SUPER ALLI...
Tottenham star secures Wembley win for stand-in Southgate
SO Gareth Southgate equals Sam Allardyce’s record as England manager.
Southgate matched Allardyce’s win in Slovakia last month to make it two wins from two on the road to Russia for the next World Cup.
Whether he is the man tasked with completing the task of qualification remains to be seen but after a traumatic couple of weeks for the FA, this was a reassuringly routine exercise.
But beating a side like Malta at Wembley is no indicator of anything. Everyone should beat Malta.
There were some nice things to admire, but the scoreline was well below par. Thank Maltese goalkeeper Andrew Hogg and some profligate English finishing for that.
This was hardly the start of a brave new era but Southgate’s long-term prospects will be judged on the three Ss – Slovenia, Scotland and Spain – his other three games as interim boss.
This was supposed to have been Allardyce’s glorious first night at Wembley in his dream job as England manager.
But his unexpected demise following a newspaper sting presented this unexpected opportunity to Southgate.
The Under- 21s coach may not have felt ready for the main job in the summer when Roy Hodgson left following the Euro 2016 humiliation against Iceland but he could not have asked for a more comfortable start.
We are constantly told there are no easy games any more in international football, but this debunked that myth.
Malta are genuine whipping boys. They are 176th in the FIFA rankings and had won just one match in their last 50 competitive games.
Remarkably, this was Southgate’s first involvement in a match at Wembley since England lost to Germany 1-0 in the final game at the old ground in 2000. 16 years on, no one was expecting similar drama.
He had talked before the match about the importance of his players being brave, but he showed continuing loyalty to Wayne Rooney.
The Manchester United star retained the captaincy and was again deployed in midfield. Southgate also resisted calls to field Marcus Rashford up front, with the 18-year-old forced to settle for a place on the bench.
But there was a debut for his United team-mate Jesse Lingard in one of the wide attacking roles.
And with Harry Kane absent, Daniel Sturridge took the main striker’s role.
The pattern of the match was set from the off and Rooney was the first to threaten, only denied by a spectacular stop from Hogg, who had conceded five last time out against Scotland.
But England’s plans suffered a setback when left-back Ryan Bertrand went down with an injury and had to be replaced by Danny Rose.
Lingard almost had a debut goal as he latched on to Jordan Henderson’s long pass, but his half-volley was off target.
Hogg was certainly out to make a name for himself.
The keeper, who was born in Surrey, made a flying save to keep out Dele Alli’s header.
The rebound should have been converted by Sturridge but he miscued horribly and put the ball into the crowd.
The Liverpool man had no such problems with his head, as he placed a header from Henderson’s cross into the net to open the scoring.
Gary Cahill should have found the net when he came up for a corner but he sliced wide.
Henderson was the focal point for most of his team’s best moments and his timely burst into the box created the second.
Alli’s first effort was well saved but it came straight back to the Tottenham man to stab home the rebound.
Hogg continued his fine evening as he denied Sturridge and then tipped over a Rooney free- kick after the break.
England then put together their best move of the game with the ball worked at speed through for Theo Walcott, but Hogg was there again with an excellent save.
Alli should have added another late on but he sidefooted over from sub Rashford’s pinpoint cross as England failed to rack up the goals that were on offer.
And Rooney’s recent troubles were summed up when he blazed over from a promising position, which prompted a few boos from those in the 81,701 crowd who had stayed until the end.