Five things we learned from England's stuttering 4-0 World Cup qualifying win against Malta
There was absolutely no need for Gareth Southgate to play a double pivot, Harry Kane breaks his duck and Malta's resilience proves there are no easy games anymore
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Your support makes all the difference.England put four goals past minnows Malta on Friday night, who sit 177 places below Gareth Southgate’s side in the Fifa World Rankings.
The two sides headed in for half-time with the score at 0-0, after Raheem Sterling wasted a fine chance to open the scoring.
Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane eventually broke the deadlock, in the 53rd-minute of the match. He scored from close range for his first goal of the season.
Ryan Bertrand then added a second from distance, before Danny Welbeck scored on his international return. Kane then grabbed his second in injury time.
England next play Slovakia, on Monday night. Here are five things we learned from the contest.
England did not need a double pivot
It really didn’t take a genius to work out Malta’s game plan for this match. Defend in numbers, flood the centre of the pitch and boot the ball long whenever possible.
So why on earth did Gareth Southgate name two defensive midfielders – Jake Livermore and captain Jordan Henderson – in his starting line-up? England looked stodgy and looked toothless out wide, and in the first-half in particular they struggled to break down Malta’s deep defence.
It was utterly mindless leaving the likes of Marcus Rashford on the bench until half-time. Southgate picked a needlessly conservative team and thus this quickly descended into an utterly forgettable match.
Harry Kane gets his goals
Much has been made of Harry Kane’s seemingly inability to score a goal in the month of August. He’s drawn blanks in his first three Premier League games of the new season, but finally notched up his first goal on the 1st September.
In truth Kane didn’t have a particularly good game and he was frequently guilty of taking defenders on when he should have laid off a team-mate, but he took his goal very well. Receiving the ball from Tottenham team-mate Dele Alli, he calmly slotted past the goalkeeper to open the scoring.
He then added a second in injury-time, to prove he is well and truly off the mark.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain looks at home on the wing
The former Arsenal man may be desperate for a chance to show what he can do in the middle of the park, but it’s likely he’s going to be deployed out wide by Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool.
In this match, he showed why he is a capable of playing in wide positions, as he exhibited a nice turn of pace and looked dangerous when in possession.
If anything, he needed to stay in even wider positions. He clearly had the pace to beat his man here but too often cut inside when he could have raced clear.
Joe Hart still England’s number one
The 30-year-old had a difficult season last year, stuck out on loan in Italy, and hasn’t had the best of starts to the current campaign. He’s played in three Premier League games for new club West Ham and already conceded ten goals.
But he clearly remains Gareth Southgate’s number one. This would have been an excellent game to blood in Jack Butland – who will surely inherit Hart’s number one jersey soon – but instead Southgate decided to show loyalty to his established first-choice goalkeeper.
How did he get on? In truth he had very little to do, although he did look a little nervous with the ball at his feet early on. But he steered clear of any major errors and will remain his country’s number one for the match against Slovakia.
There are no easy games…
In 1971, England hammered Malta 5-0 at the old Wembley. And that was rather modest compared to results against the likes of Luxembourg, whom England infamously hammered 9-0 in 1982.
But, with the exception of San Marino, it has been a long time since England chalked up those kinds of victories. Malta are a prime example of how now even the minnows are able to keep things tight in qualifying matches.
It means that these kind of matches aren’t particularly entertaining, but it does mean winning three points is now far harder than it used to be.
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