Win at Gelsenkirchen won’t mask glaring issues for Gareth Southgate’s side.
By: Olumide Akinyemi (Chief Editor) Twitter: olu_herodotus Instagram: olu_herodotus
Gelsenkirchen, Germany
At the end it didn’t matter whether it’s a comfortable win or not, England got over the line with 3 points in the bag against a Serbian team that only started to threaten after 45 minutes of football.
If this was indeed the final chance for Gareth Southgate to win a trophy with England then he might pray Jude Bellingham turns out a performance like this every game until the Final. This was a game that previous England teams could have easily thrown away for a draw but for a certain 20- year old Real Madrid player who has shown over the past season that he can deliver both against the best and the underdogs.
Admittedly Southgate realized how unbalanced his midfield was by starting Trent-Alexander Arnold in that role before replacing the Liverpool man with Conor Gallagher but make no mistake, this was a game which Bellingham dictated from the off and capped by a brave header to put England ahead from a Bukayo Saka’s cross.
It summed up how important he was with Harry Kane barely getting a touch in the first half before finally hitting the target with a header which was superbly saved by the Serbian goalkeeper. By that stage the game had descended into an all out attack by Serbia in their bid to snatch a draw and although Guehi and Stones held tight, there are still a bit of indecisiveness in this defence with Stones especially making a hash of a clearance later in the game.
Hopefully England will learn to close out games later in the tournament but if they are going to keep winning by slimmer margins like this, then they might need a better case for defence.