Jude Bellingham not even best of England
OK – some of the mailbox reaction this morning and indeed a couple of F365’s takes on last night just need to be wound in a little.
Firstly, Bellingham wasn’t England’s best player. In the first half Saka was, and in the second half, Rice was. Overall I thought Rice was the MOTM, with Bellingham a close-ish second.
Don’t get me wrong, Bellingham was really good and at times was indeed unplayable, but he was also guilty of trying to play hero-ball on occasions, trying to beat two or three men when better options were available. I’m a huge fan, but with the quality of attacking talent around him, he really doesn’t need to do it all by himself. If he makes that minor adjustment then I believe he can truly dominate this tournament.
I get that although nominally the left sided attacker, Foden had more of a wandering brief. But you know what? It would have been nice if occasionally he thought about wandering out to the left wing (i.e. his actual starting position) and running at the full back from there. There was a huge gap in our attacking pay on the wide left throughout the game.
Shaw would have helped enormously in that regard, and I really hope he is capable of playing a part in this tournament. Trippier is a solid fill-in but our left
side lacks something right now.
I always thought this game would be tight, Serbia are no mugs and their strengths up front matched our weaknesses at the back worryingly. Stones looked a little bit off it last night, so credit to Guehi who played well and justified his selection.
However main credit must go to Rice who shielded them magnificently. Quite simply – no Rice, no clean sheet last night
Trent made some errors but was mainly OK. However he faded out of the game, as did the clearly not fully fit Saka. He won’t get the credit but Southgate replaced them with exactly the right players in Gallagher and Bowen, we needed the injection of energy they both provided when they came on. If anything they maybe should have been on 5 to 10 minutes sooner than they were
I think Southgate needs to make sure Mainoo and Wharton both get some game time in the next two group games as I think our midfield will have a more solid look with one of them alongside Rice in the later stages.
Overall, it wasn’t perfect but we’re off and running with a win. Some tweaks are needed to our attacking play, but you can see the potential to grow is there.
Rob, Bristol Gooner (Please don’t take the Rice/Saka praise as Arsenal bias, it really, really isn’t)
READ: England Clamour Rankings: Anthony Gordon offers Trent and Foden solution
…The only surprise in the game was how awful Serbia were in the final third. Bellingham was exceptional? They say in the country of the blind, the one eyed man is king. Jude was supposed to feed Kane or Saka or Foden, did none of such. England’s play ended 70% of the time the ball got Jude in the 2nd half, either he was fouled (So Trent could waste it – no words on Trent), or crowded out, or dispossessed or…
I saw somewhere that he is the best English player ever. Is Micheal Owen and Paul Scholes is France 98′ jokes to you guys? Man scored a header from a cross. How about the guy who actually crossed the ball? No mention? Or Guehi’s shockingly good performance?
We can all accept that England lost control of the midfield totally after 30 minutes. Unless I am missing something, isn’t Jude one of the midfielders?
I am not a fan of Foden, but he needed help as he is no magician, Bruno feeds his wingers as does Kdb, Odegaard, MacAllister, etc in quality positions, breaking lines and isolating them with full backs.. That is Elite football. Foden unfortunately was starved, as was Kane.. because the suppose creators were Rice, Jude and Trent*,
Rice is not that guy in Arsenal.. that’s is where Jorginho, Partey and Odegaard comes in. Jude is not that guy in Real, they have Kroos, Modric, Cammavinga and to lesser extent Valverde and Ceballos for that. England has Wharton, Palmer and Eze..they did not play.
Jude will always run into the box and score goals, use his enormous energy to press and keep things tidy in midfield, same as Rice.. this are their best roles as shown by their stellar seasons at club level. They need help creatively. Trent is Southgate’s choice for that, but he is insufficient. I think Wharton should play. I think Rice, Jude will fare better and Foden will come in more…
…or maybe I just do not rate England, never have, never will.
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