This Euros has been a wonderful riot of colour and joyous football with England the odd ones out. It's time to join the party, writes OLIVER HOLT

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The lust for ushering Gareth Southgate into oblivion thrived through those bleakest of times when England reached the World Cup semi-finals in 2018, forged a way through to the final of Euro 2020 and fell at the last-eight stage of Qatar 2022.

It is entirely understandable. Apart from leading the national team through their most successful period in more than half a century, restoring pride in the shirt, making England contenders again, banishing club cliques and trusting in youth, what has Southgate ever done for us?

If the antipathy towards the England manager can prosper through periods like that, it is little surprise two unconvincing performances at the start of this European Championship have unleashed hell on him.

But as a soundbite arms race rages between broadcasters locked in a battle over who can aim the most disparaging criticism at a manager and a team who sit top of their group despite not yet having got out of first gear, there is some light amid the gloom.

Southgate looked a little bemused, a little weary and a little impatient on Monday when he reacted to calls for sweeping changes to the team who had laboured to a win over Serbia and a draw with Denmark ahead of Tuesday night's final Group C game against Slovenia.

England have come under fire from critics for their underwhelming start to Euro 2024

Despite leading the national team through their most successful period in more than half a century, there is growing pressure on Gareth Southgate amid their struggles in Germany

He pointed out, as gently as he could, that things have not been too bad over the last few years, and previous tournaments have begun in a similar fashion to how they have started here in Germany for England. He asked us to believe that things would get better soon.

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'The big risk is that you have a knee-jerk reaction,' Southgate said, 'and you move away from things that are going well. You can rip everything up and go in a completely different direction but what's actually going well? We don't want to lose what's going well.

'Then it's, "OK, how can we add to what we're doing?" Your best players are still your best players. We might not have functioned as a team as we would have liked for a large part of the second game (against Denmark) and half of the first game (against Serbia).

'But that doesn't mean what we've been doing for the last two years, in particular, and the period before that… we shouldn't be throwing everything out of the window.

'That's where we have to stay calm and make sensible decisions and make the right calls, keep everybody on track. We were pretty certain four points would qualify us and then it's about winning the group.

'We've trodden this path before. We're exactly where we were points-wise in the last Euros, but have scored a goal more and conceded a goal more. We're on the path to the next round and now we want to control our destiny by winning the group.'

The message from Southgate, and from his midfield general Declan Rice, was that it is time to join the party. This tournament has been a wonderful riot of colour and entertaining, attacking, joyous football — and England have felt like the odd man out.

Southgate suggested that there's been a 'knee-jerk' reaction to England's opening two games 

Declan Rice was defiant, at Monday's press conference, that England will step up their game

That is why much of the criticism aimed at them has been deserved. Nobody wants pundits who toe the party line, close their eyes and see no faults. The BBC have an entire coterie of them fronting their athletics coverage. England have been sluggish and uninspired. Their tactics have been confused. Jude Bellingham dragged them over the line against the Serbs and they were outplayed by the Danes.

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But they have found a way. And if they get a result against Slovenia, they will top the group.

The hope is that things will begin to change here in Cologne. England have started slowly in group stages before, including at the Mexico 86 World Cup when they faced fierce criticism for a defeat by Portugal and a draw with Morocco, before Gary Lineker exploded into the tournament with a 28-minute hat-trick in a 3-0 win over Poland. It was the same at Italia 90.

They had much to work on then and they have much to work on now. Southgate made it plain there had been candid conversations in the camp in the past few days about what needs to be done. He and Rice both said we would see a different England in this last group match.

The suggestion, certainly, is that the experiment with playing Trent Alexander-Arnold in midfield has been abandoned and that Conor Gallagher will take his place alongside Rice in front of the back four.

Southgate said England had spent time working to improve their pressing strategy. It is also to be hoped they have worked on a plan to try to stop Harry Kane, Phil Foden and Bellingham seeking to occupy the same space in the pocket between the opposition back line and midfield.

There is so much talent in this team that it cannot be allowed just to peter out. England have struggled but despite that, they are in a position of strength and now they must have the courage to let their talent answer their critics on Tuesday night.

Southgate is set to bring Conor Gallagher into the starting line-up for their Slovenia clash

They went into this tournament as one of the favourites for a reason. Because of the talent the team possess. Because, in Bellingham, Foden and Kane, England have three of the best forward players in the world.

The first two games have been about glitches, about bugs in the software, about players who have not played for some time working their way back to fitness.

Now it is time to shake off their uncertainties and rediscover the formula that has brought them so much success over the last six years.

If you didn't give Southgate any credit for leading the country to its first final for 55 years at the last Euros, you are probably unlikely to give him any credit for beating Slovenia in a group game. But if that happens, it could yet be the performance that brings England to the party at last.