The final international break of 2020 has ended, however Gareth Southgate may have sparked some optimism into the fans who were so critical of him last time.
First up, was a friendly against the Republic of Ireland after New Zealand dropped out due to Covid-19 issues. A second-string squad was chosen to impress Southgate as players hoped to make an impression on him and cause him a selection headache.
After a difficult start to the season, Harry Maguire got back into the groove as he opened the scoring whilst captaining his country for the first time. From there, England did not look back as they created a flurry of chances. Jack Grealish, who has been at the centre of attention during England duty set up, Jadon Sancho who finished delicately, an important goal as he tries to force his way back into Southgate’s strongest starting squad.
The game was capped off when Bukayo Saka was tripped in the penalty area allowing Dominic Calvert-Lewin to get his second international game. Ireland were never really in the game as the game ended 3-0 when it could have been five or six. A special mention goes to Jude Bellingham who became the third youngest player to feature for the 3 Lions as well as Dean Henderson who earned his first cap featuring in the second half.
At the end of the game, Southgate reflected on the performance of Grealish: “He [Jack Grealish] was very good. He’s in really good form and he’s playing in the areas we want him to play.”
It’s hard to take any hard conclusions who should start for England come the Euros next summer as the game featured a very lack-lustre Ireland team who only manged to produce four shots all game making it all the more routine win for England.
On Sunday, England travelled to Belgium where anything that wasn’t a win would seriously damage their chances of reaching the Nations League Finals. A much stronger team featured as Harry Kane returned to the front line and Jordan Henderson back in midfield.
It seemed that Southgate’s system seemed to fail him in Belgium as Eric Dier tried to play out from the back and swift movement from the Belgians allowed Youri Tielemans to score via a deflection. A Kane attempt heading towards the goal was cleared of the line by Romelu Lukaku and then just like that moments later, a clumsy challenge on Kevin De Bruyne allowed Dries Mertens to score from the resulting free kick doubling the lead in the process.
Normally a typical England team may have given up, but Grealish put his creative prowess to good use as he tried to inspire a comeback. However, it wasn’t meant to be as Kane had not brought his shooting boots as his shots were saved comfortably or off target. It just seemed that England were missing the pace and direct running of Sterling and Rashford. The loss meant that England failed to reach the Nations League Finals.
“I thought Jack Grealish had an absolutely outstanding game,” Southgate has allowed Grealish to play and he has returned the faith as any goal England scored it looked like he would create it.
To conclude the international break, Iceland visited Wembley in a glum mood as they were already relegated from League A and the announcement that their manager would resign after the game didn’t offer them much motivation. A typically strong resilient side crumbled as Declan Rice headed home his first international goal from close range.
From then on, the game was slipping out of Iceland’s grasp as similar to the Republic of Ireland game, the hosts created numerous opportunities through the likes of Mount, Foden, Grealish and Saka. Kane had another game to forget as he could not find the target however his misfire allowed Mount to double the lead.
In the second half, England went from strength to strength as the young boys created chance after chance, any chance of a fightback was ended when the Icelandic right back was given his marching orders. Phil Foden argued his case to start for England more regularly as his skill and technique was admired all night. He finished the night with two nicely executed finishes to seal the game. Again, it is hard to come to any conclusions as this was a weak Iceland team and a rotational England squad.
The questions raised over the international break would be, did this help Southgate find his strongest starting team. In short, no would be the answer. The constant rotation of the starting team means England are stiff when trying to play the way Southgate wants to. Jack Grealish who is adored by the England fans already, shined in all three games making sure Southgate has a headache over his involvement.
Although the international break is loathed by many perhaps, we need more than one before the Euros as Southgate has to nail down his strongest team if he is to come close to lifting the trophy this summer.
Another thing that hasn’t helped is the constant injuries occurring in games. Players are being pushed to the max as they try to keep up with this congested fixture list.
Was the game against Republic of Ireland really necessary? At the end of the day, it was a friendly which meant nothing, then having to prepare and travel to Belgium to play a crucial game doesn’t seem right. Players could have benefitted with the extra days rest, this international break saw players such as Joe Gomez, Raheem Sterling, Ben Chilwell and Jordan Henderson pull out, the latter two came off early in the game against Belgium. So, it has to be asked our friendlies necessary in this Covid-19 hit season?
To conclude, it has been a relatively exciting international break as fans witnessed some encouraging individual performances whilst watching enjoyable games however those occurred in the games we expect to win.
When it comes to the big guns England need to be more clinical with their chances and play without pressure whilst shoring up the defensive problems that exist when playing in these games. Gareth Southgate who is has been under a lot of scrutiny showed signs that his football is creative however failing to nail down a consistent starting team may worry fans.
By Ben Scammell