England vs Italy LIVE: Nations League result, final score and reaction tonight

All the action as the Three Lions go head-to-head with the Azzurri at Molineux

Southgate: An embarrassment England playing behind closed doors

England’s first meeting with Italy since last year’s European Championship final was only a repeat of that night at Wembley in that both sides had cancelled each other out by the end of it. Otherwise, there was none of the jeopardy, none of the tension, no penalty shoot-out and thankfully, none of the trouble in the stands either. For the 1,000 or so schoolchildren watching this goalless draw in an otherwise empty Molineux due to a stadium ban on supporters, this was a memorable occasion. For everyone else in attendance, it was forgettable.

The question, three competitive games out from the World Cup, is how much Gareth Southgate has learned. For the first time in almost four years, England have gone three games without winning. This point keeps their chance of progressing from this group alive - thanks to Hungary holding Germany in Budapest - but still bottom of the group. The last goal from open play came in March, more than four hours of football ago. While admitting this end-of-season camp could have gone better, Southgate will not be overly concerned.

After all, it is difficult to separate the sluggishness on display with the fact that these Nations League games are coming at the end of a long, hard campaign. Both teams looked tired at Molineux - more tired than they did after a month of competition last year - and the fatigue particularly told during a second half that was low on real chances. Follow all the reaction for England vs Italy below:

England vs Italy

• ENG XI: Ramsdale, James, Trippier, Maguire, Tomori, Rice, Ward-Prowse, Sterling, Mount, Grealish, Abraham
• ITA XI: Donnarumma, Di Lorenzo, Gatti, Acerbi, Dimarco, Frattesi, Locatelli, Tonali, Pessina, Scamacca, Pellegrini
• England held to goalless draw by Italy in Nations League

[10 June 2022 11:07 · Karl Matchett]

England vs Italy latest team news and how to watch

Here are all the details in quick fashion ahead of tonight’s game:

England against Italy kicks off at 7:45pm BST on Saturday 11 June at Molineux.

All England’s Nations League games are now free-to-air and shown live on Channel 4. The game can be streamed via the All 4 platform apps and desktop website.

Trent Alexander-Arnold has been allowed to leave the squad as planned, while James Justin is a doubt after injury. Phil Foden has Covid so is still sidelined, but Fikayo Tomori could be ready for inclusion after injury. Kalvin Phillips came off against Germany though and it remains to be seen whether he has recovered.

Italy are without a host of options since the international break started included Moise Kean, Nicolo Zaniolo and Domenico Berardi. Giorgio Chiellini has retired from international action, but Leonardo Bonucci is set for a return.

Odds

England 11/13

Draw 13/5

Italy 4/1

[10 June 2022 10:40 · Karl Matchett]

Italy pose regular reminder that England have yet to find midfielder to truly control possession

Andrea Pirlo was underlining why ‘the Yorkshire Pirlo’ wasn’t really the Yorkshire Pirlo. He was complimentary about Kalvin Phillips, and sent the Leeds midfielder a message of good luck, but argued he had no equivalent on these shores.

“In England, there’s never been this kind of player,” he said. “There have been great midfielders over the years with different skills. There’s the boy at Leeds who’s a bit of a regista, but… we’re a bit different. He doesn’t have the same characteristics I had. You’ve always had box-to-box midfielders, like Frank Lampard.”

Pirlo used to specialise in illustrating what England were missing. He was the elegant intellectual who played the game his own way, all technique and no physique as the ball did the running for him. He was a one-man indictment of Roy Hodgson’s England. And years later, when Pirlo had already come and gone as Juventus manager, when England had been transformed into a far more progressive team, his analysis underlined a familiar shortcoming: England’s possession problem.

It was proved by Pirlo’s successors, the twin registas who helped Italy win Euro 2020, in Jorginho and Marco Verratti. Go back to last summer’s final and the Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Verratti completed more passes, some 111, than Phillips, Declan Rice, Jordan Henderson, Mason Mount, Raheem Sterling, Bukayo Saka and Kieran Trippier did between them. And if not all are central midfielders, if most did not play 120 minutes, neither did Verratti, who went off with 25 remaining.

England may be grateful that a rematch with Italy on Saturday is not a reunion with old tormentors. Jorginho and Verratti left the Azzurri squad after the Finalissima. Another chastening night may have been averted; but perhaps only postponed.

Because tournament life for England in the last decade has tended to come with one glaring reminder of the type of player England lack, the sort of cerebral tempo-setter who takes and gives the ball, sometimes seemingly with little purpose, but who wrestles control of the game with their own composure.

Rich Jolly discusses England’s lack of a midfield metronome: