Jude Bellingham's alleged 'arrogance' is precisely what England need to win Euro 2024

The daggers had been drawn before England’s last 16 game against Slovakia started. You could hear them being sharpened when Ivan Schranz scored the opener, a goal which the gloomy commentary on ITV (and on social media) insisted had been coming from somewhere within Slovakia’s 30% possession and zero shots on target. Had England lost, the press and public would have gone into meltdown. Quite a large portion of both already had.

Even after Jude Bellingham’s audacious last-gasp equaliser and England’s eventual qualification for the quarter-final, it feels as though little of the doom and gloom has really been dispelled. There was plenty of just cause for criticism, of course, but while England’s lack of cutting edge remains deeply concerning (especially when thrown into relief by Spain’s ruthless excellence immediately afterwards), the reaction during and after the match still seemed to contrast with a match in which England had almost complete control over territory and possession.

“You hear people talk a lot of rubbish,” as Bellingham put it in the post-match press conference. “It’s nice when you deliver. You can give them a little bit back.”

In this case, ‘giving it back’ took a pretty mild form – a thrown pose with Harry Kane and a shout of “who else?” with arms spread wide. And now a section of social media has taken exception to Bellingham’s alleged ‘arrogance’ as a result, perhaps because they rightly realise that they’re the mostly the same people he wanted to give a bit back to in the first place.

Some of the more odious corners of the media have taken umbrage with Bellingham’s outward expressions of self-belief in the past, with searches turning up occasional snarky articles from the usual suspects which feel like warm-up acts as they prepare to turn on him in the editorially-approved Raheem Sterling/Marcus Rashford style as soon as he starts playing badly. Being a talented young Black man in eyeline of certain sections of the press is plainly not a forgiving experience.

But heaven knows that England needed that ‘arrogance’ on Sunday evening. It presumably takes a certain iron-clad self-belief to throw oneself into a bicycle kick with England 1-0 down and just seconds left on the clock, and to pull it off to perfection. A more ‘humble’ player may not have made the attempt, preferring instead not to be the one responsible for the failure. It isn’t just about a player believing that they have the skills to score a difficult goal in the moment, but about being prepared to take the responsibility of being the one who missed.

It’s a responsibility that has weighed heavily on many of Bellingham’s forebears. Gareth Southgate himself is among many players pilloried for years after missing in penalty shootouts, unfortunate moments that were never forgiven or forgotten by the fans. Three years ago, when England lost the final of the last European Championship at Wembley, the three Black players who missed spot-kicks were racially abused. Effigies of David Beckham were hanged in the streets after his red card against Argentina in the 1998 World Cup. England’s fanbase is consistently violent and vitriolic towards its pariahs.

Bellingham is willing to risk taking that burden on, partly perhaps because he knows damned well that he’s good enough to get it right in the crucial moment. He has just finished the season as a European and Spanish champion and the leading goalscorer for Real Madrid. He’s a multimillionaire who has a side hustle as an underwear model, and he’s only just turned 21. He’s entitled to the occasional moment of self-satisfaction, especially after scoring a 95th-minute overhead kick to keep England alive in a major tournament.

English fans and media berating players for perceived arrogance isn’t a new thing, of course, and as a nation we have always preferred the humble, head-down worker bee to the cocksure and headstrong virtuoso, but perhaps the ritualistic quashing of self-confidence and individualism is a part of the reason why we have struggled for so long. Gareth Southgate has done a wonderful job in helping England’s players to feel a bit of joy and confidence again after decades in which it was ruthlessly beaten out of them, and results have improved in a fashion that probably isn’t coincidental – England have now won more knock-out games at major tournaments under Southgate than they have under all other managers since Sir Alf Ramsey combined.

England may well yet fall short of winning that trophy for Southgate. They have not played particularly close to their full potential and have made heavy weather of games that should have been smoother sailing – but it remains remarkable that the greatest and angriest critics are the people who are supposed to want England to win more than anyone else, and that those complaining about Bellingham’s ‘arrogance’ are those who stand to gain the most from it.

Even if England play poorly again and get knocked out by a Switzerland side that have been the better side in the tournament so far, Southgate has still been a superb servant to the national side who deserves gratitude, not abuse, and Bellingham is a magnificent talent who should be encouraged to believe himself better than those around him. After all, it wouldn’t be a belief that contradicted the facts.

England need someone who knows just how good they are. They need their Cristiano Ronaldo, their Zinedine Zidane, their version of any one of a dozen Brazilian greats. Swagger and self-assuredness in excellence are not a hindrance to winning major tournaments – looking at the teams who have won them in the past, it’s closer to a requisite.

That doesn’t have to mean a graceless and toxic form of arrogance, it just means allowing England’s best players the room to know how good they are, and to wear their excellence with pride. It mean not barracking them when they do make a mess of it, knowing that the times they get it right will outweigh the bad moments in the end. In Bellingham, England have one of the most gifted players on the planet – let’s allow him the space to play like it.