Bellingham “completely dead”
England fans reconcile with “shithole” and rage against coach
29.06.2024, 09:21
England is playing in Gelsenkirchen again. This time, the city is not the fans’ “problem”. This time, it is mainly coach Gareth Southgate who is being criticized. A Three Lions icon is very worried about world star Jude Bellingham and his condition.
England returns to the “shithole”. But the Three Lions fans have made their peace with Gelsenkirchen, and this time their anger is directed at Gareth Southgate. He knows he is the problem, the controversial team manager admitted before the European Championship round of 16 match against the outsider Slovakia, “they are not happy with me, that’s the reality.”
Perhaps the return to the Schalke Arena will help, where the starting line-up around Bayern striker Harry Kane, with a market value of 1.5 billion euros, played their best half hour of the tournament – with Real Madrid star player Jude Bellingham in world-class form. After being showered with praise after the 1-0 win against Serbia two weeks ago, the ex-Dortmund player fell into a deep hole and dragged the supposed title contender down with him.
“Stupid red card” feared for Bellingham
“He seems very frustrated to me,” said former international Wayne Rooney in the BBC podcast, sounding the alarm. He feared that he could get “a stupid red card.” Bellingham himself admitted after his 50th game of the season that he was “completely dead.” The fact that the English stars have played a lot of games is something they share with their fellow sufferers from Spain, where Bellingham himself plays, Italy, France or Germany. The fact that they bring little offensive drive onto the pitch despite their highest individual quality is mainly blamed on Southgate.
“I am seriously concerned about the tactical approach,” said Gary Lineker as a BBC pundit and demanded that the team play “high, aggressive and courageous”. The fact that Southgate said this on Sunday (6 p.m./ZDF, MagentaTV and in the live ticker at ntv.de) However, he “unfortunately does not” believe that this will be implemented.
If England were to fail in the first knockout round after a difficult group win with just two goals, Southgate would not only be showered with beer mugs by fans, as he was after the 0:0 draw against Slovenia in Cologne. After eight years as team manager, during which he at least reached the World Cup semi-finals and the European Championship final, it would probably be over for him. Even before the tournament, he had announced that he would “no longer be here” if he did not win the title.
“I miss Gelsenkirchen”
This time, English fans can drink courage for the round of 16 and possible further protests against Southgate in Gelsenkirchen’s city center. The central fan zone will be open and there will be beer with full alcohol content. At the opening match against Serbia, the Three Lions’ supporters were banned from the race track due to security concerns, and only “diluted” beer was available in the arena.
Apparently the city wants to polish up its image, which suffered badly after the harsh criticism of the departure chaos and the “shithole” debate on social networks. The author, the English fan and blogger Paul Brown, has since apologized and declared in Cologne: “I miss Gelsenkirchen.” Numerous other fans also admitted that there are far worse “shitholes” at home. England fans still have bad memories: At the 2006 World Cup, their team was eliminated in the quarter-finals on penalties at Schalke – after a red card for Rooney.