Italy v England, eight months ago. Harry Maguire, under pressure near the left touchline, tries to play a forward pass off his weaker foot. Italy regain possession and in the utter disarray that follows Mateo Retegui drifts into the space left behind Maguire and Luke Shaw – who will later be sent off – and scores.
Ukraine v England, September. This one looks like Ben Chilwell’s fault, but it isn’t really. Instead, he gets isolated by James Maddison, who fails to track back and allows Ukraine a two-on-one on their right flank. Yukhym Konoplya crosses, Oleksandr Zinchenko scores.
Scotland v England, a few days later. Now Kieran Trippier, a right-footer, is at left-back. Andrew Robertson, a left-footer, has the ball on the right wing. Robertson knows that pretty much the last thing anyone expects is what happens: he goes around the outside, on his weaker side, and slides over the cross from which Maguire turns the ball into his own net.
England v Australia, last month. We have another new left-back, in this case a centre-half called Levi Colwill. Australia counter and move the ball towards their right flank. Colwill, short of support, simply stands off Martin Boyle and allows him to cross for Mitchell Duke, who misses one of Australia’s best chances of the game.
England v Italy, a few days after that. Trippier’s back, still showing wingers inside like the wily operator he is. This time Domenico Berardi obliges, but because Trippier’s body position is oriented towards his favoured right side, he fails to spot Giovanni di Lorenzo making the reverse run behind him. Berardi sneaks the ball through to Di Lorenzo, who sets up Gianluca Scamacca’s goal.
And so to Malta on Friday, with about 20 seconds on the clock. Pretty much the first thing Malta have done as soon as they get the ball is to pump the ball towards England’s left-back position, where Fikayo Tomori – also not a left-back – has won the lottery this time. Malta win the resulting throw-in and storm towards goal. A stinging shot by Teddy Teuma whistles inches wide and 30 years to the day after conceding to San Marino within eight seconds England are narrowly spared another generational trauma at the hands of an international minnow.
So, this is becoming a bit of a problem. Go through every big chance or goal England have conceded since the last World Cup and the overwhelming majority of them have come from their left flank. After the 2-0 victory against Malta, Gareth Southgate was keen to take some of the heat off Tomori after an indifferent display in a position he does not play at club level.
“We’ve asked people like Fikayo to fill roles that aren’t their usual position,” he said, “and it’s not easy for him to build down that side. We’ve got problems with availability in that area, and you’re trying to give some players a rest.”
Southgate has been particularly unlucky in that part of the pitch. Shaw has been out for almost three months with a mystery “muscle injury”, while the latest of Chilwell’s recurring hamstring problems has put him out of action since late September.
The temptation is to assume that once both are fit, England’s problems evaporate. But to focus purely on personnel is to ignore the wider issue, which is that whoever plays on the left, England simply look less assured when defending that flank.
To understand why, let’s look at the opposite side of the pitch. Southgate’s favoured right-flank combination in recent months has been Kyle Walker and Phil Foden, long-standing club teammates whose attributes complement each other: left and right foot, high-energy pressing and immense recovery pace, drifting inside and skill on the overlap.
Above all this is a relationship that has benefited from time, which is why England looked so much more threatening against Malta after Walker replaced Trippier at right-back.
The closest thing England have to a left-sided partnership is Shaw and Marcus Rashford, teammates at Manchester United. But with Shaw injured and Rashford badly out of form, Southgate has been forced to try alternatives. Shaw and Jack Grealish play the game at largely different speeds; Trippier and Rashford feels too narrow; Chilwell and Maddison are probably too attack-minded to be an option against stronger teams. Even so, none of these partnerships has had any more than a single game to develop.
The other obstacle here is Maguire. Maguire plays as a left-sided centre-back for England, a position he no longer occupies for United under Erik ten Hag. “The angles are not good for Harry if he is playing on the left side,” Ten Hag said last season. “It’s also difficult for him defending in wide areas on his left foot.” With Maguire invariably turning on to his favoured right foot in possession, England’s left flank is often starved of the quick service that would allow them to spring attacks.
These are problems that go beyond injuries or individuals, and there is nothing new about a weak England left flank. The broader picture is that if you go back through the above games, England either won or drew them all. But tournament football is where minor flaws get opened up, where the best teams are skilled at finding an opponent’s weaknesses and squeezing them mercilessly.
If there is a point at which a minor flaw becomes an established weakness, then it’s probably the point at which Malta – the 171st-ranked team in the world – are trying to exploit it.
