Harry Winks? You need forty winks while watching Southgate’s England
THANK HEAVENS FOR HARRY KANE (AGAIN)
WHEN a World Cup qualifier bears a closer resemblance to 22 office workers hiring the local leisure centre astroturf, the value to the England manager is always likely to be limited.
But Gareth Southgate will have to accept yet more criticism after failing to deliver on the promise of a rise in standards and something that would make standing in the pouring rain vaguely worthwhile to the 1800 unfortunate English souls who paid good money to be here in Vilnius.
That England’s fans still applauded their team at the end was perhaps the most remarkable moment of the night. It was an extraordinary act of generosity when they had spent much of the previous 90 minutes mocking them. ‘It’s just like watching Brazil,’ they declared midway through the second half, when the truth is the spectators looked more like Brazil in the green and yellow ponchos they were given in the absence of a covered stand.
On the eve of this contest, Southgate challenged his players to aspire to the level set by individuals of the quality of ‘Pique, Ramos, Neuer and Kroos’. All they did, however, was prove their manager right. The majority of them are not even close to that class.
There are exceptions and Southgate will want to reflect on the few positives, even if he did accept his side were once again unable to break down a packed defence as effectively as he would like. He was honest enough to admit it has been a recurring theme in this campaign.
Southgate can at least be confident that the England captaincy does not faze Harry Kane any more than international football fazes his young Tottenham colleague.
For Harry Winks, this was a most competent international debut, the 21-year-old performing with a level of confidence and composure that disguised his lack of top-flight experience.
It helped that this would have felt far less daunting than any of the four Premier League appearances he has so far made, but this was still a competitive England game and Winks gave a decent account of himself in his black boots.
There were some neat little touches that explain why Mauricio Pochettino calls him ‘Little Iniesta’ and something that has become increasingly rare among England’s midfielders — the occasional forward pass.
The forward wearing the captain’s armband had a similarly satisfactory evening, capitalising on a foul on Dele Alli to score an excellent 27th-minute penalty. That it grazed the inside of the left-hand post was a measure of Kane’s confidence. It was Kane’s seventh goal in six England games, and his 12th in 23 in all for his country, but also his fifth in his four appearances as skipper and he has now scored in four consecutive away games.
The last striker to do that was a certain Alan Shearer and Southgate should take encouragement from the fact Kane carries the responsibility so easily as he seeks to identify a leader.
Identifying a team remains more difficult and despite the tactical experiments — in particular the three-man defence — this would not have told Southgate a great deal beyond allowing him to see Harry Maguire for the first time. Marcus Rashford remains one of the few players who performs without fear, the young Manchester United forward adding a Cruyff turn to his repertoire last night.
Jack Butland proved a more than worthy understudy to Joe Hart. The Stoke goalkeeper had a relatively quiet night and he needs to improve his distribution but he delivered when required, not least when sparing Michael Keane the ignominy of scoring what would have been a spectacular own goal.
For the most part, though, a contest with nothing riding on it, on an artificial pitch, would have been another source of frustration for Southgate, who spoke of his desire to see players fighting for a place on the plane to Russia and expressed a wish to win back England’s disaffected fans.
But it is just as well England will play Brazil next month, Germany too, because those friendlies should give Southgate a better opportunity to examine his players and begin formulating some kind of plan for next year’s finals. It needs to represent more of a test that this, a game played at a venue that was a stadium in the loosest sense of the word — a main building, two sides of temporary, uncovered seating with a further pitch behind one of the goals completing the four sides.
It should not be used as an excuse for another flat, uninspiring performance and a few seats along in the press box, Danny Mills cut an increasingly exasperated figure. He clearly could not believe footballers hoping to play in a World Cup were performing with so little urgency.
As the game staggered towards its conclusion, England became dangerously complacent. As alert as Winks might have been in midfield, some appeared to be enjoying 40 winks at the back.
Deivydas Matulevicius should have punished England when he found himself with only Butland to beat, but he shot straight at the goalkeeper and Kane’s spot-kick remained enough for a distinctly uninspiring victory.