SOMEHOW, England have managed to qualify for the knockout stages of Euro 2024 as group winners. In every other respect, though, Gareth Southgate’s side have completely underachieved in their three matches so far in Germany. If last week’s draw with Denmark was the nadir, then this dreadful goalless draw with Slovenia pushed it close.

For the second time in six days, England were wretched. Devoid of any kind of creativity or attacking inspiration, their players seemed to be playing in a system that completely negated their strengths. Not for the first time. Once again, Southgate stuck resolutely to his guns, refusing to make major changes to his line-up or early attacking substitutions. Once again, the result was the kind of laboured, dysfunctional performance that has increasingly come to define his reign.

The only positive was that England remained defensively secure, keeping their second clean sheet of the tournament. Much of that, however, was down to Slovenia’s lack of ambition, a failing England will not be able to rely upon when the standard of opposition increases in the knockout stage.

At least Denmark’s goalless draw with Serbia in last night’s other group game means the knockout rounds will not begin with a meeting with Germany, with England instead heading back to Gelsenkirchen on Sunday to take on a third-place finisher. That third-place side could be the Netherlands though, and while the Dutch might have lost to Austria yesterday, they will fancy their chances against this England side. Mind you, so will pretty much every other team left in the tournament.

There was one change of personnel in Cologne last night, with Conor Gallagher’s presence in the starting line-up confirming the failure of the experiment of playing Trent Alexander-Arnold in central midfield in the opening two matches. There was also a slight tweak of formation with Gallagher pushing closer to Jude Bellingham to leave Declan Rice as the sole holding player in what was effectively a 4-1-4-1 system.

Not, however, that the change had any effect on England’s play, hence the decision to change tack again at the interval, with the wholly-ineffective Gallagher making way for Kobbie Mainoo. That was another change that failed to make any material difference to what was going on.

The same issues that had been evident in much of the opening game with Serbia and pretty much all of last Thursday’s draw with Denmark were once again apparent against a Slovenia side who are not in the top 50 of FIFA’s world rankings.

England dominated possession, but did nothing with it. They passed repeatedly, but nearly always shuffled the ball backwards or sideways. All too often, players looked ahead of them without anyone to feed the ball into. Slovenia’s two banks of four stretched across defence and midfield could be safe in the knowledge that England’s attackers were not going to be breaking the lines to dart between them, with a chronic lack of creativity and movement once again a major problem.

The one exception to that rule came 20 minutes in, when England finally constructed the kind of slick, incisive passing move that should really be their calling card. Phil Foden zipped a ball into the feet of Rice before spinning behind Zan Karnicnik to receive a return pass. He then slid a low cross across the face of goal, enabling Bukayo Saka to tap home at the back post. Unfortunately, Foden went too early, and the flag went up for offside. For a fleeting moment, though, there was a glimpse of what England’s forward line should be capable of producing.

It proved a brief moment of excitement, with Southgate’s side quickly slipping back into a sadly-now-familiar pattern of misplaced passes and ineffective movement.

Slovenia were content to sit off them for the most part, although England’s opponents were still able to carve out the best opportunity of the first half just five minutes in. Petar Stojanovic nodded a deep cross from the left back across goal, but Benjamin Sesko’s eight-yard header was directed straight at Jordan Pickford, who was able to save.

Sesko, who was playing alongside former Middlesbrough forward Andraz Sporar, is one of the most highly-rated young strikers in Europe after a standout season at RB Leipzig. In a game of few chances, he should really have done better.

England’s first legitimate effort at goal came on the half-hour mark, with Harry Kane curling in a shot that was saved from the corner of the 18-yard box, and it was followed by a long-range free-kick from Phil Foden that was also gathered by Jan Oblak.

Mainoo’s half-time introduction at least added a degree of cohesion to England’s midfield play, with the Manchester United youngster’s presence meaning there was finally a player at the heart of midfield wanting to pick up the ball and look to run at the opposition defence.

Still, though, chances were pretty much non-existent. John Stones directed a header goalwards from a corner that was scrambled clear, but when the centre-half got in a mix-up with Marc Guehi at the other end shortly after, England might well have found themselves having to deal with a two-on-one break had Guehi not taken one for the team and hauled down his opponent to earn a deserved yellow card.

Cole Palmer’s 70th-minute introduction felt like a belated acknowledgement of failings that, by then, had become entrenched, and there is surely an argument for either the Chelsea forward or Anthony Gordon, whose appearance as an 89th-minute substitute was ridiculously late, to start the first knockout game in an attempt to spark England out of their current slumbers. An adventurous manager might decide it is time for both. Southgate being Southgate, expect an unchanged side.