Missing in midfield? Now Barkley and Winks give England options
● Talented Spaniards are outshone by duo
Only five weeks ago, England were lamenting the lack of ball-playing midfielders with supreme technique which Spain seem to produce for fun, following defeat at Wembley.
It turns out that, in Chelsea’s Ross Barkley and Tottenham’s Harry Winks, they had them all along – they were simply out of the spotlight, hiding away in the treatment room, injured for the past year. Remarkable what a difference two games can make in football.
Alongside them, in a midfield missing suspended Jordan Henderson and the injured Dele Alli and Jesse Lingard, Tottenham’s Eric Dier was the softly-spoken, unlikely enforcer, who revealed after the match that part of his intention when he crunched Sergio Ramos early in England’s stunning victory on Monday night was to set a marker to his team-mates and a tone for the match.
England had been struggling in the opening exchanges against their opponents, but five minutes after Dier hurtled down the pitch and went through Ramos and was shown a yellow card – for a challenge which would likely have not warranted a booking in the Premier League but could have been a red in La Liga – England took the lead and then struck three before half-time past a rattled Spanish side.
“It’s really important that we respect our opponents and Ramos is one of the best of all time, really,” Dier said. “It’s important to respect them, but at the same time, once we start the game, it’s every man for himself and we have to put our foot down, put a marker down and be aggressive – still with respect, but we have to be aggressive, be on the front foot and show that nothing is going to intimidate us.
“That’s just as important as playing good football and all the other aspects. I think Ramosisagreatexampleofthat.he does everything so well, but at the same time he puts his foot down and he’s not going to be bullied. We have to be the same way.”
Alli and Lingard, in particular, will have been left slightly apprehensive watching how well Barkley and Winks, below, outplayed Spain’s outrageously talented midfield, looking far more like Thiago, or Sergio Busquets or Saul Niguez than the other two were able to in last month’s home Nations League fixture.
Winks was absent long-term following an ankle operation and Barkley has had a series of problems preventing him from playing properly until this season, ruling both of them out of the World Cup. England manager Gareth Southgate will still have been wary that Barkley was the player who lost Spain’s Paco Alcacer when he headed their first goal, but his contribution
ERIC DIER on the ball was exceptional – particularly the clipped pass over Spain’s defence to set up the third.
Spain defender Marcos Alonso picked out his Chelsea team-mate after the match. “Even at the World Cup England, despite playing well, were aware that they didn’t really have that kind of player, someone in the middle who played and made others play, who used the ball,” Alonso said. “He’s a great player. He 2 Ross Barkley, top, celebrating Raheem Sterling’s opening goal on Monday, was a star turn for England having missed most of last season, and the World Cup, through injury. showed it not just against us but against Croatia (last Friday) too. He showed that he can be a great player. I hope he keeps improving and that he helps us at Chelsea to stay near the top.”
It should also not be overlooked that Winks is still only 22, while Barkley and Dier are 24.
“For young players it’s important you have real positive experiences,” Southgate said. “You can go into a team as a youngster and suffer defeats and suffer difficult nights and that becomes a bit of a reference for you, so it’s important they feel that firstly they can play against the top teams, that they can enjoy their football, that they can, on the back of the summer, have enjoyable experiences with England and also they’ve got a chance we keep talking to them about this is the way we want you to play as a young England team coming through. Change perceptions of what England teams can do.
“We’ve won matches like this in the past, but maybe not played quite in the same style as the team did. There are young ones coming through who will see that and see what we’re trying to do.”
Harry Wilson struck a stunning free-kick as Ryan Giggs’ understudies made light of the absence of Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey to deepen Irish woes amid boos by the home fans.
An error-strewn game had lumbered along in mundane fashion but once they had their noses in front, Giggs’ youngsters rarely looked like surrendering their lead as the Republic’s lack of creativity was once again cruelly exposed.
Manager Martin O’neill and assistant Roy Keane will mark five years at the helm next month, when they will need Denmark to lose in Wales and to then record their first win in five competitive matches in Aarhus three days later if they are to avoid relegation from League B in the Nations League.
Shorn of Bale, through injury, and Ramsey following the birth of his twins Wales took the lead after Ireland shot themselves in the foot. Harry Arter’s clumsy challenge on Connor Roberts 22 yards out handed Wilson the chance to test keeper Randolph who took a fatal step behind his wall as Wilson, above, curled a left-footer into the top corner.
The visitors almost doubled their advantage from a 73rd-minute counter-attack, while James Chester should have hit the target from pointblank range from the resulting corner. George Thomas was denied a second goal by Randolph in added time.
“Once we start the game, it’s every man for himself and we have to put our foot down, put a marker down and be aggressive – still with respect, but we have to be aggressive, be on the front foot and show that nothing is going to intimidate us”