Bellingham Struggles at Euros After Stellar Real Madrid Season

 

Gareth Southgate needs to control the midfielder's efforts to keep him from burning out since he has found it difficult to maintain his explosive start to the tournament.

Jude Bellingham said early on in Euro 2024 that he was going to win. But he has been retreating since his brilliant display against Serbia. He seemed to have been suffering after his all-action effort in Gelsenkirchen, since his subsequent performances have been very different from England's opening-round performance at the tournament.

The Real Madrid midfielder was a shadow of the guy we saw in the first game and for the whole of the previous season in the 1-1 draw with Denmark. And he put on another terrible show against Slovenia, missing easy passes and having no real impact on the game.

So what has happened to the man who seemed certain to win the Player of the Tournament award, and is England really so concerned?

POOR FORM

From the Serbia game, where Bellingham attempted 70 passes and completed 90 touches, there has been a noticeable decline. He completed 41 of 44 passes and collected 63 touches against Denmark.

With 70 touches and 57 attempted passes versus Slovenia, he was marginally more involved. However, he was much more careless, dropping eight balls. Furthermore, in contrast to his last two trips. He made no crucial passes and had no shots, therefore he had no offensive influence at all.

"He had a rough evening. He had a fantastic first game, but he's battled ever since," Gary Lineker stated on the podcast "The Rest Is Football."

OPPORTUNITY TO RECLAIM HIMSELF 

More arguments concerning Bellingham and Foden's compatibility emerged after the Slovenia match, which brought back memories of the controversy surrounding Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard twenty years earlier.

Like Sven-Goran Eriksson in the past, Southgate has shied away from making the crucial choice to bench one of the two top players. However, demands are mounting for him to replace Bellingham or Foden in the elimination round so that England may finally maximize their wealth of attacking talent by fielding a left winger by nature.

And ten days ago, it would have seemed unimaginable to lose Bellingham, but now Foden has surpassed him in the running. It turns out that Foden might not be available for selection for the match against Slovakia in the round of sixteen since he is expected to return home on the same day as the game to attend his child's birth.

However, considering his tendency to adhere to his original plan, it wouldn't be shocking if Southgate chose Foden in addition to Bellingham if he is available. But that would be a risk in and of itself, since Foden will have been out of rhythm with his training for a few days.

RELENTLESS CAREER

Bellingham's drop in form could possibly be the result of a taxing season for Real Madrid after playing a key role in Los Merengues winning both La Liga and the Champions League. Bellingham played 3,645 minutes in all competitions for Madrid, the fourth most in the squad behind Federico Valverde, Antonio Rudiger, and Rodrygo.

His rigorous season with Madrid came after a career marked by merciless pace. Bellingham made his professional debut just one month after turning 16, and by the time he was 20, he had accumulated nearly 15,000 minutes in competitive senior matches.

To put that in context, Wayne Rooney had played 10,989 minutes at that point in his career, while Frank Lampard had played 3,477. David Beckham had played less than 1000 minutes at the same point.

Bellingham also suffered two injuries last season, none of which were minor. In November, the midfielder dislocated his shoulder against Rayo Vallecano, which sidelined him for 21 days. He quickly regained to form, scoring four goals and assisting twice in his next six games, but it has been revealed that the issue has persisted, and he may need shoulder surgery after the Euros.

He also sprained his ankle against Girona in February, which caused him to miss a month of play. When he returned to the pitch, there was a drop off from his furious, record-breaking start to life with Madrid, when he scored three goals and assisted five times in his final 13 games of the season.

In his first 29 appearances, he scored 20 goals and set up another five.

NEEDS TO BE PROPERLY MANAGED

So it should come as no surprise that Bellingham has encountered a stumbling block and has slowed down a bit. The midfielder's ascension from the Championship to becoming a strong contender for the Ballon d'Or has been so remarkable that it appears he is composed of a different material than other English stars who have come before him.

His momentary slip in performance in Germany does not detract from the fact that Bellingham is a one-of-a-kind talent who has already made his mark on the game and has the potential to dominate it for the next decade. However, he is still human and subject to the same biological imitations that all athletes endure.

However, he must also manage his workload during games and throughout the season. England and Real Madrid also have a role to play here, though no one likes to be the manager that rotates Bellingham, even if it's for his personal good and the team's long-term gain. However, Southgate and Bellingham must carefully manage his workload to ensure that the displays in Frankfurt and Cologne do not become a trend.