing with Belarus, drawing to
Kosovo and they lost to Romania.
A lot of
pressure is on Murat Yakin and yet timing wise, they’ve just got it spot on.
Whereas for Southgate and England, this tournament
seems to be very badly timed.