First-night flaws as the Southgate era begins with a sloppy win
A WINNING start, then, for Gareth Southgate in a game that barely lifted the spirits of the Wembley crowd. But at least the interim England manager made it to Tuesday night in Slovenia where a more thorough assessment can be made of his chances of landing the job on a permanent basis.
But, as auditions go, Southgate did all right; no more than that. Though, in the light of the Sam Allardyce affair and the embarrassments, debacles and mishaps that have afflicted the England team since the summer, he will be truly thankful for small mercies.
In many ways it was more dress rehearsal for sterner tests than a genuine first night. Malta are not San Marino. They lost twice to Italy in Euro 2016 qualifying; 1-0 each time. They beat Armenia in World Cup qualifying in 2013.
Still, a comfortable win was expected and duly delivered. It means little, of course.
Yesterday’s victory could quite easily have been overseen by Allardyce, Roy Hodgson, Steve McClaren or Graham Taylor; take your pick.
The team would not have been radically different; the style might have been tweaked under Allardyce; the result would have been the same.
Yesterday saw a team who will surely struggle somewhat in genuine contests but who have a core of good, young players who at least look capable of changing England’s dire narrative.
There was Jesse Lingard, lively on his debut, though lacking a clinical finish. There was Dele Alli, looking to make the No 10 position his own and not quite convincing but showing promise and ambition that will be encouraged.
There was a cameo role for Marcus Rashford, which saw him deliver a decent 85th-minute cross which Alli (inset below) really should have converted.
From older players there was some maturity, none more so than Jordan Henderson, who is growing into a thoroughly dependable midfield presence and yesterday did as much to control the game and direct England as anyone.
From Daniel Sturridge, given the chance to seize the striker’s role, there were flashes of brilliance; just flashes, though.
More to the point, at the head of it all there was an England manager who to the best of our knowledge has not spent the last week holding court at Wings Restaurant, Manchester, negotiating his £400,000 keynote speaker fee and advising how to circumnavigate FA rules.
In short, it’s a decided improvement all round for England and, right now, they’ll take the positives where they can find them.
Against all of that, Malta are ranked 176th in the world and key players turn out for Sliema Wanderers in the Maltese League. But, early on, England were all tentative passing and nervous finishing.
With England, you never know which side of the line the performance will fall. The fans could have been encouraged by Lingard’s runs off the ball on his debut; or they might have despaired that he hadn’t scored three goals in the first half-hour.
Wayne Rooney looked a little lost in midfield early on, but against a nine-man defence, with space to make the pass and no space to pass into, the test is an artificial one. The biggest impact he made in the first half was on Andre Schembri’s shin, taking the ball and then the man and fortunate to escape a booking.
He improved but not so much as to quell doubters. The debate as to his efficacy will not be settled by one game alone anyway, and certainly not this one.
The man who shone from the start, however, was Henderson. He more than anyone looked capable of unpicking the massed ranks of Maltese defenders. It was his cross on 22 minutes which found Alli, who met it with a firm header.
Goalkeeper Andrew Hogg, born in Kingston, Surrey, but who plays for Maltese side Hibernians, was equal to it with a flying save. The ball dropped to Sturridge, three yards out. The angle was acute but, even so, skewing it into the stands was something of an embarrassment.
The first whistles were heard in the stands, the murmuring of discontent from a crowd of 81,718 — surely the most extraordinary statistic of the afternoon.
The willingness to suspend disbelief in England by quite so many is possibly one of the biggest problems the FA face: no matter how great the humiliation, the English public keep coming back for more punishment.
The crux of the match came in the 38th minute: the cross from Henderson finely delivered and the excellent header from Sturridge directed into the far corner beyond the stretch of the impressive Hogg.
It was as though, having at last provided something to cheer, the fluidity returned to England. Suddenly they looked a team with an idea, with even a degree of panache, albeit against Malta. On 34 minutes Sturridge crossed and Lingard’s header came close; on 38 minutes, Henderson exchanged passes with Sturridge and drove into the box to release Alli. His initial strike was saved by Hogg but he was first to the rebound, poking it home for 2-0. And on 42 minutes there was Sturridge, floating past his man and attempting to nutmeg the keeper; unsuccessfully, it should be said, but at least the ambition was there.
It should have been the foundation for something a little more exciting in the second half. It is true that goalkeeper Hogg was enjoying an afternoon of which he might not have even dreamed.
But the shocking lack of clear-cut opportunities for England was poor.
Lingard’s delightful run and through-ball for Theo Walcott on 65 minutes stood out simply because there was so little else.
The next best chance fell to Malta on 81 minutes, Joe Hart parrying Andre Agius’s strike. Then there was Alli’s missed opportunity from Rashford’s cross.
There was possession aplenty, intent and desire but less cunning and creativity. At the end there was polite applause mixed with the odd boo. As judgments go, that felt about right.