HE’S JESSE GOT IT
United star is hero in rare win over Dutch
THERE is always a bolter in tournament year. A player whose form proves unexpectedly irresistible. A player who comes, not exactly from nowhere, but certainly from beyond most imaginations, to stake his place in the team.
Could it be Jesse Lingard for England in 2018?
He’s been one of the successes at Manchester United under Jose Mourinho. Last night, he scored the winner in a rare win against Holland — England’s first in an away fixture between the nations since November 5, 1969.
Holland are nowhere near the force of old and haven’t made it to the World Cup, but even so this was not a result to be sniffed at, and neither was the goal that decided it.
The move was started by a driving run in midfield from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, culminating in a Raheem Sterling shot, which struck a defender and rebounded to Lingard’s feet.
His reactions were sharp, sharper than Dutch keeper Zoet who could not make ground as it nestled low, in his net.
This was a decent win for an experimental England team. Gareth Southgate tried new ideas, with varying degrees of success, but a win is a win against opposition normally considered technical superiors.
It’s the Dutch who are credited with refining three at the back. Their aim was simple. What is the fewest number of defenders that can be placed on the pitch, and still win the match? The answer, three plus a keeper.
England seemed to be coming at the problem from the opposite direction. What’s the largest number of defenders that can be placed on the pitch without losing attacking impetus. The answer, five, plus a keeper and Jordan Henderson holding.
Kieran Tripper, Danny Rose and Kyle Walker are genuine fullbacks and Joe Gomez usually plays there, when he starts for Liverpool. John Stones started as a full-back, while OxladeChamberlain was used as a wingback at Arsenal, before moving to Liverpool. Henderson has been utilised in that position, as has Raheem Sterling and on rare occasions Lingard. That leaves only keeper Jordan Pickford and Marcus Rashford as players who have never been asked to play a full-back’s role.
In Gareth Southgate’s defence, his gameplan did not produce terrible results.
England did reasonably well on the ball without threatening Dutch keeper Jeroen Zoet. Oxlade-Chamberlain forced a comfortable save after a pass from Sterling, and the same player set up Lingard soon after, but he screwed his shot wide. Lingard looked to have played Sterling through after 37 minutes, but Zoet was fast off his line and put in one of those challenges that left no room for doubt.
Southgate is trying to find a way to harness the quality of the best crosser of the ball in England right now, and it almost worked. His dead ball was met at the near post by Henderson whose headed flick was as close as England got in the first-half.
Holland striker, Bas Dost, is a poor man’s Peter Crouch, with less aerial ability and bite. Yet if there was a worry for England it was that, once Holland settled, they caused Southgate’s back five a surprising amount of trouble.
Matthijs de Ligt’s shot from close range after 22 minutes caused Pickford little trouble — but after that there were moments of real uncertainty. The defence missed a routine cross four minutes later, forcing Pickford to scramble to save at the feet of Quincy Promes. In the 40th minute, Pickford was less convincing. He came for a freekick by Memphis Depay, changed his mind, and was almost caught out by Dost. From the goal-kick, he nearly got caught in possession, complicating an exchange of passes.
Lingard was to break the deadlock after the hour mark, and the changes came in earnest as the match entered its last 25 minutes, Jamie Vardy, Danny Welbeck and Dele Alli providing new blood in the forward line, replacing Rashford, Sterling and the scorer himself.