Any criticism of England’s series of flat Nations League performances over the past 10 days comes with the obvious caveat that the players are quite clearly physically and mentally exhausted.
At times during this international break, it has felt as though the player welfare tipping point that managers and footballers have long warned us about has been reached.
It is probably no coincidence that England’s jaded players have struggled to rouse themselves for matches played behind closed doors after a season in front of fans either, albeit in front of a fuller crowd in Budapest than might have been expected.
A general lack of zip is emphasised by a return of one solitary goal from their three matches this month.
Harry Kane’s successful penalty in Munich is the only time England have scored from 37 efforts on goal; in each match, they have fired off more shots than their opponents but clear-cut chances have been few and far between.
Mason Mount hit the crossbar and Raheem Sterling missed a sitter against Italy, but rarely have England looked capable of scoring in any of their games.
Patterns of play have been difficult to decipher and the set-piece threat that characterised the successful World Cup performance of four years ago has been diluted.
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It is an issue that Gareth Southgate acknowledged following Saturday’s stalemate against Italy, a match that fell just 11 months after the Euro 2020 final but featured only six of the same starters from both teams.
“We keep working on getting balls into the right areas, but in the end in the attacking areas the quality of play is crucial,” Southgate said. “There’s been a little bit of a lack of sharpness in those areas across the three matches, really.” He added: “In the end, if you don’t score then you end up open to criticism, as I’m sure we will be.”
Southgate also repeated his concern at England’s dependence on Kane and Sterling to score, which in the latter’s case is increasingly charitable considering he has only netted twice in his previous 11 England games. Admittedly, that ratio is still far superior to some of his positional rivals; Mount has failed to score in any of his last 15 caps, Phil Foden, who may feature after overcoming Covid, has gone a dozen appearances without one and Jack Grealish’s only international strike came against Andorra, ranked 153th in the world.
None of Southgate’s rotating cast of Kane backups have fully convinced either. After contrasting fortunes at club level last season, Tammy Abraham has usurped Dominic Calvert-Lewin as Kane’s No 2, but the clinical touch that was evident during his record-breaking 27-goal campaign with Roma deserted him at Molineux when he failed to capitalise on a sloppy Gianluigi Donnaruma pass.
It is not only in the forward positions that England are struggling to coax club performances from players. Trent Alexander-Arnold is closing in on a half-century of Premier League assists and yet has rarely offered the same attacking threat for his country as he does for his club.
Interestingly, in the face of fan discontent and iffy performances, Southgate has deviated from the 3-4-3 shape that served him well at Euro 2020 to a 4-2-3-1 in England’s previous two games. That shift creates a spare attacking slot in the starting XI while also helping to move players into more familiar positions – only four of Southgate’s squad – Conor Coady, Reece James, Mount and Kane – played in teams that consistently utilised a back three last season.
In his defence, Southgate is facing a tricky juggling act: not only is he searching for the right formula to unlock this team’s attacking potential, but he is doing so within player welfare constraints. Only against Germany did England’s team resemble anything close to one at full strength.
A rotated team is likely against Hungary too with Marc Guehi, Conor Gallagher and Jarrod Bowen all in line to be given World Cup auditions. Kane is also expected to return after being given a breather against Italy.
Predicted line-up (4-2-3-1): Pickford; Walker, Stones, Guehi, Trippier; Gallagher, Phillips; Bowen, Mount, Saka; Kane
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