It’s easy to be an armchair critic when England are playing in a major football tournament, with Gareth Southgate’s tactical choices thrown into question by everyone and their dog at this point.FC 24 clip: Harry Kane scores worldie in England v Switzerland
Games like EA Sports FC 24 allow fans to take matters into their own hands, to imagine what would happen if Southgate was out and they were in.
Personally, I enjoy playing along with tournaments like Euro 2024 as they’re happening. Just before England play, I like to see how my version of the team would get on.
With FC 24 being on PS Plus and Xbox Game Pass recently, there’s nothing stopping most players from giving it a go.
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My version of the Euros had been going quite well. After battering everyone in the group stage and breezing through my round of 16 game, I decided to turn up the difficulty for my quarter-final against Switzerland. After all, England in real life seem to be playing the tournament on hard mode.
What I found is that, yep, Southgate has a pretty tough job. Trying to get the best players on the pitch, in a formation that actually works, isn’t easy.
Telling the lads to press high up the pitch is simple, in theory, but it can create all kinds of holes on the counter attack, with Switzerland seeming to employ a similar strategy.
Being a Spurs fan and a big admirer of Ange-ball, I tried to set the team up in an attacking way that would result in a lot of crosses being blasted into the box for Harry Kane to finish.
What I found is that, just like in real life, Kane kept dropping deep, leaving no one in the box to pick up the crosses.
Long story short, I lost the game. On my first, second and third attempts. I would occasionally get a goal, but I would always be fragile to counter attacks, and Switzerland seemed really good on the break.
I started to develop some sympathy for Southgate. The fans want attacking football, but the reality of tournament football is that a few brutal counter attacks can send you on the next flight back to Heathrow.
After replaying the match for an hour, my palms sweaty and my mood turning sour, I decided to do something more relaxing than managing England. I booted up Elden Ring and repeatedly died in a series of gruelling boss battles.
Later that night, I lay in bed wondering what I could have done differently in England’s boss battle against Switzerland.
I need a lot of cover at the back. I need some decent players on the wing who can blast it into the box. And if Kane seemingly can’t be stopped from dropping deep, I need another striker who’s going to actually be in the box to receive the ball.
I thought back to the game against Slovakia the other day, where I’d sat with a friend trying to work out what formation Southgate was actually using in those last-gasp moments of the initial 90 minutes.
At one point, at the back, it looked like he had three centre backs (one of which was Kyle Walker playing out of position) and two wing backs (one of which was Saka playing out of position).
Could that be the solution I was looking for? An extra body to defend our box, but with potential assist-makers on the flanks who can press forward. Luckily for me, in FC 24, Luke Shaw is fit.
Combining this idea with my desire to get another striker on the pitch, I ended up with the formation you can see below. It might look weird, but I’m pleased to say that it actually worked. And they’re basically some of Southgate’s tactics!
s this armchair critic (or should that be gaming-chair critic?) loaded up the England v Switzerland game for the fifth or sixth time, with my slightly wonky formation in play (and with my high-press tactics removed), everything clicked into place.
Saka got the first goal, bursting into space on the counter attack and then blasting it in, top bins. The second goal came from Watkins, who ended up on the receiving end of some fairly simple passing through the middle.
And the final goal, which saw Luke Shaw punting the ball into the box for Harry Kane, who did a Bellingham-esque bicycle kick to smash it in, is the stuff that dreams are made of. Take a look below. And yes, I did write this whole article just to show off this goal.
The glitchy sight of Harry Kane knee-sliding through the corner flag did ruin the immersion somewhat. But reality felt closer at hand, soon after, when my shoddy defending saw England let one in. Final score 3-1, and England are through the semis. (You can see our actual RT prediction for the match here!)
So, what have we learned from this? Well, maybe it takes five or six games to adjust to an increased difficulty level in FC 24. Or maybe, just maybe, we’ve learned that Southgate was onto something with his drastic formation changes versus Slovakia.
One thing’s for sure. This process has reminded me that managing England isn’t easy, and neither is being the players on the pitch. Perhaps we should cut them some more slack in real life.
Practice makes perfect, and optimism breeds confidence, and maybe a little bit more positivity all round could make it feel a bit more like it’s coming home. I, for one, still believe it’s possible.
Bring on the real England v Switzerland match!
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