Jude Bellingham wasn’t having it. He wasn’t having Serbia forcing their method again into this match and, as soon as it was over, he wasn’t having anybody rain on his or England’s parade.
It was put to him within the put up-match information convention that whereas the primary half in opposition to Serbia had proven why England are among the many favourites to win Euro 2024, the second half had proven the shortcomings that would possibly finally be their undoing.
“I don’t really agree with that,” stated the 20-12 months-previous, England’s goalscorer of their 1-0 victory in Gelsenkirchen. “The first half shows why we can score goals against any team and the second half shows why we can keep a clean sheet against any team.”
Bellingham stated there was “always a negative theme” in phrases of public and media response to England’s performances — “and sometimes rightly so” — but he most popular to intensify the constructive.
They needed to “hold on at times and suffer a little bit” within the second half on the Veltins-Arena, he stated, but that they had received the sport. And “this team is still new”, he added, “gelling together with every game”.
He made some good factors. Not a lot these about what England had proved by beating Serbia, but actually these about this being a new squad and concerning the desperation in some quarters to criticise performances and, particularly, supervisor Gareth Southgate at each alternative.
(Christopher Lee – UEFA/UEFA through Getty Images)
It was spectacular to see such a younger participant speaking in such forthright phrases, decided to problem and reshape the narrative round his group. He wasn’t going to shrug his shoulders and let journalists discuss down his group’s prospects.
But it wasn’t as convincing as his sometimes assertive efficiency on the pitch. England performed properly for half an hour, taking the lead when Bellingham charged into the penalty space and completed off a superb transfer with a bullet header from Bukayo Saka’s cross, but their early momentum light and was by no means recovered. The second-half efficiency was passive; Serbia substitute Dusan Tadic stated England had “offered themselves to us”.
All of this might be far simpler to gloss over if it didn’t appear symptomatic of a lengthy-time period development. There are so many issues Southgate has modified for the higher over the previous seven-and-a-half years, but there are nonetheless so many events when, having taken cost of a sport, his group regularly lose the initiative, retreat and discover themselves clinging on unconvincingly.
It occurred in opposition to Croatia within the 2018 World Cup semi-remaining, away to Spain within the Nations League later that 12 months, Italy within the Euro 2020 remaining, Italy once more in a Euro 2024 qualifier in Naples final 12 months. England nonetheless managed to carry on to win two of these video games, but not the 2 that mattered most when the stakes had been highest.
(Michael Regan – UEFA/UEFA through Getty Images)
How far do you need to return? European Championship eliminations by the hands of Iceland in 2016 and Italy in 2012. It occurred in opposition to the U.S. of their opening sport of the 2010 World Cup. It was the theme of their World Cup marketing campaign in Germany in 2006 after they ended up hanging on for a stodgy win over Paraguay of their opening sport and had a comparable expertise in opposition to Ecuador within the spherical of 16 earlier than succumbing to Portugal within the quarter-remaining right here in Gelsenkirchen.
GO DEEPER
England’s 58 years of harm – by the gamers who lived it
There is a technical issue in phrases of the kind of midfielders England have had, but it additionally appears to be half of the nationwide group’s psyche. England misplaced quarter-finals from profitable positions in opposition to Portugal at Euro 2004 and Brazil in 2002. First half good, second half not so good — as their then-coach Sven-Goran Eriksson used to say.
England had three photographs within the first half-hour final evening after which simply two (a lengthy-distance effort from Trent Alexander-Arnold and a Harry Kane header that was pushed onto the crossbar) for the remaining of the sport. They had 71 per cent possession for the primary half-hour but then simply 44 per cent for the remaining of the sport. The drop-off wasn’t fairly as stark as that qualifying sport in Naples final 12 months (when England accomplished 233 passes within the first half and solely 96 within the second), but it was nonetheless troubling.
The stability of the midfield was encouraging for the primary half-hour, with Bellingham the dominant determine everywhere in the pitch, Alexander-Arnold wanting brief and lengthy with his passing and Declan Rice all the time transferring, all the time doing the straightforward issues properly, all the time on the scene rapidly each time possession was misplaced.
But Alexander-Arnold’s affect light. So did that of Saka, after a superb first half, and Phil Foden, who was quieter all through. The stability of the left-hand facet, with Kieran Trippier filling in at left-again whereas Luke Shaw tries to construct up his health, wasn’t proper, but the problems went past that. Southgate put it right down to a loss of power amongst his group — “and that didn’t surprise me,” he stated, “because of the lack of 90 minutes that a lot of the players have had recently.”
A group’s opening sport of a event can usually be like that. Being fast out of the blocks issues far lower than constructing momentum because the event goes on.
England have performed that properly beneath Southgate. The final European Championship, after they appeared relatively laboured in opposition to Croatia, Scotland and the Czech Republic within the group stage earlier than beating Germany, Ukraine and Denmark en path to that fateful remaining in opposition to Italy, was a working example.
(Eddie Keogh – The FA/The FA through Getty Images)
That is why Bellingham and his group-mates had been entitled to get pleasure from their victory right here. “You look across the past few tournaments we’ve had and it’s always crucial to get the first win,” Trippier stated afterwards. “It gives us great momentum and belief. It shows the character of the boys. We’ve learned a lot today, but the most important thing is the three points.”
Everyone who spoke afterwards — Southgate, Bellingham, Trippier, Alexander-Arnold, Rice, Kane — talked about the character and resilience England had proven within the second half. When the stress was on, they defended properly. Jordan Pickford, Kyle Walker, John Stones, Trippier and Rice all made necessary interventions, but maybe essentially the most pleasing efficiency was that of Marc Guehi, the Crystal Palace centre-again who justified his choice.
Rice referred to as it “a game of two halves” but stated that “in the end, I thought it was comfortable”. “We have built this team off clean sheets,” he stated. “At the last Euros, we had five out of seven games. We have real defensive solidity and it is about doing it on the night. To win that game tonight was a really good start for us. We just have to use the ball a bit better in the second half when it starts to get tough.”
That all the time appears to be the large issue for England: retaining control of video games relatively than permitting initiative and momentum to be misplaced. Rice spoke about it as if it was one thing that can be rectified on the coaching floor over the subsequent few days earlier than they face Denmark in Frankfurt on Thursday.
But generally it looks like one thing in England’s DNA. It is one thing Southgate and his gamers, for all of the nationwide group’s undoubted progress of latest years, nonetheless have to beat. At least, having began their marketing campaign with a win, they’ll search to deal with it from a place of energy.
(Top picture: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)