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England’s international break turned out to be very much a mixed bag. Gareth Southgate’s side defeated Wales 3-0 in a friendly and then were fortunate to beat Belgium 2-1 in the UEFA Nations League. But after that, their luck ran out.
Last night saw England defeated 0-1 by Denmark at Wembley, knocking them down to third place in their Nations League group and very much damaging their hopes of making next year’s competition finals.
The games will definitely have given Southgate a lot to think about, so with that in mind, here are five talking points from England’s international break.
#1 Do England have a disciplinary problem?
The biggest talking point coming out of England’s September international break came when youngsters Phil Foden and Mason Greenwood were ejected from the squad. The duo were caught breaking COVID-19 safety rules when they invited a pair of Icelandic models back to their hotel room – causing a lot of controversy in the process.
Foden and Greenwood were left out of the most recent squad as a punishment, but that didn’t prevent more controversy in terms of England’s discipline, both on and off the pitch.
Not long after the squad had been announced, it was revealed that Tammy Abraham, Jadon Sancho, and Ben Chilwell had all attended a party for Abraham’s 23rd birthday, breaking the UK’s current COVID-19 rules in the process.
The incident led to all three men being unavailable for the Wales game. And while they were welcomed back into the squad following an apology, only Sancho played any part in the games against Belgium and Denmark.
On the pitch, meanwhile, England’s gameplan against Denmark was left in tatters when Harry Maguire was red-carded for two crude challenges after just 31 minutes. And after the match had ended, Reece James – making his first start for England – was also sent off for dissent.
So do England now have a disciplinary problem? It’s worth exploring. Firstly, the two incidents must be looked at separately.
Abraham, Sancho, and Chilwell made a major error in judgment, but apologised for it. Like Foden and Greenwood, they’re young men who are bound to make some mistakes. Should they have known better? Definitely, but they meant no harm, and as they weren’t on England duty at the time, it’s hard to hang this on Southgate or anyone else associated with the team.
Maguire’s red card, meanwhile, was caused largely by his own poor form right now, and we’ll discuss that a little later, which leaves James. It’s fair to say the referee in the Denmark game didn’t do the best job, but obviously that didn’t give the Chelsea man the right to hurl abuse at him. However, to see frustrations boil over was also somewhat understandable.
With all of this in mind, it’s probably not the case that England have a problem with discipline. All of the incidents were regrettable – and indeed, avoidable – but simply don’t point to anything overly sinister.
#2 Southgate needs to move away from his defensive mindset before it’s too late
Perhaps no other side were as impressive as England in their Euro 2020 qualifying campaign. The Three Lions throttled their opponents, winning seven of eight games and scoring a scarcely believable 37 goals in the process.
England also performed really well in the 2018-19 UEFA Nations League, where they defeated Spain and Croatia. And it definitely appeared to be the case that Southgate’s 4-3-3 system, a change from the 3-5-2 that he’d used in the 2018 World Cup, was working brilliantly.
However, in the recent international break, Southgate switched to a 3-4-3 system, and it’s safe to say that it didn’t pay off. England struggled for creativity using the new system, only scoring two goals from open play in three matches, and one of those was heavily deflected.
More to the point though, aside from the second half of the Belgium game, the new system also didn’t appear to help the defence. The likes of Eric Dier and Harry Maguire appeared to be shaky and unsure of themselves in a back three. On the other hand, Trent Alexander-Arnold was largely wasted in his role as a wing-back.
But the worst part about Southgate’s new system was his use of two holding midfielders in the centre of the pitch. Whether the combination was Declan Rice and Jordan Henderson or Rice and Kalvin Phillips, it just didn’t work, stunting the team’s attacking instincts entirely.
Will Southgate recognise the limitations of this system and move back to 4-3-3? England fans better hope so, or their chances of success in next summer’s European Championships seem slim to none.
#3 England are no longer so reliant on Harry Kane
Harry Kane has arguably been England’s most important player ever since Southgate took over as boss back in 2016. The Tottenham Hotspur striker has now scored 32 goals for his country, and finished as Golden Boot winner in the 2018 World Cup and top scorer in qualification for Euro 2020, too.
However, the worry that England have had during that time has always been around Kane’s fitness. The striker is somewhat injury-prone, and so many fans wondered how England would cope without him – even while the likes of Marcus Rashford and Raheem Sterling were scoring goals from wide areas.
The emergence of Tammy Abraham as a potential alternative last year was welcome, but following the recent games, England now have another two options. Both Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Danny Ings scored goals in the friendly win over Wales, with Calvert-Lewin also performing well in the win over Belgium.
Are either of them as good as Kane? Well, no, but Calvert-Lewin in particular offers a different style of forward to the Tottenham man. And bringing him off the bench in a major tournament as a tactical switch could definitely be a viable option now.
England might be short of top-class players in some positions, but based on the rise of Abraham, and now Ings and Calvert-Lewin, upfront isn’t one of them.
#4 Why won’t Southgate trust Grealish?
Many fans and observers have been calling for Aston Villa’s Jack Grealish to be capped for England for some time now. And when the Three Lions were hit with some injury withdrawals from September’s squad, the playmaker was given his chance.
After impressing in September’s draw with Denmark, Grealish was included in the squad from the beginning for this month’s games. Given his first start against Wales, the Villa captain performed brilliantly, and created Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s opening goal.
His performance was so good that he was awarded Man of the Match, and calls for him to start against Belgium and Denmark immediately went out. Somehow though, Gareth Southgate ignored those calls – and despite making numerous substitutions in both games, Grealish was nowhere to be seen.
So why was this? It’s honestly hard to say. Southgate had stated before that in his mind, Grealish would be competing against Marcus Rashford, Raheem Sterling, Jadon Sancho and Mason Greenwood for a spot as a wide forward. But two of those players were missing from the current squad.
And in both the Belgium and Denmark games, Mason Mount – who rarely plays as a wide-man for Chelsea – was given the nod ahead of the Villa captain. Sure, he scored against Belgium, but his inclusion over Grealish was definitely strange.
It was also strange that when the Denmark game was crying out for someone with Grealish’s ball-carrying skills, Southgate ignored him again. Instead, the England boss introduced Sancho, Calvert-Lewin, and Jordan Henderson.
So what more does Grealish need to do to have his talents fully recognised in the England set-up? Right now it’s hard to say, and perhaps only Southgate knows. But for the majority of fans, it feels like this immensely talented player is being treated somewhat unfairly.
#5 Maguire needs a break
It was always a risk to start Manchester United captain Harry Maguire in the UEFA Nations League games with Belgium and Denmark. Not only was he coming off a match that saw him concede six goals against Tottenham, but the shadow of his Greek court case was still very much looming over him.
Maguire performed decently against Belgium, albeit with some shaky moments. But against Denmark, he had a total stinker. The United defender was red-carded after just half an hour of the game for two bookable offences, both of which were crude, late challenges following simple errors.
Worse still, both of the challenges came when Maguire was horribly out of position, as he was in the centre of the pitch for the first and in a wide left area for the second. When he trudged off the pitch, he looked very much like a man with the weight of the world on his shoulders.
The truth is that Gareth Southgate should never have picked a player so badly struggling for form right now. It goes against the ethos that he introduced to the England squad back in 2016. It may have done Maguire far more harm than good overall.
The United captain is still an excellent defender, but right now, more than anything else, he needs a serious break. Unless his form quickly improves, perhaps leaving him out of the next England squad entirely would be worth considering.
