When Jude Bellingham opened the scoring after 13 minutes in England's Euro 2024 opener against Serbia, many began to position him as the early favorite for the Player of the Tournament award.
The 20-year-old arrived in Germany after an impressive first season with Real Madrid, scoring 23 goals and providing 13 assists in 42 games in all competitions to lead the way. Los Blancos in La Liga, Champions League and Supercopa titles.
However, since that strong head start in Gelsenkirchen, it has been a big drop for Bellingham at the Euros. Many were left worried and confused by the strange performance in England's turgid 0-0 draw with Slovenia on Tuesday night.
Bellingham failed to attempt a single shot or create chances during the match in Cologne (stats via FotMob), despite completing the full 90 minutes. In addition, the former Dortmund man was successful with just one of five attempted drives, was dispossessed twice and lost seven of the nine matches he faced.
“Jude Bellingham knows the quality he has and he knows it's not a class that brings him down because he stood there wearing a Real Madrid shirt and won the Champions League,” former England goalkeeper Joe Hart told BBC One after Tuesday's game.
“It's not working well and you've had a few quiet games.”
England will enter the knockout round on a troubling journey
It may have rubbed off on fans and manager Gareth Southgate alike, but England head into the knockout stages of Euro 2024 in dire fashion.
The Three Lions have now won just two of their last nine games, starting with a 1-1 draw with North Macedonia during the tournament's qualifiers in November.
Meanwhile, England lost 1-0 at Wembley to both Brazil and Iceland, and have scored just eight goals in total and have managed to score more than one goal in a game just twice – beating Bosnia and Herzegovina 3-0 and drawing 2-0. -2 with Belgium.
The Netherlands are likely to face England in the round of 16, but will have to improve their attack significantly if they are to break down a defense featuring the likes of Virgil van Dijk, Nathan Ake and Stefan de Vrij.
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