There can’t be too many countries with as talented a team of stiffs. England left their first choice XI on the bench here, a decision that could be interpreted as a snub towards their Australian opponents were this not the sainted Gareth Southgate who made the decision and were the combined value of the reserves not something north of half a billion pounds.
Southgate had warned that this might be a night for rotation, the argument being that players need minutes to not just get in the groove but feel part of the squad.
What we ended up with was a largely fractured performance, a formation that didn’t click and a general absence of inspiration that could have gone badly had Australia taken one of a handful of decent opportunities. In the end though, it still registered as a win.
What did we see from those who were given their chance? Again it was only something that could be observed in moments. But it was certainly interesting to watch how a number of experienced, £50m-plus talents who might have been a little peeved at being cast as second choice, chose to embrace the occasion.
Trent Alexander-Arnold is a case in point; the technically supreme full-back who still doesn’t look like a Southgate man, despite a summer flourish, and who struggled here to have an influence on the game. As a defender who progresses into midfield, Alexander-Arnold couldn’t have inverted himself any harder if he tried, but the ball either didn’t find its way to him or the pattern on the pitch never materialised for him to do anything with it.
For Jordan Henderson too there was a question mark. The former Liverpool captain was booed off when he was substituted on the hour, one assumes less as a reflection on his performance than on his decision to move to Saudi Arabia to “create positive change” (and pick up the odd bit of spare change in the process).
Even so there was a sense that a man of his experience is neither learning nor adding much by plodding around in the centre of the pitch holding things together in the face of a non-existent Aussie midfield.
Ollie Watkins was a more intriguing figure, given the challenge he was set as the team’s lone striker. The Aston Villa man got his goal, turning in a Jack Grealish effort at the back post. Otherwise he had a tough ask, having to fill a Harry Kane-shaped hole in the side that exists in multiple dimensions.
The bread and butter stuff was easy enough for Watkins, though even in the hold-up play the touch wasn’t quite as cute as England fans have come to expect from their skipper. With two first-half opportunities Watkins also left the grudging sense that something better could have been possible, an effort in the 29th minute in particular coming off the post from a tight angle where we’ve seen them go in before.
Most of all, though, there was just an absence of magnetism, again not his fault, but apparent all the same. Watkins had a role, he had a job but were his teammates seeking him out, anticipating an attacking movement or a shift to create space? It didn’t appear that way. This may be a harsh observation of a man making only his second England start in a scratch side.
But there was a figure who became a source of attraction on the pitch, and it was James Maddison. An England career has not come easily to the playmaker, now 26.
It was four years ago that Southgate explained the then Leicester man’s shortage of international minutes as being down to the fact that “I think he’s a No 10 and, at the moment, we’ve not been playing with a 10”. He finally played as a 10 here, the irony being that he did so only because an irresistible option in that position – a young man called Jude Bellingham – has appeared on the scene and forced Southgate’s hand.
All the same, Maddison took his chance. It wasn’t a world-beating showing, there was no goal or assist, but it was his sweet pass that set Watkins free to hit the woodwork and his free-kick that was cleared in the buildup to the goal. More than that the Spurs star wanted it. He showed up throughout, sought space, linked play, applied his imagination and, generally, was that force that said to his teammates “if you’re looking for an option, you’ve always got me”.
Southgate will not have learned anything here about the ability of his understudies that he didn’t know already. But he will have seen something of their temperament. And he will have noted that, after years of trying, Maddison is not sulking or suffering but trying to impress.
The manager will also have observed that his defence can still be got at, even by limited opponents, but that’s a discussion for another time.
