WEMBLEY COME DOWN
We were poor, admits Southgate, as midfield experiment falls flat and Hungary hold tepid England
NOT for the first time recently, hungary’s supporters departed a football stadium in total disgrace. That said, england’s football team didn’t cover themselves in much glory, either.
With chaos erupting in the stands as hungary fans, just weeks after racially abusing england players in Budapest, violently clashed with police, Gareth Southgate’s team toiled out on the pitch.
Those in the crowd who had the brass neck to throw punches and kick security staff — losers, the lot of them. Yet, they would have left Wembley believing they were the winners. They weren’t, of course.
This draw means england remain on course for World Cup qualification, but this won’t be a night Southgate will reflect on with much fondness.
When the full-time whistle blew, harry Kane and Raheem Sterling were off the pitch and england were out of ideas. This was supposed to be the night Kane equalled, or even surpassed, Wayne Rooney’s record of 37 competitive england goals.
But the captain remains in somewhat of a rut and Southgate will hope the talisman can rediscover his form ahead of the final two qualifiers against Albania and San Marino next month.
‘Right across the board we weren’t sharp with our play and we were over-running things, it was the first time in a long time but we have to hold our hands up to it,’ confessed Southgate.
‘I don’t think we should look at individuals because collectively we didn’t perform at the level we should have.’
Kane squandered two decent early opportunities as england’s night appeared to be taking a routine course to victory. Indeed, the home team’s 77 per cent possession inside the opening 10 minutes showed their early dominance.
But hungary weren’t interested in sticking to the script. There seemed little danger when the ball bounced, albeit awkwardly, between Luke Shaw and Loic Nego. The Manchester United left back got to the ball first but his foot was so high that he caught Nego in the face, leaving the hungarian in a heap in the area. Referee Alejandro hernandez had no hesitation in blowing for a penalty. Roland Sallai did the rest, sending Jordan Pickford the wrong way.
Green smoke bellowed from the corner of Wembley that belonged to the frenzied hungarians as they sensed history.
The rest of the stadium, however, was stunned into silence. Southgate’s players were in a predicament, that’s for sure, but they summoned a response. Phil Foden’s free-kick had hungary in a daze, Declan Rice provided the necessary interference and John Stones applied the final touch at the back post to level.
You sensed the collective sigh of relief, while Southgate’s clenched fists said it all. had Sterling finished following impressive combination play between Jack Grealish and Shaw, england may even have been ahead at the break.
Southgate, though, would have been happy to get his players back inside to regroup. The manager’s decision to experiment with an extra attacking player, with Foden
instead of Jordan Henderson in midfield, had worked in some respects. It was the Manchester City youngster who supplied the ball for Stones’ equaliser.
Yet it may have solidified concerns Southgate harbours about a lack of stability when he does not play two defensive midfielders.
England’s second period won’t have encouraged him to stick with this more attack-minded formula for the longer term. The game was open. One minute Sterling was careering down the left, the next Stones was making a last-ditch challenge on Lasse Schone to prevent England from falling behind for a second time.
Grealish was sacrificed for
Bukayo Saka in the 63rd minute. Southgate may argue that it was a simple like-for-like substitution, yet the more cynically inclined may point out that Saka is rather more defensively disciplined.
Grealish looked far from happy by it all. The £100million man was by no means the worst of a below-par bunch.
Sterling missed an excellent opportunity to fire England ahead in the 70th minute following Kane’s pass before the Tottenham striker flashed his own effort wide in the 74th minute.
Southgate took the unusual step of substituting his two most important attacking players, Sterling and Kane, for the closing 15 minutes, with Henderson and Tammy Abraham coming on.
It was perhaps a sign of desperation. It was certainly one of frustration.
It didn’t provide the breakthrough and only ended in more frustration when Abraham hobbled off injured in stoppage time, replaced by Ollie Watkins, and had to be helped down the tunnel.