England have to up game after blowing hot and cold in Iceland
ENGLAND will have to play better today in tonight’s Nations League Group tie in Denmark then they did at home of the weakest team in the Group A2, Iceland, at the weekend.
England were lucky that former Aston Villa midfielder Birkir Bjarnason blasted an added time penalty over the bar which would have given the hosts an undeserved equaliser.
The result is what mattered but despite some patches of decent play the overall display against a negative home side was disappointing.
True that the England team were short of match (and in some cases physical) fitness... no more so than captain Harry Kane. True that Kane had a good goal disallowed wrongly for offside in six minutes.
True that defender Kyle Walker was sent off for England for a stupid reckless challenge in the 70th minute, his second yellow card and highly likely his last game for England.
Had Kane’s goal stood the game would have changed. There is no VAR in this competition which is unbelievable.
England do have some very good players – both experienced and youngsters and Gareth Southgate is correctly blooding the latter.
Phil Foden played without fear and did well. I know I am biased about Jack Grealish but I felt in the closing stages he was a player who as substitute may well have unlocked the resolute Iceland defence.
Grealish’s chances of playing tonight have been boosted after the withdrawal from the squad of Foden and Mason Greenwood, who also featured on Saturday.
In the end against Iceland, Raheem Sterling (my man of the match) scored the only goal, a 91stminute penalty to give England the result which will be the only thing remembered at the end of the day.
Sterling has scored 13 goals in 57 internationals – 11 goals and six assists in his last 12 England games.
Southgate will no doubt make changes tonight but not Sterling!
After the England match, the FIFA ranked number one country Belgium, without some of their best players including Kevin de Bruyne
(his wife is expecting a baby) beat Denmark 2-0 in Copenhagen.
Those two teams plus England and Iceland make up Group A2 and with only the group winners going through to the final stages, I can only see one result – Belgium. I hope I am wrong but England will have their work cut out in Copenhagen this evening.
There is some way to go with all four teams playing home and away and England have a strong squad.
So plenty to look forward to and England do have maximum points after the first match, even if ‘we got away with that’.
At a lower level, Coventry City mirrored England in their weekend first round Carabao Cup tie at Milton Keynes Dons.
The Sky Blues were down to ten men, the home side missed a penalty and then Coventry scored a late winner with the only goal from debut striker Tyler Walker.
The Sky Blues goalkeeper Mario Marosi saved a penalty from Carlton
Morris after the young Coventry centre-half Declan Drysdale was sent off.
Coventry are at Gillingham in the next round and if they win then they will have a third successive away tie against the winners of Premier League Wolves or fellow Championship side Stoke City.
Meanwhile, the Sky Blues manager Mark Robins has had a busy summer recruiting nine new players needed to strengthen his squad for the challenging Championship season opening on Saturday at Bristol City.
Tyler is a really important signing. Robins has been after him for some time. The son of the legendary Nottingham Forest central defender Des, Walker is a proven goalscorer besides Saturday’s Cup winner.
Tyler is 23 and like several of the newcomers has signed a three-year contract.
He had been on loan for recent seasons. He scored 16 goals in 34 matches for Lincoln last season after 26 in 52 games for Mansfield.
Callum O’hare has impressed me when watching the Sky Blues and now his loan period from Aston Villa has become a permanent capture in midfield.
It is difficult to predict where Coventry will finish this coming season.
I am sure they will survive alright but there are some heavy money belts including the clubs relegated.
The Sky Blues owners have backed their loyal manager and Robins appreciates that support. He is happy.
His only disappointment – a common one in football – is that there will not be any crowd at their adopted ‘home’ at St Andrew’s. Although reduced from the regular Ricoh Arena attendances, they did lift the Sky Blues last season.
It maybe some time before they return.
I hope I am wrong but England will have their work cut out in Copenhagen this evening.