And with that, I’m gone. This was an excellent win for England, if not an excellent performance. The good news is that there are players - Ben Chilwell at left-back, Grealish or Sancho in a front three - who should be able to improve things. I fear Gareth Southgate is by nature overly conservative, and isn’t getting as much out of a very talented group of players as he could, but the aftermath of a 2-1 victory over one of the best national sides in the world is probably not the time to dwell on negatives. Here’s the match report again. Bye!
A final word, and a moment of realism, from Gareth Southgate:
We’ve got loads that we can get better at. We’re not getting carried away by this win and we know the quality of our opponent today is the level we have to aspire to on a consistent basis.
David Hytner has filed his match report from Wembley:
In the hunt for positives, Gareth Southgate could laud the spirit of his England team and their ruthlessness. The statistics showed that they had mustered three shots on target and they made two of them count as they summoned a victory over the No1 ranked team in world football that they hope can provide a touchstone.
The England manager will not kid himself. There remains an awful lot of work to do in the search for cohesion and Belgium departed Wembley wondering how they had allowed a position of dominance to slip away. They had led through Romelu Lukaku’s early penalty and, for long spells, they played the more assertive football.
But Belgium missed chances and they were left to rue the two decisive moments – a controversial penalty, given after Jordan Henderson had made a meal out of minimal contact with Thomas Meunier, which Marcus Rashford swept home, and a heavily-deflected Mason Mount shot that proved to be the winner.
Much more here:
Southgate also said this:
We can be a free-flowing, free-scoring team, but against the very best the detail of how you defend as a team has got to be absolutely bang on. In the second half we got that right, in the first half we struggled.
Which I think is fine to say when you have played against the very best, but not when there was exactly the same issue against both Iceland and Denmark.
Gareth Southgate is pleased:
They’re a top side, absolutely top side. We knew some of the questions they would ask us, down the sides of our defensive block, but to answer those questions is more difficult. The timing of their runs, and their overloading us in wide areas, and there’s so much decision-making for our players in defensive areas to have to make. So for sure they caused us problems with that. And we didn’t retain the ball well enough, in our build-up. We were a bit slow to move the ball up the pitch.
But it was a top-level game, and we had players out there, Rice, Mount, Trent, for whom that was a really great experience. You don’t come into these games, and play their quality, without having to deal with those problems. We had to see that spell through, and what pleases me is we had that resilience.
The penalty gave us a great foothold in the game and I think the second-half performance without the ball, because you have to be perfect without the ball against these teams, bar the one brilliant pass by De Bruyne, we were so compact, our covering positions were good, Trippier was like a soldier out there, a phenomenal defensive performance, but right through the team in that second half, you have to suffer to win these big games and they did that.
Jordan Henderson on the penalty: “I got in front of my man on the corner, and I felt he pulled me back. I felt I was in front of him and he pulled us back. I felt it was a penalty.”
There is good footage of Thomas Meunier discussing the incident after the final whistle. Smiles from both players, so a conversation in good spirit, but clearly the Belgian’s believes Henderson massively overplayed minimal contact.
Here are Mason Mount’s post-match thoughts:
Look, we’re coming into the game knowing they’re ranked No1 in the world. They’re a very good team with very good players. We knew we had to start sharp and we had to be on it defensively, because they’re very good around the box. They made it tough for us, we were hanging in there at half-time, we got back into it at 1-1, and we knew we could regroup then, talk about the things we could do better, and fix the problems we were having, and I thought we did that at half-time. I think it was just trying to stay higher, pressure on the ball, and trying to win the ball back as quick as we can. And also, be better on the ball. Try to keep the ball better.
It doesn’t matter how they go in. I found myself with a bit of space in the box and only had one thing on my mind, to get the ball out of my body and shoot. A big deflection, but you’ll take them. We’ve got the mentality, we’ve got the work ethic to get better and better and that’s the path we’re on.
“Not a fixture for the ages but a ugly win is better then a well played loss,” surmises Mary Waltz. England were much better defensively in the second half than they had been in the first, when Lukaku pretty efficiently tortured them. They started to cut out balls before they got to him, rather than having to deal with it when it already had, and Walker in particular put out any little fires that broke out in the backline. The attack didn’t get a lot of help, and I would hope that Southgate will want to see more creativity and invention in the final third, though I fear his team selections suggest it’s not such a priority.
Not a great game. Belgium had that Carrasco chance in the 72nd minute, England had Rashford’s in the 85th, but otherwise this summary from David Keech isn’t far wrong: “This has been a 0-0 game with two stupid penalties and a lucky deflection.”
Final score: England 2-1 Belgium
90+4 mins: It’s all over! The best team in the world has been vanquished!
Updated
90+3 mins: Kane loses it, but James wins it back off Doku on halfway and get it straight back to him again.
90+3 mins: Kane has the ball by the corner flag, on England’s left. Precisely where the home side would want it.
90+1 mins: There will be four more minutes, or thereabouts. They start with Denayer’s crossfield pass sailing over Doku’s head to give the home side a throw-in.
89 mins: One last change for England, Jadon Sancho replacing England’s apparent matchwinner, Mount.
87 mins: Belgium press forward, but Trippier wins the ball and boots clear, and Kane backs into Denayer, goes down and wins a free kick.
85 mins: Chance for England! Rice wins the ball and heads off down the left. He passes inside to Rashford, and runs onto the return. Finally another pass to Rashford, perfectly weighted, and the forward lets it run across him, gives himself space to shoot, and then shoots over! A dodgy penalty apart, England two best chances of the game have come in the last couple of minutes, and that was the best of them.
Updated
84 mins: Another substitution, this time Jéremy Doku replacing Carrasco.
83 mins: It’s an excellent corner, which dips onto Kane’s head, central and eight yards out. He completely messes up the header, though, and misses by yards.
Updated
82 mins: Rashford leads an England break, which ends with another Mount shot taking another deflection. This one carries it wide.
81 mins: Belgium keep pressing. Carrasco runs to the edge of the area, before his pass through to Lukaku deflects off a defender and goes behind for a corner. This one Pickford does catch.
78 mins: Another England change, as Reece James comes on for Alexander-Arnold.
78 mins: Captaincy update: Axel Witsel has taken over from De Bruyne as Belgian captain, and Kane has taken the armband from Henderson.
77 mins: Belgium are turning on the pressure. Lukaku is almost released by an almost identical pass. They win a corner, which Pickford comes for but doesn’t get. England clear.
75 mins: Lukaku catches the defence out, but messes up the finish! A straightforward pass from halfway finds the forward running between Walker and Dier, but instead of powering on towards goal he pauses, allowing the defenders time to get back and block the shot when it comes.
74 mins: That’s a poor foul on Rashford by Meunier, the challenge of a player who is not just outpaced but a bit tired and also a bit peeved.
Updated
73 mins: De Bruyne is now off, and Yari Verschaeren on.
72 mins: What a chance for Belgium! Carrasco runs onto De Bruyne’s phenomenal chance, but attempts the most difficult of all options for the finish, letting the ball run across his body before lifting it first-time over the onrushing Pickford with his right foot, and doesn’t get it quite right. The ball clears Pickford’s trailing leg, but bounces wide!
Updated
71 mins: England, and Dier in particular, are coping a lot better with Lukaku in this half. For half an hour he was the game’s dominant force, but he has been quiet since the break.
70 mins: De Bruyne spots Castagne lurking in England’s penalty area when no defender had, but Trippier heads away his cross.
66 mins: A double substitution for England sees Phillips replace Jordan Henderson, and Harry Kane come on for Calvert-Lewin.
GOAL! England 2-1 Belgium (Mount, 64 mins)
Mount gets the ball on the left-hand corner of the area, running onto Trippier’s knock-down. He gives himself some space before shooting across goal, and the ball deflects off Alderweireld, loops over Mignolet and dips into the net!
Updated
63 mins: Meunier plays a nice one-two with De Bruyne and then nudges the ball back towards Lukaku. Walker however is well positioned, as he has been a couple of times already in this half, to intercept and bludgeon clear.
62 mins: I’m not really sure that Kalvin Phillips is the substitute England need here, but he’s the one they’re going to get.
61 mins: The ball drops to Calvert-Lewin on the edge of the area, and he swings his right foot. It’s a quarter-chance at best, and he gets about a quarter of a full connection.
61 mins: Kieran Trippier just kicked the ball with his left foot.
58 mins: Rice slides in to dispossess Lukaku, a challenge that both players seem to feel. The Belgian gets up feeling his hip, and Englishman limps away.
Updated
55 mins: Brighter from England, with Mount running beyond the man on the ball, getting the pass from Henderson and winning a corner. They still haven’t created anything much from open play, but there are signs of mild improvement.
53 mins: Calvert-Lewin jumps into Denayer and goes down, wanting a penalty. He doesn’t get one.
51 mins: England have the ball in a promising position on the left. Rashford is out there, along with Trippier. Calvert-Lewin comes out to offer an option. Behind him Mount is more central, but 10 yards outside the area. There is absolutely nobody in the penalty area for England, nobody to aim a cross at. They go back to the defence.
49 mins: Calvert-Lewin thumps a shot way over the bar from 25 yards. Rashford had a chance to run clear himself there, but never seemed to reach full speed. “The depressing thing about this team and performance is that they are being terrible in exactly the way they were terrible against Denmark,” writes Felix Wood. “There’s five at the back, but with no one in midfield who can take the ball on the half-turn there is no way to play out from the back. With Trippier so one-footed on the left the Belgian right-back isn’t worried about a cross so isn’t going to get dragged out to block it, meaning there’s no space for Rashford to cut inside, so he’s constantly up against three defenders. It’s all so slow and one paced.”
Updated
46 mins: Peeeeep! England get things restarted.
The players are on their way back out. By the looks of things there have been no halftimely team changes.
Here’s a picture of the first penalty incident. The weird thing is how far the players are from the ball, with neither of them running towards it. Nobody else in the entire world seems to be complaining about it, though, so perhaps I’m wrong on this one. Plus England have had a very generous penalty award of their own, so have lost their right to complain anyway.
Half-time: England 1-1 Belgium
45+2 mins: It’s a penalty apiece at half-time, a scoreline that flatters England.
45+1 mins: There’ll only be the one minute of stoppage time before the interval.
45 mins: Rice bizarrely passes the ball straight to Carrasco in midfield, and Belgium launch a fine move which ends when De Bruyne’s low cross is booted clear.
43 mins: Chance for Carrasco, but he drags it wide! He’s released by Lukaku’s excellent backheel, but he hurries his shot.
GOAL! England 1-1 Belgium (Rashford, 39 mins)
An excellent penalty from Marcus Rashford, sent high to the taker’s left, and Mignolet goes the wrong way!
Updated
Penalty to England! And Meunier is booked!
38 mins: England win a corner, and then another one. Meunier is marking Henderson, who gets away from him, and reaches out to put a hand on the Englishman’s shoulder. There’s not a lot of contact there, and Henderson makes the very most of it.
Updated
37 mins: Rashford has the ball on the left. He runs forward a bit, stops, shrugs as if to say, “So where are my options here?”, and finally turns and passes backwards, before trudging away, shoulders slumped.
36 mins: England take the corner. Mignolet catches it.
34 mins: Calvert-Lewin gets away from Alderweireld and wins England a corner. “Please can you elaborate on the Henderson on the field & the Henderson on the bench?” pleads Jill Dean. Midfielder Jordan Henderson is on the field, goalkeeper Dean Henderson is on the bench.
32 mins: England have the ball for a while. Their creative players move into or to the edge of Belgium’s penalty area, but with no pass available to them England have to give the ball to those who are open, namely Rice, Maguire, occasionally Henderson or Trippier. Eventually one of them overhits a cross, which Calvert-Lewin gets a head to but can’t keep in play.
28 mins: Belgium are completely bossing this at the moment. Watching England try to pressure them, with players repeatedly turning up just a half-second after the ball has been laid off, has been faintly comical at times.
25 mins: Lukaku expertly holds up a long ball before laying it back to Meunier, whose shot goes wide.
21 mins: More Belgium pressure, and this time it ends with a Meunier volley from the edge of the area that is pretty feeble, but rolls just inches wide.
20 mins: After a fine start, since that first significant Belgium attack, in the 10th minute, England have been absolutely appalling.
19 mins: Rashford gives the ball away, leading to De Bruyne having a shot from the edge of the area, which Pickford saves.
17 mins: In real time that looked a very obvious decision, but the more times I see it the more ridiculous it appears. Yes, Dier slides in and doesn’t get the ball, but because of the way he pushed the ball away from the defender the only way Lukaku can get himself fouled is to run away from it at a 45-degree angle, allowing him to dive over Dier.
GOAL! England 0-1 Belgium (Lukaku, 16 mins)
Pickford goes to his right, the ball goes to his left, and Belgium lead!
Updated
Penalty to Belgium!
15 mins: Lukaku bursts down the right and gets into the penalty area, Dier slides in but doesn’t get the ball, and Lukaku goes over. The referee takes a long time over the decision, but gives it!
Updated
12 mins: GOAL! But the flag’s up! Belgium rip through England again, but Meunier is just offside on the right before he runs to the byline and pulls the ball back to Carrasco, who slams a low shot past Pickford. The flag is so late it’s pretty much posthumous, but the goal doesn’t count.
Updated
10 mins: The best move of the game so far, and it’s from Belgium. The build-up is excellent, and ends with England’s defence in tatters and a cross from the left that’s just a smidge too high for Lukaku, whose header floats wide.
7 mins: England are dominating possession, but they are basically passing the ball around the defence, patiently working it to within 10 yards of the Belgian penalty area, and then turning back and passing it to their defence again.
5 mins: A decent start for England. Rashford finds some space on the left, but Denayer heads away his cross.
3 mins: Only a couple of minutes in, and we’ve already seen Calvert-Lewin on the left, on the right and in the middle.
Updated
1 min: Peeeeeep! Belgium get the game started.
Right then. Anthems have been heard, coins have been tossed, and now all that remains is for football to be played.
The players are on their way out! Kevin de Bruyne, the Belgium captain, is not only carrying the traditional matchday pennant, but something in a gift bag. Is it somebody’s birthday?
Updated
“Dier, Rice and Henderson? Mount out wide? Not even our 1996 family Volvo would feel safe enough for Gareth,” writes Julian Menz. “I’m watching in Sweden, trying to get my five-year-old daughter to follow England (not impossible now Zlatan has retired), but give me a break Gareth! It’s pouring here, and you are not making it any easier. At least she’ll probably be sleepy come bedtime.”
Here’s another snippet of Southgate on today’s line-up:
Clearly no Kane no Stirling is a big loss, but it’s a big opportunity for others and this is the type of test we need. We know the quality they’ve got, we know most of their players, this is a really good challenge to match up against their system, and I’m looking forward to seeing how we go.
We feel this is a game for our experienced players to really match up, see where we’re at. We’ve got a lot of players who two years ago were less experienced, hadn’t experienced those big matches, hadn’t won things with their clubs, but had a great mentality and spirit among them. We’ve still got a lot of youngsters, but it’s a team that’s focused and ready for today’s game.
Here’s Gareth Southgate on Harry Kane, who starts today’s game on the bench:
He’s had a strange training week. We gave him a couple of days’ recovery after Sunday. He started training on Wednesday, had a big of what he felt was cramp, so he’s had muscle fatigue basically. Missed most of the week’s training, got a little bit more confident in it towards the end of the week but hasn’t really done enough on the field to start. So he’s not injured, he’s there perhaps for later in the game, but that’s the situation. He seems confident in how he feels, but he hasn’t had a lot of training time on the pitch this week.
“There’s a certain kind of player who is neat and tidy, looks like a 1970s journalist’s idea of a continental technician and plays a crucial role in one game in 10,” writes Gary Naylor. “That’s Mason Mount, the reverse Jordan Henderson. Jack Grealish is a better option - more fun too.”
I do like Mount, I think he works hard and provides a useful goal threat, but with a Henderson/Rice/Dier central midfield pure creativity is what England need and given current form I too would have gone with Grealish. That said, well as he played against Wales it was an issue that Grealish spent too much time too far forwards, often leaving his side undermanned with two men in midfield, and I think Mount is likely to be more tactically disciplined.
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Today’s big talking point in football, at least in England, is Operation Let’s Take Advantage of a Pandemic to Fix Everything In Our Favour Forever, or Project Big Picture as it’s proponents would like us to know it:
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Roberto Martinez has a chat with Sky:
When you come to Wembley it’s always a challenge. You have to find a way to perform as a team and be yourself, and obviously we’ve got our own challenges, without Vertonghen, Vermaelen, Hazard, Mertens, players who have bee really influential in getting to that No1 spot. For us it’s a real opportunity to test the squad, to see how well we can react with new players coming in and then facing an outstanding team.
As a former Evertonian I’ve been following Calvert-Lewin’s progress and I think he’s as good as any No9 in that England squad. Of course he’s still a young player, compared to the experience of Harry Kane, but we respect every single player in that England squad.
The England players are at Wembley and have been out to check out the pitch. I don’t know where the revolting jackets they were wearing on Wednesday have gone.
I do think that England’s line-up is a little more conservative than is necessary against an under-strength Belgium team, just as it was for what turned into a dreary game against Denmark. There are no left-footed players beyond the goalkeeper, there’s not a lot of creativity in central midfield, and it is, in short, a very England England team.
For reference, the top assist-makers in 2019-20 league games in England’s team:
Alexander-Arnold: 13
Marcus Rashford: 7
Jordan Henderson: 5
Mason Mount: 5
Kieran Trippier: 4
Kyle Walker: 4
Eric Dier: 2
Belgium’s line-up is now also out. We already knew there would be no Dries Mertens or their usual captain, Eden Hazard. In their absence Kevin de Bruyne captains the side for the third time:
1️⃣1️⃣ 💪 Here we are again! #ENGBEL #NationsLeague #COMEONBELGIUM 🇧🇪 #SelectedbyPwC pic.twitter.com/cTxkzO5bLF
— Belgian Red Devils (@BelRedDevils) October 11, 2020
England’s team is out, and the headlines are: Pickford returns, Calvert-Lewin keeps his place, Kane is on the bench, and the first three outfield players on the list are all right-backs.
Here it is... your #ThreeLions to take on Belgium in today's #NationsLeague clash! 👊 pic.twitter.com/XtOBEJwrql
— England (@England) October 11, 2020
Hello world!
Today’s entertainment sees Belgium, officially the best national team on the planet according to Fifa, visit England, the governing body’s global No4, as stonking a tie as the Nations League is ever likely to throw up. The thing about England’s record against Belgium is this: it is superficially a tale of complete superiority - 23 matches, 15 victories, only three defeats - but in games that have actually mattered, competitive matches in significant competitions (so discounting the King Hassan II International Cup, the 1998 World Cup warm-up event at which England (inevitably) lost on penalties after a goalless draw), England have played Belgium five times, won once (“Chipped in ... and volleyed in! And it’s there by David Platt! England have done it in the last minute of extra-time!”), drawn twice (a bonkers 4-4 draw in 1954 and a 1-1 in 1980) and lost twice (in the 2018 group stage and again in the third-place play-off).
England have already been held to a goalless draw by Denmark, and if they are to qualify for the Nations League finals, scheduled for next October, they can’t really afford to lose this game, against a Belgium side with a 100% record in two games so far, a team that has lost once in 16 games since the last World Cup, is basically very good indeed and generally can’t be expected to blow five-point leads, which is what victory would give them. As Gareth Southgate puts it: “We have got a great opportunity to have a fantastic game and a really good test and also try to advance ourselves to the latter stages of the Nations League. There is a lot riding on the game for both teams.”
So, that’s where we stand. Let’s crack on, shall we?
