We’ve had to wait an extra year, but Euro 2020 is finally here! Or is it Euro 2021 now?
Anyway, with the European Championships about to kick off, I thought I’d get you in the mood ahead of England’s inevitable Last 16 exit. It’s time for a Euro-themed Football Manager 2021 experiment!
In today’s post, I’ll be managing England as they launch their latest attempt for continental glory. However, as the title suggests, there is a twist: I CANNOT use any players from the Premier League’s ‘Big Six’ teams.
INTRODUCTION
You still remember the European Super League, right? I mean, who could forget the attempted breakaway competition, which thankfully fell apart within days of being announced in April. If it had gone ahead, one major consequence would have seen ESL players banned from international tournaments.
And that got me thinking. How would England fare at this year’s European Championships if they didn’t pick any players from the six Premier League clubs involved in this failed ESL project – the so-called ‘Big Six’?
In this FM21 experiment, I am taking charge of the Three Lions for Euro 2020 – but I cannot select any English players who are currently contracted to Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United or Tottenham. I can call up anyone who has previously played for any of these teams but is now contracted elsewhere.
So that means NO Harry Kane. NO Phil Foden. NO Bukayo Saka. NO Trent Alexander-Arnold… erm, hang on. Even going on loan to West Ham hasn’t saved Jesse Lingard from the scrapheap – as far as this experiment is concerned, he’s still a Manchester United player.
I am using Dodgee Gamer’s Euro 2020 database, which almost exactly recreates this summer’s finals. All the groups are correct, the rule changes have been implemented, and the fixture dates and venues are fairly accurate, though there are a few little issues, which I’ll get to later. You can download this database on Mediafire or the Steam Workshop.
So that’s the explanation out of the way. Now, who’s going to be the manager of these Three Lions?
Though Gareth Southgate never played for a ‘Big Six’ club, he has resigned in protest at not being allowed to pick most of his star men. I’ve replaced him with perhaps England’s greatest striker never to play for any of the nation’s superpowers. I am, of course, talking about…
…Big Dave Nugent. His England CV reads “one cap, one goal” – scored from one yard against Andorra in 2007. Not even Alan Shearer could top that record!
Having wound down his career at Tranmere, Nugent has now been charged with bringing football home. Can he end 55 years of hurt – and can he do it without the big egos of the ‘Big Six’?
SQUAD REPORT
With the new rules in place, our squad can include up to 26 players. The star ratings may not look great, but bear in mind that these lads are being compared to our best players, who are mostly absent. I’ve still assembled a squad that should do reasonably well at the Euros – or at least get out of our group!
Aston Villa and Everton have the most players in this squad, with four apiece. There are three each from Leicester and Southampton, while every non-‘Big Six’ team in the PL except Brighton, Fulham and West Brom has at least one player involved.
The ‘Big Six’ ban hasn’t cost England any notable goalkeepers, apart from Dean Henderson and – of course – Scott Carson. Everton’s Jordan Pickford retains the number 1 jersey for his excellent reflexes and ball-playing abilities, if not for his infamous ‘T-rex arms’.
Knee problems haven’t ruled Nick Pope out of this European Championship, and he’ll be a solid backup after two ever-present Premier League seasons at Burnley. The experienced Fraser Forster was in contention for a recall after regaining his Southampton spot, but I’ve instead picked Aaron Ramsdale, in spite of back-to-back relegations with Bournemouth and Sheffield United.
While this England team is deprived of a certain ‘slabhead’, there’s good news for ex-Manchester United defender Chris Smalling. An impressive second season at Roma has earned the brave if erratic centre-back a Three Lions recall after nearly four years away. Mike will probably be partnered with Wolves’ spirited skipper Conor Coady, who is our vice-captain at these Euros.
In this save, Everton finished a close 7th behind Arsenal, thanks largely to the consistently strong defensive partnership of Michael Keane and Mason Holgate. Though Keane is a bit slow and Holgate lacks experience, both have made the cut, along with Aston Villa’s resolute vice-captain Tyrone Mings. Brighton youngster Ben White narrowly missed out on a call-up.
There’s a second Villa defender in our ranks, as their dependable left-back Matthew Targett gets his first shot at senior international football. He will be the understudy to a more experienced number 3, and I have plumped for the stamina and big-game know-how of Ryan Bertrand rather than the slightly better technical abilities of West Ham’s Aaron Cresswell.
Kieran Trippier was almost England’s World Cup Semi Final hero, and he is our clear first-choice at right-back, despite serving a betting ban and seeing limited action for Atlético Madrid this season. Trippier’s crossing abilities will be of particular use, as the energetic Leicester youngster James Justin is still quite raw in that respect, despite enjoying a fine breakthrough season.
22-year-old Declan Rice is one of our key men, having produced some outstanding performances for West Ham this term. The tireless ball-winner will be our chief holding midfielder, though Super Kalvin Phillips has also impressed in his maiden top-flight campaign with Leeds and should provide stiff competition.
I’ve appointed James Ward-Prowse as captain, and with good reason. Southampton’s box-to-box midfield maestro is ultra-consistent and very versatile, not to mention a demon at set-pieces. He’s backed up by the prodigious 17-year-old Dortmund wonderkid Jude Bellingham, whom we’ve given the number 22 shirt just so we can retire it after the Euros.
Aston Villa captain Jack Grealish looks set to be our creator-in-chief, having emerged as one of the Premier League’s most dynamic midfielders in the last two seasons. Leicester’s midfield orchestrator James Maddision is also in the running, and he too has a stunning long shot in his arsenal. However, there is no place for the creative but combustible Newcastle playmaker Jonjo Shelvey.
In the absences of Messrs Rashford and Sterling, much will be expected of Jadon Sancho out wide. He hit double figures on goals and assists for Bundesliga giants Dortmund this season and is one of the country’s most gifted technicians. Mainly playing on the left wing, he will be backed up by the similarly skilful Ebere Eze, who is a wildcard selection after his PL breakthrough at Crystal Palace.
On the right flank is Leicester’s Harvey Barnes, whose dribbling skills and long-range shooting inspired one of the greatest commentary lines in history. Hard-working left-footer Jarrod Bowen has also provided plenty of goals this season, and the West Ham man relishes big matches.
Finally, we come to the strikers. Everton’s Dominic Calvert-Lewin is a quintessential pressing forward is expected to lead the line after hitting 28 goals in two Premier League seasons. He was actually outgunned by Danny Ings, who was the PL’s top English scorer this season with 19 goals for Southampton but has yet to prove himself internationally.
FM21 cult icon/meme Callum Wilson is also in, though his 17 goals couldn’t save Newcastle from relegation. And while we probably don’t need a fourth striker, I’ve brought Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins along as well, because he too has been prolific. In fact, we have so much depth that even if Leicester legend Jamie Vardy had come out of international retirement, he wouldn’t have been guaranteed a place!
TACTICS & PRE-TOURNAMENT FRIENDLIES
While Southgate’s idea of tactical experimentation is to call up four right-backs and field a flat back five, I’m being a bit more ambitious. We’ll look make the most of our physicality by adopting a high-pressing counter-attacking approach, though we won’t go over the top with our counter-pressing. We’re not Germans, for heaven’s sake.
I’ll be using two similar tactics, which each got an airing in our pre-tournament friendlies. I replicated England’s real-life warm-ups by arranging matches against Austria and Romania, though they were both played at Wembley rather than Middlesbrough’s Riverside Stadium. That’s probably just as well, to be honest.
Also, if we were in Middlesbrough, Neil Warnock would have given us an ear-bashing after a surprise defeat to Austria. We dominated the first half playing the 4-2-3-1, but only took a narrow lead into the break after Calvert-Lewin scored from a scrappy corner. We missed chances to go further ahead and were punished when the visitors struck twice after the interval, sending us back to the drawing board.
I switched to the slightly more solid 4-3-3 against Romania, and we were much better, though we did need some luck in the first half. Smalling’s header from a Ward-Prowse free-kick hit the bar and deflected in off the Romanian keeper’s back, before Coady scored directly from another set-piece by our captain. A stunning solo goal by Grealish effectively sealed victory, though our clean sheet was ruined later on.
Not ideal preparation for a major tournament, then, but this is where the real story begins…
MATCH 1: ENGLAND vs SCOTLAND
One issue with this database is that although all the Euro 2020 groups are accurate, the order of the group matches is randomised when creating the save. England’s three fixtures are all at Wembley – but instead of kicking off against Croatia, we went straight into the ‘Battle of Britain’.
This was Scotland’s first match at a major men’s tournament in 23 years – and we got them off to the worst possible start after 14 minutes. Captain Ward-Prowse squared the ball to Maddison, who threaded a fantastic first-time ball through the Scottish defence for Leicester team-mate Barnes to run onto and fire home! 1-0 England!
Barnes caused Scotland more pain a few minutes later, with his tackle on Andrew Robertson ending the world-class left-back’s game through injury. At least the Tartan Army still had one other world-class left-back, even if Kieran Tierney had started this match on the right flank.
With their best talents in defence, the Scots unsurprisingly failed to create decent equalising opportunities. It was a comfortable afternoon for Pickford, whose 11th-minute catch from a Scott McTominay header was the only save he had to make.
Barnes’ opener was the only goal we needed – and it was the only one we got, as we had several shots at goal but couldn’t breach Steve Clarke’s defence for a second time. Even so, we started off with a win – and that was all that mattered!
ENGLAND: Pickford / Trippier (Justin), Smalling, Coady, Bertrand / Rice / Ward-Prowse, Maddison (Phillips) / Barnes (Bowen), Sancho (Watkins) / Calvert-Lewin (Ings).
MATCH 2: ENGLAND vs CROATIA
We would surely face a sterner test five days later against Croatia, who’d recorded a thrilling 3-2 win over the Czech Republic in their opener. Ivan Perisic scored twice before straining his groin, so the Internazionale winger’s absence from this match was a huge boost to us.
With the Croats playing more expansively than the Scots, our fast-paced counter-pressing made more of an impact. We pretty much dominated the first period, but needed a stroke of luck to break through just before half-time. Bertrand’s angled shot was spilled by goalkeeper Dominik Livaković, leaving Grealish with an easy tap-in!
That woke Croatia up, and when our defence dozed off in the 66th minute, they almost took advantage. Lovro Majer’s cross into the box was knocked down by Bruno Petković for Ante Rebic to find the net. Fortunately, Petković was offside when Majer crossed to the big Dinamo Zagreb centre-forward, so we stayed 1-0 up…
…until the 76th minute, as Barnes followed up his match-winner against Scotland by securing another victory here. The young winger dribbled to the byline and then squared the ball back to Ward-Prowse, who entered the penalty area just in time to smash in our second goal of the day!
Two games, two wins – and a knockout berth secured with time to spare!
ENGLAND: Pickford / Trippier, Smalling (Holgate), Coady, Bertrand (Targett) / Rice / Ward-Prowse (Phillips), Maddison (Bellingham) / Barnes, Grealish (Sancho) / Ings.
Scotland’s 2-1 win over the Czech Republic the following day confirmed our place in the Last 16 – as winners of Group D! We could now take things easier in our final group game against the Czechs, while Scotland and Croatia would fight it out for the right to join us in 2nd.
MATCH 3: CZECH REPUBLIC vs ENGLAND
With nothing on the line, I rested several key men and named a largely second-string XI against the Czech Republic. Surely this would be a nice relaxing afternoon for us, with a third straight win sending us into the knockout rounds in tip-top form?
Nope! Our reserves had a VERY frustrating day on the attacking front – partly because of striker Calvert-Lewin’s profligacy and playmaker Maddison’s inability to get into the game, but also because Tomas Vaclik was outstanding in the Czech goal.
After dominating the first half without reward, we fell prey to a Czech counter nine minutes into the second half. Martin Frydek hit a stunning long ball from left-back for Leverkusen striker Patrick Schick, who dribbled through our defence and swerved in a shot from 25 yards.
Staring at a surprise defence, I brought on Sancho, who won us a penalty in the 78th minute. Unfortunately, fellow substitute Wilson’s spot-kick was saved by the seemingly unbeatable Vaclik. Wilson did eventually break through the defence six minutes later, burying a centre from Eze to get us back level.
But then, to our horror, a huge mix-up between goalkeeper Pope and defender Mings allowed Schick to score a second goal for the Czechs in the 89th minute. Or at least it would’ve been a second goal had Schick not been offside from Lukas Hejda’s long ball. The offside flag saved our blushes, and although we didn’t make it three wins in a row, at least we were still undefeated!
ENGLAND: Pope / Justin (Trippier), Keane, Mings, Targett / Phillips, Ward-Prowse / Bowen (Sancho), Maddison (Watkins), Grealish (Eze) / Calvert-Lewin (Wilson).
Another bug in this database meant that the final group games weren’t played at the same time. Croatia beat Scotland 2-0 the following afternoon to secure a spot in the Last 16, though the Tartan Army also advanced as one of the best third-placed sides.
If the knockout bracket works as it will do in reality, then as Group D winners, our next match should be against the Group F runners-up. In this case, that would be reigning world champions France. I was definitely not looking forward to us facing Kanté and Mbappé…
…but it turned out we actually got Germany, who finished 3rd in that group. ‘Die Mannschaft’ were hardly easier opponents with their own array of attacking talents, but it could’ve been much worse! Plus it’s a chance for the English tabloids to go all Basil Fawlty – as usual.
We wouldn’t be staying at Wembley either, as we would’ve been expected to. Instead, we were sent all the way east to Bucharest. But as Liam Gallagher used to sing, “You’ve gotta roll with it…”
LAST 16: GERMANY vs ENGLAND
So here it was. A fantastic chance to beat an out-of-form, dishevelled Germany side – and finally banish the demons of 2010. And 1996. And 1990. And 1970.
We were summoning the spirit of ’66, which was fitting… because that was exactly how many seconds our clean sheet lasted. Leroy Sané ghosted past old man Bertrand to run onto a lovely ball from right-back Joshua Kimmich, which he squared across our area for Serge Gnabry to put Germany ahead after barely a minute. Great.
By the 20th minute, the German machine had cranked into top gear. After Barnes carelessly lost the ball to left-back Robin Gosens, our rivals launched a rapid counter-attack. Sané dribbled from his own half and into our penalty area, where he evaded Smalling’s desperate slide tackle and fired home.
Facing a two-goal deficit at the break, I abandoned the 4-3-3 we’d started the match with and went for broke, switching to a 4-2-3-1. Barnes was substituted for Grealish, who had been doubtful for this match after spraining his wrist against the Czechs.
I brought on two more substitutes in the 64th minute, as Justin replaced Trippier at right-back, and Wilson had taken Maddison’s place to partner Calvert-Lewin up front. A minute later, Grealish hurt his calf trying to tackle Sané. His game was over – but hey, we can still use five subs, right?
Oh… you can only make three subs in the knockout rounds. I’m pretty sure that’s not in the revised rules, but – to quote our Mancunian friend again – “whatever”.
So we were now 2-0 down AND a man down… no, hang on. Sané scored again from a Kimmich cross in the 71st minute. Make that 3-0 down.
Seeing as we’d left all our Man Utd players at home, there was ZERO chance of us coming back from so far behind. England’s Euro adventure ended in disgrace, Big Dave was fired, and The Sun photoshopped Jadon Sancho’s face onto a sausage.
ENGLAND: Pickford / Trippier (Justin), Smalling, Coady, Bertrand / Rice / Ward-Prowse, Maddison (Wilson) / Barnes (Grealish), Sancho / Calvert-Lewin.
Our conquerors lost in the Quarter Finals to Portugal, who successfully defended their European title, defeating Poland on penalties after a 2-2 draw. Captain Cristiano Ronaldo was in floods of tears afterwards, presumably because he was distraught about scoring in every match except the Final.
So, how would England fare at Euro 2020 without their ‘Big Six’ players? Not great, in all honesty. But with our biggest stars thankfully still available for this summer’s tournament, perhaps reality will play out differently. Maybe we’ll only lose to the Germans on penalties this time…
Football hasn’t come home, but I hope you’ve enjoyed this little Football Manager adventure. I might do a few more Euro 2020 experiments on FM21 over the coming weeks. If that tickles your fancy, you can follow the blog by hitting the ‘Follow’ button below – and you can also find me on Twitter @Fuller_FM.
Thanks for reading!
Fuller FM 
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