JESSE WINGARD
United star seals it but fan arrests spoil the party
JESSE LINGARD scored his first goal for England on a satisfying night for Gareth Southgate as his side saw off Ronald Koeman’s Holland 1-0.
Southgate is finalising his squad for the World Cup and 25-year-old Lingard said he wants to tie down a spot in the starting lineup in Russia. He said: ‘When you work hard you get the rewards. I will carry on working hard and see where it gets me.’
Meanwhile, more trouble in Holland yesterday meant at least 90 England fans have been arrested in Amsterdam. One member of a police support team was hurt.
AS ENGLAND fans returned somewhat prematurely to the bars and coffeeshops of Amsterdam, it was the Dutch spectators who grew angry and disillusioned as this contest reached its conclusion.
Missiles were thrown, even if the hard cash that was directed at the BBC reporter and a rubber eraser that struck the desk occupied by this newspaper would suggest your average Holland hooligan does thuggery with a bit of style.
But it is a measure of how far Holland have fallen, and by contrast the progress being made by England under Gareth Southgate, that the mood inside the Johan Cruyff Arena was the opposite of what one would expect.
It was all the more surprising given the team Southgate chose for this friendly, with the absence Eric Dier and an over-population of right backs something that looked decidedly odd when the team sheets appeared.
But to Southgate’s credit, it worked quite well, England securing a rare victory in these parts with one of the more accomplished performances of the manager’s brief tenure.
The deployment of a front line of Raheem Sterling, Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard in the absence of the injured Harry Kane certainly proved a worthwhile exercise. If Southgate has a team in mind for the opening World Cup game against Tunisia on June 18, Sterling must be a strong contender for a place alongside Kane and Dele Alli.
His Manchester City form demands he be considered, the improvement he has shown under Pep Guardiola something that must encourage the England manager.
But Southgate needs Sterling to perform for his country as he has been doing for his club and last night represented a significant step in the right direction.
The talent has always been there. Barcelona legend Xavi once said Sterling has the ability to play for any team in Spain. But City’s manager has given the 23-year-old confidence and that is a vital ingredient for any footballer at a major tournament.
It was evident last night. There was an obvious desire to get on the ball at every opportunity, and a fearlessness when it came to running at Holland defenders in determined search of an opening.
Heaven knows how England will line up at the back on June 18. When Southgate said Brazil were some way ahead of England in terms of development as a team, he wasn’t kidding. To suggest after this that England remain a work in progress would be something of an understatement.
But Sterling is becoming an important player for the national team and a measure of his value was the collective gasp when Holland goalkeeper Jeroen Zoet raced Sterling to a ball knocked forward by Rashford.
Fortunately for Southgate, his young forward did enough to avoid a heavy collision and remained in one piece.
If there was a source of frustration, it was the limited number of passes into the front three, even if players such as Walker and Kieran Trippier performed effectively.
With regard to Sterling, however, that should be of no great concern, because this is an English player featuring prominently in the Premier League’s stand-out side and being educated by a coach of admirable skill and stature. Come the World Cup, England’s front five surely picks itself if everyone is fit and we assume that at some point — probably now against Italy on Tuesday — Dier will indeed be deployed as the ball-playing central figure in a back three.
Arsenal’s Jack Wilshere is now seemingly back on the sidelines, so Jordan Henderson, captain last night, would seem the obvious choice in front of Dier, with Adam Lallana possibly his midfield partner if he can get enough first-team football at Liverpool between now and the end of the season.
That leaves three more spaces which, surely, will be occupied by Sterling, plus Kane and Alli from Tottenham, with Rashford and Lingard among some highly capable understudies.
It remains an England side perhaps lacking the big-match experience that will be required should they progress beyond the group stage and run into a team such as Germany or Brazil in the quarter-finals.
But there is potency, creativity and pace in this team and the trick will be providing such attacking prowess with a solid platform to tackle a major tournament with rather more purpose than in recent years.
Sterling is a reason England could fare so much better than they did at France 2016 and Brazil 2014.
He had a dreadful time at the last European Championship, but today he is unrecognisable from the player who became a target for supporters frustrated by his stuttering form under Roy Hodgson.
It was Guardiola, remember, who called Sterling during that difficult time in Chantilly and word has it there have been conversations between City’s manager and Southgate about how to get the best out of him.
Indeed, Southgate made a point of having a quick word with Sterling when he substituted him after a little more than an hour.
‘I wanted him to know I wasn’t taking him off because of his performance,’ explained the manager afterwards.
It was also a measure of his increasing value to the team.