THE traditional marked contrast in how England’s performances are viewed on BBC/ITV versus RTE continued on Sunday night.
While Jude Bellingham did power them into a deserved lead on 13 minutes, all fluidity soon evaporated from England’s display.
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Rather than going on to lay down a marker to their fellow contenders as Germany and Spain did in their opening victories, they ceded more and more control to an inferior Serbia side.
The disjointedness was summed up by captain and focal point Harry Kane only having TWO touches in the entire first half.
The downward spiral across the whole team continued into the second half with it proving to be the dourest match of Euro 2024 so far.
This is backed up by Opta stats which verified that the two teams combined to produce a mere 11 shots across the 90 minutes.
That is the lowest competition figure since such shot statistics were first recorded at Euro 1980.
Yet for all that, the tone of coverage in the BBC studio was still relatively upbeat.
While Bellingham did put in a classy outing before being withdrawn late on for Kobbie Mainoo, the fawning over him has reached new heights.
And pundits Micah Richards and Rio Ferdinand were extremely generous towards Phil Foden as they effectively gave him a pass since he had been shunted out onto the left wing.
Although a central role is clearly his best position, he has been deployed on countless occasions for Man City out there so he should still be delivering more than the ineffectual output he managed.
Cesc Fabregas was sat between Richards and Ferdinand and was the only one really willing to call out the subpar showing for what it was.
Richie Sadlier and Didi Hamann in RTE’s Montrose base were far more willing to pan the English performance.
The Champions League winner stated Gareth Southgate’s uncharacteristic call to drop Trent Alexander-Arnold into central midfield had backfired completely.
Meanwhile Sadlier noted how they’re severely lacking in natural width down the left-hand side with Foden’s tendency to drift inside compounded by having right-footed Kieran Trippier deputise for Luke Shaw.
The manner with which the RTE pair were happy to point out structural problems which will be tough to solve at this late stage impressed the bulk of Irish viewers.
Stephen Doyle of Off the Ball tweeted: “Noticeable contrast between Micah and Rio on BBC and Didi and Richie on RTE, analysing that first half.
“The latter – rightly – critical of England’s performance.
“The former spent most of their time talking about how great Bellingham is and not a bit of honest criticism.”
Among the replies, Deco added: “Flicked between both, thought they were watching different games.”
Conor agreed: “Worth the licence fee alone. BBC coverage is so nauseating.”
However, there were some dissenting voices who feel the national broadcaster’s coverage strays into being overly harsh in its appraisal of England.
Micheál argued: “Thought England were very good for 30 minutes.
“Feels like RTE pundits are playing up to the audience at times. Infinitely better than the English coverage, granted.”