ENGLAND 2 MALTA
In such games you just know people will be thinking ‘ This is boring, this is dire’. But you just have to keep plugging away and believe your superior talent and technique will see you through.
In the dressing room, managers and coaches will always say ‘Look, if it takes 90 minutes to score a goal then that’s what it takes. Forget what other teams have done against them, if you pop the ball round, one or two touch, then you will, with your greater ability, start to wear them down and drag them into positions they don’t want to be in’.
It was obvious Gareth Southgate had uttered words to that effect and, ultimately, that worked for him in his first match in charge of the national side. But I was slightly disappointed that, after Daniel Sturridge and Dele Alli had given England a comfortable two- goal lead before half-time, everything was so flat in the second half.
I wanted to see Wayne Rooney get a confidence- building goal, Sturridge get another one or two, and for Theo Walcott to be getting in on the act.
And I’d have sent on Marcus Rashford and/or Jamie Vardy 10 minutes earlier – their raw pace would have caused Malta all sorts of problems.
Even without those substitutions, however, there were enough p players with big-game experience to have lifted the tempo.
Players have to take respons responsibility in moments like that, but last night no one wanted to do that. Th They all looked like they were trying to keep themselves fresh for Slovenia rather than going all out and thinkin thinking ‘I’m going to get myself a hatful of goals against Malta’.
Still, a win is a win and a after a tumultuous couple of w weeks f ollowingol l owing Sam Al Allardyce’sl ard departure, Southgate will be pleasedp to have started his tenure w with a victory.
You could see by the slow start England made that he hadha told them to be patient, to keep moving what was essen essentially part-time opposition around,ar and that eventually the goals would come.
And, sure enough enough, the Three Lions began to create c hances j ust be before Sturridge’s 29th- m minute goal. They would have been
ahead earlier had it not been for a couple of good saves from Malta’s England- born keeper Andrew Hogg. And he made a couple more saves before half-time as well.
But, even so, Alli had doubled the home side’s lead before referee Stefan Johannesson brought the first period to an end.
I said before the game that a twogoal win would be acceptable and a three-goal cushion would be good against a team of Malta’s level, so we were below par.
But even though the goals didn’t come we were on cruise control for most of the game so I don’t foresee any changes against Slovenia on Tuesday.
Errant
That will clearly be a tougher game than England faced at Wembley last night but Southgate and his boys can go to Ljubljana with confidence as they try to build up steam on the road to Russia 2018.
Not least Jordan Henderson, who was the outstanding player here.
He popped the ball round crisply and got the assist for the second goal as well.
Alongside him in midfield, Rooney was a little errant although he was the stay-at-home midfielder, allowing Henderson to use his engine to good effect.
And the interplay between Sturridge, Alli and Walcott was impressive in that first half.
So, all in all, a win for Southgate – but it could and should have been better.
I’ll take a 1-0 win in Slovenia, though – and so, I’m sure, will he.