Barney Ronay on Jack Grealish
David Hytner was at Molineux tonight. His report has landed, and here it is. Thanks for reading this MBM. Nighty night!
More from Southgate: “We’ve been too reliant on Harry and Raheem for our goals, and other players have to step into that space. We’ve looked dangerous without getting the goals in the bigger games. Aaron Ramsdale did very well, a couple of good saves and his composure with the ball was what we hoped. Fikayo also did very well, that’s going to give us more depth in that area of the pitch. And James Ward-Prowse did well, he used the ball well and controlled the game, his passing was good. So there have been some positives. Tammy was fine, I wasn’t unhappy with his performance at all. Psychologically, not having a crowd has been tough, so we’re looking forward to that on Tuesday.”
Gareth Southgate speaks to Channel 4. “There were things we did really well in Germany and things we needed to improve upon. We improved on getting through their press, we were much better at it. We had two or three really good chances but lacked a little bit of sharpness in the final third. The general performance I was pleased with, and some individual performances of players we needed to see did well. In the second half, we were the better team, but we didn’t have the crowd to push us. We’ve got the ball into our forward players, and given them all a go, because we know the stage of the season we’re at. Our little bit of sharpness in the final third isn’t quite there. But I was pleased in general.”
Mason Mount talks to Channel 4. “It is frustrating. Obviously we want to create chances and score goals, I should have done better with my chance. It’s something we need to look at. We have created chances but we should have done better with them. We are keeping clean sheets, so it’s something that’s a positive, but we need to keep working at it. We should have scored. But sometimes you go through periods when it’s difficult. We just need to keep working hard, we’ve got the talent and quality. It’s a difficult one to take, because we could have taken more from the game. We’re obviously frustrated with our performance. We want to win every game. It’s a tough one.”
England now really need a win against Hungary on Tuesday evening. Gareth Southgate’s side are bottom of the A3 table after three matches, having won none of them and scored just one goal, a penalty at that. They’re on two points, while Hungary - who tonight drew 1-1 with Germany in Budapest - are in second place with four. Germany, after three draws out of three, are in third with three points. Italy remain in top spot with five points from their first three games. A reminder that whoever finishes bottom of the group will be relegated to League B next time round.
FULL TIME: England 0-0 Italy
The whistle goes, and England remain bottom of Group A3.
90 min +3: Trippier sends it into the box. There’s a bit of pinball, but Italy clear their lines, then Bowen bashes into Gnonto. The free kick takes the pressure off Italy. That’s surely it.
90 min +2: Bowen barrels down the left and is cynically clipped by Tonali, who takes a booking that means he’ll miss the next match against Germany.
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90 min +1: Ward-Prowse’s inswinger is headed behind by Acerbi. Ward-Prowse whips in low from the left. Phillips, at the near stick, flicks onto the base of the post, but Italy clear, and he’s penalised for shoving Raspadori in the back anyway.
90 min: A free kick for England out on the left, as Di Lorenzo clips Trippier. Ward-Prowse to deliver. England line up on the edge of the box. There will be three added minutes.
89 min: Right. Some late drama, please!
88 min: Fikayo Tomori pulls up with cramp and is replaced by Marc Guehi.
87 min: Italy make another couple of changes. Bryan Cristante and Alessandro Florenzi replace Matteo Pessina and Federico Dimarco.
86 min: Bowen puts his foot on the gas and zips down the right. He enters the Italian box only to run slap bang into Acerbi, who isn’t giving an inch. That’s the end of that, then.
84 min: Phillips looks to find Saka with a quarterback’s pass down the right wing from deep. It’s too strong and Donnarumma comes to the edge of his box to claim calmly. After an opening flurry of activity, England’s creativity has dipped significantly.
82 min: Ward-Prowse goes into the book for a mistimed, rather than malicious, slide on Pessina. He raises a hand of apology to the referee, but he’s not charming his way out of a yellow.
81 min: Gnonto scampers after a speculative long ball. For a second, it looks as though he’s going to get there first and race clear on goal, but Tomori sticks out a telescopic leg and hook-tackles away from danger. That’s a magnificent last-ditch challenge.
80 min: That’s Sterling’s last act of the game. He’s replaced by Bukayo Saka.
79 min: Kane bustles down the left and tries a couple of one-twos with Sterling. The second attempt leads to a lucky ricochet that allows Kane to squeeze through a gap and into the box. With not much space or time to work with, he larrups a snapshot over the bar from a not particularly inviting angle.
77 min: Gianluca Scamacca is replaced by his Sassuolo strike partner Giacomo Raspadori.
75 min: Tomori’s loose pass in the centre circle allows Pessina the opportunity to romp down the right. He looks for Scamacca in the England box, but can’t find him. The quality’s dropped in the last few minutes. Hey, it’s the end of a very long season. Everyone should already be on the beach.
73 min: Sterling turns on the jets and enters the Italian box down the left, but his attempt to sit Pessina down and make space for a shot doesn’t quite come off. Full marks for intent and ambition, though.
72 min: England pass it around the middle for a while, but don’t go anywhere. Given they’re more desperate for the win, it’s admirably patient play if nothing else.
70 min: Gnonto gets involved in short order, dribbling at pace into the England box from the right, holding off the attentions of Ward-Prowse, and whipping a shot into the side netting.
69 min: Dimarco embarks on another power dribble, and is this time bodychecked by Phillips. A fussier referee might have had something to say about that. Just a free kick.
67 min: Bowen dribbles across the face of the Italian box. No way through. The ball’s worked back to Ward-Prowse, who screeches a speculative long-distance effort well wide right.
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66 min: Dimarco jinks and juggles his way down the left, before sending in a cross that nobody in blue attacks.
65 min: A double change for Italy, as Wilfried Gnonto and debutant Salvatore Esposito replace Manuel Locatelli and Lorenzo Pellegrini. Meanwhile England make three swaps: on come Jarrod Bowen, Harry Kane and Kalvin Phillips for Declan Rice, Mason Mount and Tammy Abraham. Good to see Phillips back sooner than expected, after suffering so much injury woe this season.
63 min: Pellegrini chips a delightful diagonal pass towards Di Vicenzo, cutting into the England box from the right. Di Vicenzo can’t quite get his shot away, and Ramsdale blocks out for a corner from a tight angle. Nothing comes of the resulting set piece.
61 min: Grealish tries to release Abraham down the inside-left channel with a forensic pass, but the striker clanks into Gatti instead of trapping, and a promising situation is gone.
59 min: Abraham showcases a couple of tricks down the left and nearly one-twos his way into the Italy box via Mount. Frattesi comes across and blooters a clearance into Abraham’s face and out for a goal kick. No more than a glancing blow off Abraham’s startled coupon, thankfully, and he’s good to continue without any treatment.
57 min: Pellegrini sashays in from the left and is unceremoniously brought down by James, just within the no-yellow limits. Pellegrini’s runs have troubled England all evening.
55 min: Ward-Prowse and Grealish combine on the edge of the Italian box to find Sterling just inside the area on the right. Sterling drags a shot, intended for the bottom left, straight at Donnarumma.
54 min: Pellegrini slithers out of a tight spot on the left and tears into the England half. He tries to slip Scamacca clear, but his pass hits his team-mate on the heel. An unlucky way to end a slippery-as-an-eel run.
52 min: England should be leading. They ping it around patiently. Then, suddenly, Grealish shovels a pass wide right for James, who curls a tempting ball through the Italian six-yard box. Sterling simply has to tap home, but somehow skies it over the bar. Shades of his astonishing miss for Manchester City against Lyon in the Champions League a couple of years ago.
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50 min: Pessina tries to release Pellegrini down the middle with a long rake. Ramsdale comes racing out of his box to chest down and clear. That’s fine sweeper-keeping, though I suspect the flag would have gone up for a fairly obvious offside anyway.
48 min: Ward-Prowse ships possession in the centre circle, allowing Pellegrini to romp down the middle. He attempts to slip Scamacca into the box. The ball breaks instead to Pessina, who skies a first-time shot from the edge of the D. Looks like Italy are picking up where they left off.
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47 min: Ramsdale shanks a pass upfield straight to Tonali, and is extremely fortunate the Italian midfielder isn’t able to control. Maguire nicks the ball away and saves his keeper’s blushes.
Italy get the second half underway. Neither manager has made any half-time changes.
You want more Nations League-infused half-time entertainment? We got more Nations League-infused half-time entertainment!
There’s already been one big game in the Nations League today ... and in it, the Republic of Ireland handed Scotland their shorts, freshly laundered and neatly pressed. Ewan Murray was there to witness Ireland’s comprehensive victory.
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HALF TIME: England 0-0 Italy
The whistle goes with Italy slowly gaining the upper hand ... but England have had their chances too. It’s been an entertaining, open game.
45 min: From the resulting corner, Pessina has a shot blocked, then Locatelli improvises a low diagonal daisycutter towards the bottom left, which Ramsdale claims well.
44 min: Some good work again down the Italian right, Di Lorenzo pulling back for Pessina, whose hard drive deflects off Ward-Prowse, and is then palmed over the bar by Ramsdale.
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43 min: Italy are finishing the half stronger, seeing more of the ball. England aren’t desperate to hear the half-time whistle, exactly, but they won’t mind too much when it sounds.
41 min: Frattesi slips a diagonal ball into the England box from the right. Ward-Prowse tries to intercept but his slide only deflects it into the path of Pessina, who clips inside for Scamacca, on the right-hand corner of the six-yard box. Scamacca spins and welts a shot over the bar from close range. He grimaces, as well he might. He should have hit the target and worked Ramsdale at least.
40 min: Mount cuts in from the left and sends another weak shot straight down Donnarumma’s throat.
39 min: A huge gap opens up between Trippier and Tomori down the Italy right. Pessina screams to be released into it. England are very fortunate neither Frattesi nor Di Lorenzo realises what’s going on, and fail to spot or make the killer pass.
37 min: ... but they finally spring forward, James and Mount combining down the right. A long cross is looped towards Grealish at the far post. Grealish tries to cushion the ball down for Sterling, but Gatti gets in the way and clears.
36 min: England knock it around the middle without ever threatening to gain any ground.
34 min: The tempo of this match has dropped again. But the kids are still alright.
32 min: One English-born player has already scored tonight: Matty Cash, born in Slough to a Polish mother, has put the Poles ahead against the Netherlands. Ben Yeo reports: “I’m watching Holland v Poland on Fox Sports. The commentator keeps referring to Poland’s Matty Cash as ‘The Englishman’. When Cash scored he said ‘what a goal for the Englishman’. I’d have thought the Polish shirt and being on the Polish team would have been the giveaways but what do I know.”
30 min: It’s Grealish v Gatti again, and a late slide earns the England man a yellow card.
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28 min: James one-twos with Sterling down the right and tears into space. He cuts back for Grealish, who takes a first-time prod from ten yards. He doesn’t get enough on the shot, and it’s easily blocked by Gatti.
26 min: The referee finally gets his notebook out, and Locatelli can have no complaints, scything through the back of Mount in the 1960s style.
25 min: A raking diagonal ball finds Di Lorenzo just to the right of the England box. He meets it first time and whistles a low cross through the six-yard box. It gets all the way through to Tonali, racing in down the inside-left channel. Tonali meets it flush, but his drive is blocked brilliantly by Ramsdale, and England clear their lines. What a save!
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24 min: Trippier clips an in-flight Pessina from behind, and is slightly fortunate not to go into the book. Then Mount does the same to Gatti. England will start testing the referee’s patience if they’re not careful.
22 min: Italy ping the ball around in high-speed triangles. They don’t really go anywhere but it does look very pretty. Such a shame they won’t be at the World Cup.
20 min: Pellegrini threatens to race into acres down the left, but Maguire comes across quickly to batter clear. Cue plenty of appreciative cheers for the much-maligned centre-back.
18 min: Sterling skitters down the inside-right channel and wins England’s first corner. Ward-Prowse takes, and finds Rice at the near post. Rice sends a sidefooted whip not far wide of the right-hand post. England are making chances.
16 min: Gotta say, Roberto Mancini gives good suit.
... but then again, Italian managers always give good suit.
14 min: ... so having said that, the pace immediately drops. Dreams don’t always come true, kids.
12 min: This game is being played at 101 miles per hour, and with basketball momentum. More, please!
10 min: It’s one heck of a start to this game. Di Lorenzo finds space down the right, meeting Tomori’s sliced clearance, and fizzes a low, inviting cross through the England six-yard box. There’s nobody in blue waiting to tap home. Somewhere in the multiverse, it’s already 2-2.
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9 min: England rattle the crossbar! Mount sprays a pass wide right to Sterling, who drives down the channel before slipping a diagonal return ball to Mount, just inside the box. Mount opens his body and smacks a shot over Donnarumma’s startled head and off the woodwork. The ball comes flying back with such pace that Abraham can’t steer the rebound goalwards.
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7 min: The kids are doing their very best to inject some atmosphere into the sparsely populated Molineux. Plenty of pantomime bird whenever Italy get the ball; plenty of cheers when England win it back.
5 min: Donnarumma, playing out too casually from the back, has his pass picked off by Abraham on the edge of the box. Abraham takes a stride into the area, but under pressure from Locatelli, slashes wide right. Both teams have already got away with one.
4 min: Abraham is checked by Gatti, 30 yards from the Italian goal, in a fairly central position. Ward-Prowse wedges the free kick into the mixer, Maguire’s presence causing a bit of bother, the ball breaking to Mount, who sails a harmless shot into Donnarumma’s midriff.
2 min: A huge chance for Italy to take an early lead. Pellegrini slips a pass down the inside-right channel to release Frattesi into the England box. He’s one on one with Ramsdale, albeit facing a bit of an angle. He drags his shot across the keeper and wide of the left-hand post. He certainly should have hit the target at the very least. He probably should have scored.
The captains Gianluigi Donnarumma and Raheem Sterling exchange pennants. Has there ever been a bigger height differential between captains? A whopping 10.2 inches between them, according to a popular internet search engine. The knee is taken – there’s no room for racism – and England get the ball rolling.
The teams are out at Molineux! England wear their famous white shirts; Italy sport their storied azzurri. With the game technically being played behind closed doors, there’s not much of an atmosphere ... but at least the Italian anthem isn’t disrespected by the usual confused toolkits, and a couple of thousand very excited girls and boys are about to enjoy one of the biggest evenings out of their young lives so far. We’ll be off in a minute!
Gareth Southgate talks to Channel 4 about tonight’s picks. “There’s been a lot of talk about Jack Grealish’s role with us, but he’s been available for 11 games with England this year, and has played in all of them. We know his value. We know he has a great impact when he starts, and he has a great impact when he enters games. So tonight we want to see all those qualities that everybody knows he brings. Fikayo Tomori is a player we want to look at. The fact he knows the opposition is probably a comfort to him going into his first start, but he’s had a really good season and is full of confidence with what’s happened to him with Milan. Tammy Abraham’s goalscoring record is the best in the whole squad this season. We know he’s always in the right areas and will finish. We’re England, we have to keep winning football matches ... but I’ve also got to balance that with some World Cup preparation. Sometimes you have to ride those longer-term decisions. This is another great test for us.”
Tonight’s match is the first England men’s international to be held at Molineux since December 1956, when the hosts beat Denmark 5-2 in a World Cup qualifier. Under the famous Molineux floodlights, which according to our report “gave the mild evening a Christmas sparkle”, Tom Finney and Stanley Matthews ran the visitors ragged on the wings. Tommy Taylor notched a hat-trick, while his fellow Busby Babe Duncan Edwards scored a couple of long-range screamers as well as hitting the woodwork twice. “His shooting was remarkable, indeed unparalleled in modern representative football,” cooed our man Silchester (aka John Arlott).
Not that everything was perfect. “Denmark were beaten by brilliance which sprang, largely undeservedly, from much slipshod midfield play,” noted Arlott, who added that “few English teams will be so unsteady at the back, pass so uncertainly in midfield, and play with so little constructive variety, and yet win by so impressive a score.” Ow, tough crowd. But a 5-2 win’s a 5-2 win, and you can be damn sure Gareth Southgate would take a similar mixed bag tonight.
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This match will be played behind closed doors. Well, technically. This is punishment for the disorder at Wembley before the Euro 2020 final last year. The FA were fined €100,000 by Uefa and hit with a two-game stadium ban, though the second match was suspended for two years. However, just as Hungary welcomed 30,000 children and guardians to the supposedly shuttered Puskas Arena last weekend, taking advantage of a Uefa rule that allows schoolkids to attend fixtures played behind closed doors, so England will welcome about 3,000 youngsters of their own today.
England make six changes to the XI named for the draw in Germany. Jack Grealish, Tammy Abraham, Reece James, James Ward-Prowse, Fikayo Tomori and Aaron Ramsdale are in. Tomori makes his first start, while Ramsdale wins his second cap. Harry Kane, now just three goals away from equaling Wayne Rooney’s all-time goalscoring record for England, drops to the bench along with Bukayo Saka, John Stones, Kyle Walker and Jordan Pickford. Kalvin Phillips, who went off injured against Germany, is named as a sub but unlikely to play. Raheem Sterling skippers the side.
Italy meanwhile make nine changes to the XI selected for the Hungary win. Gianluigi Donnarumma and Lorenzo Pellegrini are the only two players to keep hold of their shirts.
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The teams
Your #ThreeLions to take on Italy! 🏴 pic.twitter.com/0UACsiZQxR
— England (@England) June 11, 2022
https://twitter.com/Azzurri_En/status/1535673426844823552
Our starting XI to take on England 📋#ENGITA #NationsLeague #Azzurri #VivoAzzurro pic.twitter.com/1qnubf7x2v
— Italy ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (@Azzurri_En) June 11, 2022
Preamble
The last time these two countries met, of course, this happened ...
... so England go into tonight’s Group A3 Nations League game with a little revenge on their minds. But more pertinently, they also could do with a win in order to revive their hopes of winning the group, or perhaps lessen the prospect of getting relegated from it. At the moment, after losing in Hungary and narrowly avoiding defeat in Germany, they’re bottom of the table. Tonight’s opponents, having drawn with Germany and beaten Hungary, are top ... and Roberto Mancini’s European champions are doubly motivated to do well in this competition having failed yet again to qualify for the World Cup. This nicely set-up game kicks off at 7.45pm BST. It’s on!
