At times during the opening half‑hour of England’s slow‑burn 2-0 defeat of Ukraine the only real football on show was that very modern kind of non‑football: the things that happen in the strange, dead time while everyone in the stadium waits for the assistant referee to raise the flag for offside. This was the only real entertainment on show: invalid entertainment.
There was one of these moments shortly before England’s opening goal as Harry Maguire chased back to retrieve a loose ball, then just seemed to stop. Except it wasn’t that. Maguire hadn’t actually stopped. There he was, still going, still turning like a fully-laden container ship easing its way grandly out of port. We’re still on. This was just Maguire attempting to sprint.
Nothing came of it, and Maguire wasn’t really asked to chase again all game. He defended well otherwise, showing his strengths in passing, heading and reading the angles. But if these games leading towards Germany 2024 really are about refinement, about elevating England’s level towards genuine rather than hopeful tournament favourites, that slow-motion tableau, football through a mild dose of horse tranquilliser, was still probably one the most significant moments of a mismatched afternoon.
This England team is evolving. It has deeper gears than at any stage in the last seven years. But it is also time for Gareth Southgate to make some final calculations, to be ruthless when it comes to the balance of loyalty and weaknesses. And Maguire remains the most obvious knot to be untangled.
It was a pretty useful few days for other reasons too, as late-season, limb-weary international breaks go. England have all but nailed a top-two spot in the group. Some areas of quiet progress made in Qatar seem to have bedded in. There was even something fascinating and fun in the contrast of the two venues: the first in Naples, a place of strange energy fields and fishy sidestreets – the air doesn’t just smell of puttanesca sauce, it tastes of it – and a city where on match days, nobody ever really seems to be totally in control of anything; and the second at Wembley, where stewarding has become ever more neurotic after the chaos of 2021, where a neighbourhood booze lockdown is now enforced by hi-vis squadrons, where a piped voice tells you how to walk, act, move, and where the ground had begun to empty out with 70 minutes gone.
On the pitch there were some obvious signs of progress. Although this must as ever be filtered through the fact that looking at Southgate’s England is very much a Speak-My-Truth kind of affair, a world where however you feel about Southgate’s achievements as manager, that’s what they are. Never mind facts, history or context.
It is an easy game to play. Made England better when they were dreadful? Would’ve happened anyway. Reached a final? Didn’t win a final. Won in Italy? Fine. Win better in Italy, win all the minutes of all the games. But Southgate himself seemed genuinely refreshed and replenished. This is not a trivial point. So much about teams and shared competitive will relates to how the people at the centre of it feel.
Second, and more tangible, was the re-gearing of England’s midfield, a long-term point of weakness that now looks like an area of strength. The three-man unit strangled Italy in the first half: Jude Bellingham, Declan Rice and Kalvin Phillips establishing a suffocating white shield around halfway, pressing, cutting the angles, stalling opposition attempts to build some rhythm.
This is a midfield Southgate had wanted to use in Qatar. And while Bellingham is the obvious star, and Rice had arguably his best England game in Naples, Phillips is also a key part. Southgate was accused of the dreaded sin of loyalty for selecting him. But this happened because Phillips has the mobility and skill set to help make this shape work, with all the referred benefits of fewer defenders on the pitch.
That 4-3-3 is Southgate finding a way to loosen the tie, tousle his hair and rev the throttle. It might take time. But it is the right kind of progress. One key England weakness, an absence of control that led at times to seven defensive players on the pitch, is being rounded out here.
Which brings us back to Maguire. Southgate is often accused of being too loyal to his preferred players. To some degree this is another case of the truth being whatever you choose to see. On one hand, Southgate’s key note of progress is creating a “club culture”, abolishing the old fear, divisions and insecurity. On the other, we want him to drop players, to pick only on form, to give us new things to look at.
Maguire has stayed in the team in part for these reasons. But he is a genuine problem now for England, his lack of mobility an obvious weak spot just waiting to be exposed by the best team; or if not skewing selection to hide it. And Southgate must know that this version of Maguire is a level below what this team can aim for.
Maguire can pass and head the ball, has a good touch and is an excellent team man. But he is also the slowest player on the pitch every time he plays, and not just slow in foot race, slow in anything that requires him to flex and spring. This immobility will cost England, if not in obvious ways, then in the problems with keeping a high defensive line and condensing the midfield. At times at Wembley John Stones could be seen urging Maguire forward when England had possession. Grudgingly Maguire complied, already feeling vertigo.
Perhaps there isn’t a genuinely compelling left-sided centre-back alternative. Fikayo Tomori has played well for Milan. Southgate seems to be concerned that he lacks Maguire’s strength and power in the air. Tomori also had two shaky games against Chelsea at just the wrong moment. But this point of weakness will continue to lurk, more evident in a team that has fewer of them.
Loyalty is good. Ruthlessness is also good, and Southgate has been ruthless in some ways. Raheem Sterling has finally been eased out of an automatic starter spot. And England’s manager has, no matter what he might say publicly, been ruthless with Ben White, who left the World Cup squad and wasn’t picked for these games as an understandable consequence.
Can Southgate now apply the other side of that hard-headedness? White is a centre-back by trade. He is currently playing to a high standard every week for the Premier League leaders. On merit, an English defender with a shot at winning the English league and in a role that is a point of weakness, he deserves a chance to play for England.
It is up to Southgate to make this work, or at least to give it a chance. White, or indeed any other potential replacement, doesn’t have to be a world-beater. The central defence only needs to be quite good, to be athletic and secure enough, to make the team work slightly better. England have eight more games before the year is out. If Maguire’s own form doesn’t improve there is plenty of time to fix this; to be ruthless in just the right way.
