Reaction and analysis
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Here’s Daniel Taylor’s match report from the King Power Stadium. That’s my cue to say thanks for reading and emailing. Night!
Danny Rose speaks! “I’m fit and training well. Eighty minutes again tonight. I’m feeling good and I hope I can take tonight’s performance back to Tottenham. I’ve been fit for a while and hopefully I’ve stopped getting the niggly little injuries. I’m working hard for my club. If I stay fit, hopefully I can get back to the level I had before I got my injury.
Harry Maguire speaks and reveals the England dressing room was an unhappy place at half-time. “There were a few words spoken between the boys. The pressing was a bit bibs and bobs. The gaffer had a few stern words for us.”
That was faintly pointless but mildly diverting. Switzerland dominated the first half and didn’t take their chances; England had the better of the second half and won thanks to Marcus Rashford’s goal. What did we learn? Not too much. Jack Butland isn’t very good with the ball at his feet. England can defend and hold a shape. Danny Rose is getting his form back. Rashford is a good striker. England’s first team is much better than their second team.
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Full-time: England 1-0 Switzerland
That’s your lot!
90 min+4: This has died a death. England look to have done the job.
90 min+1: In the first of five added minutes, Fernandes sends an effort off target.
90 min: Stones lets a long ball bounce and then he loses out in a tussle with Ajeti. Oh John! After such a good block earlier! Luckily for the England defender, Ajeti blazes Switzerland’s best chance of the second half high and wide from the right of the area.
88 min: Henderson picks up a booking for one of those tactical fouls on Fernandes.
87 min: Kane heads the corner away.
86 min: Stones deflects Mehmedi’s shot behind for a corner.
83 min: England are sitting back now. Can Switzerland get Yerry Mina on?
80 min: Haris Seferovic replaces Xherdan Shaqiri.
79 min: Ben Chilwell gets a huge ovation from the locals as he comes on for Danny Rose, who was excellent. It’s the Leicester left-back’s international debut.
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78 min: Rose cuts inside from the left and shoots over under pressure. Then Kieran Trippier replaces Trent Alexander-Arnold.
75 min: A man in the crowd is wearing a Southgate waistcoat. Emotional here.
74 min: At half-time, it seemed that England were well on their way to a defeat. They weren’t good in the first half. So Gareth Southgate deserves credit for whatever he said to his players during the interval. They’ve been a different side in the second half.
70 min: Dier leans back and shoots miles over from 18 yards.
68 min: Jordan Henderson replaces Fabian Delph.
66 min: Edmilison Fernandes replaces Denis Zakaria, Abian Ajeti replaces Mario Gavranovic and Steven Zuber replaces Remo Freueler.
65 min: The corner leads to a spot of head tennis and a bit of a scramble in the six-yard box, but England eventually boot the ball clear. Stones, meanwhile, has a bit of blood dripping from his head,
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64 min: Lichtsteiner pulls a cross back from the right, finding Shaqiri alone in the England area. The Swiss forward looks certain to score, only for Stones to throw himself off the shot and deflect it over for a corner. What defending!
62 min: Maguire rumbles forward and lofts a ball towards Rashford. It’s just too high for the England forward.
61 min: Jesse Lingard replaces Ruben Loftus-Cheek, John Stones replaces James Tarkowski and Harry Kane replaces Danny Welbeck.
60 min: Welbeck turns away from Schar, who slips and seems to stretch his groin. He’ll need treatment.
56 min: Spain are beating Croatia 5-0 in England’s Nations League group!
Having won the corner, Rose takes it. One way of looking at his delivery from the left is that it’s woefully overhit, an utterly useless corner. The other is that it’s a magnificent crossfield pass to Walker. The England defender retrieves possession on the right flank and immediately swings a cross to the far post. England have an overload and the unmarked Rashford is able to cushion a volley past Sommer from close range for his second goal in two games.
GOAL! England 1-0 Switzerland (Rashford, 54 min)
It’s coming home.
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54 min: This is better from England. Rose, their best player, wins a corner on the left. And...
50 min: Rose crosses from the left. Rashford controls with his back to goal and manages to bobble a volley wide.
49 min: England need to get Maguire’s head in the game.
46 min: Switzerland get the second half underway. They’ve brought on Admir Mehmedi for Manuel Akanji and François Moubandje for Ricardo Rodriguez.
Half-time: England 0-0 Switzerland
Can they tell them this is a Nations League game?
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43 min: Loftus-Cheek sees his deflected shot saved by Sommer, who dives low to his right to hold the midfielder’s 25-yarder.
41 min: “Apart from the fact it sounds like an extreme far-right rallying call, is the Nations League not meant to stop pointless friendlies?” Nigel Phillips says. “If so, what the hell is this?”
There will always be pointless friendlies, Nigel. Even after the sun has devoured the planet, there will be pointless friendlies.
38 min: England cause more problems for themselves at the back, Maguire the latest to play a poor pass near his own area. But they manage to get away with it and mount an unlikely break. It’s their best of the half, Loftus-Cheek sending Rashford into space down the right, Rashford’s low cross just too far in front of Welbeck. The ball reaches Rose, who sees his shot beaten away by Sommer. Moments later England almost capitalise on indecision between Schar and Sommer. But Switzerland survive.
37 min: Lichtsteiner reaches the byline on the right and hangs a cross to the far post. Rodriguez seems surprised the ball reaches him, perhaps because he expected Alexander-Arnold to clear the cross, and his chest control is poor, allowing England to clear.
35 min: Rodriguez fizzes a cross-shot in from the left. It evades everyone and slithers just past the far post.
32 min: England deal with the corner, but Switzerland attack again. Rodriguez dodges past Welbeck, who sells himself too easily, and whacks a low shot goalwards from the left of the area. Butland saves with his feet. Another corner for the Swiss. Another England header.
31 min: Gavranovic takes a long ball on his chest and somehow manages to bustle past Tarkowski and Alexander-Arnold. All of a sudden, he’s through on goal. But the angle’s tight and Butland’s able to divert his close-range shot behind for a corner.
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30 min: Zakaria clips a pass down the inside-right channel. There’s a big gap down that side of the England defence and Gavranovic is able to scoot clear. He’s forced a little wide, though, and ends up settling for a corner, which comes to nothing.
28 min: Alexander-Arnold fires the free-kick straight at Sommer.
27 min: It turns out Switzerland are no better at playing out from the back than England. They give it away and Lichtsteiner has to bring down Rose. The Swiss right-back, who receives a booking, is furious with his team-mates. He has enough of this at Arsenal.
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26 min: Rashford shoves Alexander-Arnold aside and wafts the free-kick over the bar. Get Trippier on.
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25 min: Rose’s free-kick is headed away. England keep pressing, though, and Rose wins another free-kick when Zakaria trips him 30 yards from goal.
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24 min: Ruben Loftus-Cheek hasn’t really seized his chance so far. If nothing else, his start to this game increases my feeling that he needs to leave Chelsea. Does anyone know how good he is? Most opinions are based on a handful of good games for Crystal Palace last season and a decent cameo against Tunisia. But here he is, winning possession deep on the right and winning a free-kick off Akanji, who is aggrieved to be penalised for his slide on the England midfielder. It looked like a fair tackle.
20 min: Football’s coming home again, they chant, but it was better in Russia. This is very drab. Understandable, though. There’s quite a big drop-off between England’s first and second teams.
18 min: Danny Welbeck has as many goals as Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang this season. Makes you think, eh?
16 min: Rashford turns brilliantly near the halfway line and hares down the left. Lichtsteiner halts his run with a tug of the forward’s shoulder. Free-kick to England. Alexander-Arnold swings in a flat, low ball and Dier stoops to glance wide.
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14 min: Switzerland are dominating possession. England haven’t had a touch for a while. Grant Xavi is bossing this.
12 min: There isn’t much happening for England in midfield. They need a Granit Xhaka.
10 min: Nothing comes from the corner.
9 min: Shaqiri’s cross from the left takes a deflection and spins behind for a corner.
7 min: England mess about with it at the back again. They haven’t learnt their lesson. This time Butland rolls a pass to the edge of the area for Tarkowksi, who’s immediately set upon by Gavranovic. The Swiss striker wins possession, turns and sends Shaqiri through on goal. The forward should score. Instead he fires wide of the left post with his right foot!
6 min: England mess about wit it at the back. Walker knocks a pass to Butland, who almost Cechs it into his own goal! The ball dribbles across his own six-yard box and England manage to scramble it clear. What a farce.
5 min: Harry Maguire does not score from the corner.
4 min: England probe down the left. Delph, who’s just offside, spins and plays in Rose, who charges inside before pulling the ball back from the byline. Loftus-Cheek hasn’t made the run, however, and Switzerland clear their lines. Moments later England win a corner on the left.
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3 min: Switzerland, of course, could have England’s quarter-final opponents at the World Cup. But they lost their second-round match to Sweden, sparing them the ordeal of being confronted by Harry Maguire’s metal head.
2 min: The home fans are letting Gareth Southgate know that he still turns them on.
Peep! England, kicking from left to right, get the game underway. They’re kicking from left to right in the first half and are in their white shirts and navy shorts. Switzerland are in red shirts and white shorts. They’ve never beaten England here, but they did beat Iceland 6-0 in the Nations League the other day.
We’ve had the anthems. We’ll have the football next.
To the strains of Kasabian, the teams emerge at the King Power Stadium. Sky’s pictures are shown in black and white at first to mark the 25th anniversary of Kick It Out. Now it’s time for the anthems.
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The last time England played at the King Power Stadium, they beat Serbia 2-1. Joe Cole scored the winning goal with a magnificent free-kick. Joe Cole!
England have made nine changes after losing to Spain on Saturday. Only Harry Maguire and Marcus Rashford keep their places. Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Fabian Delph, bit-part players respectively for Chelsea and Manchester City so far this season, start in midfield. That highlights a problem for Gareth Southgate, who spoke again recently about the diminishing pool of English players in the Premier League.
Is this the highest number of first team non-regulars / non-top flight players ever selected by England @JacobSteinberg? I make it seven of the XI picked.
— Gary Naylor (@garynaylor999) September 11, 2018
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Team news
England: Butland; Walker, Tarkowski, Maguire; Alexander-Arnold, Loftus-Cheek, Dier, Delph, Rose; Rashford, Welbeck.
Switzerland: Sommer; Lichtsteiner, Schar, Djourou, Akanji, Rodriguez; Freuler, Xhaka, Zakaria; Shaqiri, Gavranovic.
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Here's the official #ThreeLions teamsheet for tonight's game! 📋 pic.twitter.com/N5WAigyBv0
— England (@England) September 11, 2018
Preamble
Three consecutive defeats, a first in a competitive fixture at Wembley since 2007, a losing start to the Nations League campaign ... there’s no doubt about it, Gareth Southgate has to go! Bring back Sam Allardyce, or Roy Hodgson, or give QPR a quick call to see if Steve McClaren fancies coming back. Just do whatever it takes to get Southgate out. The summer’s over and it isn’t coming home any more. Sorry. You’ve had your fun.
Well, that’s one way of analysing the stats. A more considered take, however, might be that England have no reason to be ashamed about losing to Belgium, Croatia and Spain. No need to panic. The only reason to lose your head is if England’s run to the World Cup semi-finals made you think they really as good as the very best sides. The truth is that their exploits in Russia proved nothing of the sort. Some of the old frailties were still there – the tendency to rush in possession, the lack of poise in attack, the inability to hold on to leads – and they were highlighted again during Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to Spain in their Nations League opener. For all their strengths, England are still a work in progress. They aren’t quite there yet.
But that’s okay. Now the Age of Hubris is over, the hope is that this young side will be able to grow and mature during the next few years, especially when the next batch of promising youngsters are welcomed into the senior squad. Just as importantly, meanwhile, Southgate’s side have found a way to reconnect with supporters who had fallen out of love with them this time last year. That means there should be a celebratory and encouraging atmosphere at Leicester City’s King Power Stadium for this friendly against Switzerland, who reached the last 16 of the World Cup. It should be a decent test for England. That said, Southgate will have to go if he oversees a fourth consecutive defeat. This isn’t West Ham.
Kick-off: 8pm BST.
