Jude Bellingham channelled his inner Michael Jordan to keep England’s Euro 2024 dream alive – but Gareth Southgate’s star men are becoming too sensitive to justified criticism

Bellingham continued on the same theme as he faced the media in the press room of the Veltins Arena. He said: “You hear people talk a lot of rubbish. It’s nice when you can deliver and give them a little bit back. For me, football, being on the pitch, scoring goals and celebrating is my release. Maybe it was a message to a few people.”

Asked what he meant by the rubbish, Bellingham channeled his inner Jordan again. “You know what I mean by the rubbish. People talk a lot. You do have to take it personally a little bit,” he said.

“We work so hard at this game. We come in every day, we work hard to put on a performance for the fans. Sometimes it doesn’t go well and sometimes it feels like there’s a bit of a pile on, it’s not nice to hear. But you can always use it and for moments like that, it’s nice to throw it back to some people.”

Bellingham is not the first England player at Euro 2024 to complain about the reaction of the media, and in particular players -turned-pundits. Last week, Harry Kane urged the likes of Alan Shearer and Gary Lineker to “remember what it’s like to wear the shirt” while Declan Rice called for “some positivity” to lift the players.

But Bellingham, in following Jordan’s lead, responded to criticism in the perfect way, pulling off a clutch moment that underlined his greatness. It would have been easy to shrink amid the whirlwind of criticism or the booing of England fans inside the stadium, or indeed the sight of supporters leaving the stadium before the full-time whistle.

The goal was another illustration that Bellingham is different from the rest of his England team-mates. He may have been riled by the media, but he rose to the challenge, seeking to prove his doubters wrong. And if he wants to keep finding more fuel from his critics, then he will not have to look very far.

Because leaving aside his moment of magic, Bellingham was woeful against Slovakia, as he has been since his bright tournament-opening display against Serbia. And so were the rest of the England team, save for the final two minutes of added time and the first minute of extra-time, when they had their only two shots on target, Kane proving the pinball wizard after a frantic piece of play following a free-kick to seal victory.

After taking the lead, England retreated to their usual tactic, sitting deep and looking scared, playing hopeful long balls and not getting runners in behind. And that is why they are being criticised.

The reality is, England do not deserve to still be in the tournament. They made an unconvincing start against Serbia, but their stuttering curtain-raiser has proved to be their best performance.

Things have gotten steadily worse since, and it is no wonder that pundits are criticising them while fans are getting restless. How else should the media respond to a tournament in which they have won just one game after 90 minutes and scored less than one goal per 90 minutes on average, all while facing no team ranked within the top 20 in the world?

Jordan had to go looking for tiny things to motivate him to keep on winning because his Bulls team were already the prominent side in the NBA. But this England team, despite their talent and experience, are still yet to show up in Germany. And Bellingham’s comments, as do Kane and Rice’s, feed into the feeling that England are getting too sensitive to criticism that is fully justified.

While it is right that Bellingham has used the criticism to inspire him, he cannot make the mistake of thinking everything is fine and dandy. Because if England keep up their ponderous style of play against Switzerland, who outclassed deposed tournament holders Italy and came within a minute of beating Germany, then they will get found out and sent home.

Far from “talking rubbish”, as the Real Madrid midfielder suggested, the media are pointing out England’s shortcomings in the hope that they will listen up and iron out their many problems. Gareth Southgate, however, sounded delusional when he insisted: “I never felt like tonight would be the end of our tournament.”

It was only because of an act of sheer quality from Bellingham that England are not already back home, and blind faith will not be enough to take them any further in Germany.

The manager, to his credit, went with his gut feeling when deciding to keep Bellingham on before full-time, taking off Phil Foden and Kobbie Mainoo, who had both performed better.

“With 15 minutes to go you wonder if he is out on his feet, but him and Harry Kane produce those moments and that is why you don’t make changes when people are clamouring for more changes,” explained Southgate, who owes the fact he is still in a job to Bellingham.

But he needs to face up to the fact that his team selection has led to some of the worst football his England side have produced in his eight years in charge. Once more, he picked Kieran Trippier at left back and Foden on the wing. So what will he do if Trippier, who is believed to have been carrying an injury throughout the tournament, is ruled out against Switzerland? Luke Shaw was at least on the bench against Slovakia, but the fact he was not called upon when Trippier came off suggests he is still some way away from the required fitness.

Southgate’s lack of clarity on what to do in the position was summed up by the fact he ended up deploying four players in the role over the 120 minutes, ending with Ezri Konsa defending deep after Eberechi Eze and Bukayo Saka deputised there.

It has been suggested by several authoritative voices, including Ian Wright, that Saka should play at left-back amid the lack of options. The Arsenal forward dismissed the idea out of hand in the build-up to the game, however, declaring: “No… I don’t think putting me out of position is the solution.”

Saka’s dismissal of a constructive solution to England’s biggest problem is another symptom of the team’s problems. In tournaments, players cannot always play in their favourite positions. The best managers, though, come up with innovative ideas.

Take Didier Deschamps turning Antoine Griezmann from a second striker into a deep-lying playmaker at the last World Cup, or Vicente del Bosque using Cesc Fabregas as a ‘false nine’ when Spain won Euro 2012. Too many players in this England team seem unwilling to be flexible. Bellingham, Foden, Kane all seem to want to play as a No.10 and no one wants to play on the left wing.

Bellingham tried to paint an alternative picture when he said: “We’ve won this game together. Not me, not Harry Kane, not the individual moments. It’s the likes of Ivan Toney, Eberechi Eze, Cole Palmer, Bukayo Saka going to left-back. It’s the sacrifice you make for the team and that’s the energy we need to keep regardless of what goes on.”

Bellingham’s answer doesn’t stand up to scrutiny, however. Saka played at left-back for less than 20 minutes before returning to his favoured right side. And for 29 minutes of extra-time, as for the first 94 minutes of the game, England were dreadful. It really did come down to individual moments from Bellingham and Kane from set-plays, a long throw-in and a messy free-kick, respectively.

Gary Neville summed things up expertly when he said: “Relief is the word of the day. We have been very, very lucky. We were woeful and we have been woeful for four games now. He [Southgate] is a great guy – he’s got massive integrity obviously but he will realise tonight that he was so close to the edge. Very close to the edge.”

Bellingham might dismiss Neville’s assessment as “rubbish” or “a pile-on”, but that is the harsh truth. Hopefully the Real Madrid star can channel his inner Michael Jordan again and use the negative takes as motivation to pull off yet more clutch moments. But he and his team-mates cannot keep pretending everything is fine.