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We've all finally got our heads around the Nations League, and were looking forward to seeing how England would fair against Croatia. Impressive in the World Cup, the Croatians played some of the most entertaining football and knocked out England in the semi-final stage.
Things haven't gone to plan since Russia though, losing 6-0 against a convincing Spain in September. The first task for Croatia; concede fewer goals than the Spain match. You can't blame them for being cagey and maybe not having a crowd present played more of a role than people would have thought
So, it finished 0-0 and you may have been excused if you found yourself napping halfway through as the game itself (especially the first half) failed to entertain. It never got out of third gear and felt like a training excercise, mainly due to the eerie silence from the absence of a crowd. However, the game did provide a few talking points and here are the five things we learned from the 0-0 draw.
#1 England need to be playing three at the back
Interestingly enough, Southgate opted for a 4-4-2 formation and Kyle Walker was playing as a right back, instead of the right center back position he held in Russia. The option to have three at the back was there as both Alexander-Arnold and Trippier were on the bench and many expected this to be the formation opted for by Southgate.
Attacking from wide areas was the job of Marcus Rashford and Raheem Sterling and both failed to make any impact from wide. At the other end, four at the back seemed to stifle any potential building blocks and England fell back into a familiar way of slow, uninventive football fuelled by sideways passing.
#2 England have depth and Southgate needs to trust it
Ben Chilwell looked very assured at left back and you wouldn't have guessed that it was his debut. Barkley made his first start under the Southgate reign and held his own against Modric, Rakitic and Kovacic.
Jadon Sancho was another player to make his debut and did well in his 10-minute cameo. The change for Sterling was inevitable and many would argue that it should have come sooner. Sterling's poor England form has flown under the radar and he has only managed two goals from 45 appearances.
It was a frustrating night for the Man City winger and his night was cut short not long after he received a yellow card for kicking the ball away. England had other exciting players on the bench including Maddison and Mount. In a 0-0 game with few chances, it would have been great to see one of these two come on.
#3 A game with no crowd is very, very strange!
We all knew that not having a crowd had the potential to influence the feel of the game but I don't think we quite knew to what extent. The flat, dull and quiet atmosphere appeared to mimic the football and it never felt like anything more than a training match.
Luckily these "ghost" games are few and far between and hopefully, we won't encounter them much in the future. The positive for this, from an England perspective, was that home advantage didn't count for Croatia. Therefore, it can be argued that they should have shown more ambition to get forward and attack Croatia.
Spain showed that this team has the potential to drop their heads after going behind a couple of goals and it would have been great to attack from the off.
#4 Places are up for grabs throughout the squad
As mentioned, Jadon Sancho looked great when he came on and we got a glimpse of his electrifying pace. Sancho will be brimming with confidence and hoping to have more of an involvement against Spain next week.
Southgate has made such a statement in calling up Sancho and other players are now hopefully seeing that a brave decision to move abroad can really accelerate your career. Picking on form is the right thing to do on the international stage as it emphasises the point that anyone can play for their country if they're playing well and playing regularly.
Similarly, this selection policy will serve to not let players assume that they're going to automatically walk into the team and will hopefully counteract any complacency that could be setting in for the more senior players.
#5 Rashford's learning continues
I can imagine a lot of conversations last evening would have been about Marcus Rashford and his failure to score despite having two great chances. I rate Rashford and think that he is a raw and exciting player who has great potential.
What I think he does need to improve is his decision making, whether that be when he is running with the ball or one on one with the keeper. This only becomes more natural the more times he gets to experience these situations and the two missed chances will have annoyed the Manchester United striker last night but they would have also made him more hungry not to repeat what happened.
He is great at getting into dangerous positions and with a bit of refining, he has the ability to become an important player for England in coming tournaments.
