COLOGNE, GERMANY – JUNE 25: Jude Bellingham of England looks during the UEFA EURO 2024 group stage … [+] match between England and Slovenia at Cologne Stadium on June 25, 2024 in Cologne, Germany. (Photo by Image Photo Agency/Getty Images)
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Drawn, grumpy and beleaguered.
The Jude Bellingham appearing for England at Euro 2024 has been very different from the energetic, belligerent and domineering figure who held the Champions League trophy just weeks earlier.
So much so that a debate has emerged about whether there is some physical limitation hindering his displays.
The idea has been fuelled by the man himself who revealed he needed inspiration from the England fans to keep going in the latter stages of the matches in Germany.
“I think you definitely draw on them for energy towards the end of games,” he said following the 0-0 draw with Slovenia.
“I felt like in the last game, I was absolutely dead but you hear them singing, hear them chanting and you can play at a level that’s not our best, it’s normal, it can happen.”
Manager Gareth Southgate quickly claimed the statement was an emotional response rather than an accurate description of a man running on empty.
“I think when you are walking off the pitch and you have given everything, you are going to be feeling physically and emotionally in a certain way,” said Southgate.
“He missed a period with Real Madrid with an ankle injury, then missed some games towards the end as they were preparing for the Champions League final.
“I’m not concerned at all about where he is with his conditioning.”
Attributing an England star’s underperformance at a major tournament to tiredness is an age-old phenomenon.
From a squinting Steven Gerrard to a red-faced Wayne Rooney the English media has long agonised over whether the gruelling Premier League schedule and historic lack of a winter break might explain why the Three Lions jersey weighs on players like a bullet-proof vest.
But with Bellingham descriptions of a “relentless Real Madrid schedule” are simply inaccurate.
Last season, he played a total of 42 games broken up by a winter break, something it should be pointed out, the Stourbridge-native has had in all but one of the seasons in his club career.
Compare that to the man at the heart of Spain’s engine room, Rodri, who played 50 games last year.
There is no suggestion the Spaniard, who is eight years older than Bellingham, might be tired or that his schedule was too ‘relentless’ even though it demonstrable is.
However, there is a lethargy to Jude Bellingham’s game that is grimly reminiscent of the struggles of world-class England stars in years gone by.
The Ghost Of 2006 Wayne Rooney
England’s Wayne Rooney is sent off for a foul on Portugal’s Alberto Ricardo Carvalho by referee … [+] Horacio Marcelo Elizondo (Photo by Mike Egerton – PA Images via Getty Images)
PA Images via Getty Images
Wayne Rooney arrived at the 2006 World Cup in Germany as one of the best players on the planet, the same age as Bellingham having experienced a similarly meteoric rise as a teenager.
A frustrated Rooney spent most of that tournament running around like a headless chicken flapping his arms a teammates and ultimately being sent off in disgrace for stamping on Portugal’s Ricardo Carvalho.
So it was informative to hear the former Manchester United star’s analysis of his successor’s performance. “Jude starts the first game well, but I’m sure he’d tell you himself he hasn’t had the best games in the last two,” Rooney told the Football Daily podcast.
“For me, he’s looked very frustrated, I’ve been there, [in] exactly the position he’s in.
“He’s giving it his all, 100 percent, I don’t think that’s the problem.
“You want players demanding more from their teammates and I think that’s what he was trying to do. So, it’s not a criticism, it is a compliment in some ways. But you just don’t want that to boil over to the point where he might pick up a silly red card.“
Rooney pondered whether the lack of public words from Bellingham at the tournament so far indicated some deeper issue.
“As a talisman for England and Real Madrid, I haven’t heard him speak,” Rooney added.
“What is the reason for that? As one of the iconic players now for England in the squad, he should be fronting that. That tells me that he’s probably not quite right in the tournament.”
As ever Southgate was quick to dismiss suggestions that something might be wrong with Bellingham and highlight how young he still is.
“He’s been smiling a lot. It was a big day for him with it being his 21st birthday,” the coach said.
“It is also a reminder of his age and how well he deals with all the expectations around him at a remarkably young age.
“I can understand his world is very different from most 21-year-olds I know. He deals with it exceptionally well and better than most 21-year-olds I know.”
It would be in Southgate’s interests to shield a tired unhappy player from greater scrutiny, but it equally could be the case that it simply isn’t true.
The problem for Bellingham is that when a player heralded as one of the best in the world starts to look lost and ill-tempered people will read huge amounts into the small details.
It will only be recapturing his form that this analysis will cease. He is hardly alone in facing this speculation, the entire misfiring elite England lineup is under the same microscope.
But Bellingham needs to banish the ghost of Rooney in 2006 which has lingered in the background ever since the final whistle blew against Serbia in the opening game.
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