World Cup 2018: England’s lack of goals in open play is a natural result of dominance, not a cause for concern

England have only managed two of their eight goals from open play, and one was a deflection

All of a sudden England have a World Cup quarter-final to prepare for, their first since 2006 and they barely have any time before they fly out there. But as Gareth Southgate patches up his squad and prepares them for Sweden, he may just wonder if there is anything they can do differently next time.

England returned to Repino in the early hours of Wednesday, meaning they can only do one full training session, on Thursday, before flying to Samara on Friday. Many of the players looked exhausted in extra-time in Moscow, and the only England players making a difference in extra-time were Danny Rose, Marcus Rashford and Jamie Vardy, who had the benefit of being fresh from the bench.

Southgate jokingly compared the England dressing room to a scene from MASH after Tuesday’s game, and there will be checks on Vardy’s groin and Ashley Young’s ankle before any decisions are made on Saturday’s team, while Harry Kane and Kyle Walker also try to shake off cramp. “You never know with cramp whether that is just cramp, or something a little bit more,” Southgate said. “But that will take a good 36 hours. We are probably a little bit behind on our prep but we will judge that.”

But that combination of injuries and fatigue is a strong case for refreshing the side in Samara. So is the fact that, for all their success in getting this far, it feels as if this England side have not yet hit their top level, certainly not in terms of threatening in open play.

England have scored 9 goals so far but only two of them have been in open play, and one was a fortunate deflection, when a Ruben Loftus-Cheek long-ranger looped in off the back of Kane’s ankle. And while Kane has been deadly so far, leading the Golden Boot race with six goals, he has not been finding the goal-scoring positions he normally does for Spurs.

Southgate insisted after the game on Tuesday night that he is not worried about England’s dependence on set-piece goals. Because, in his mind, set piece threat is a natural result of open-play dominance, and we should not draw too clear a line between the two. Set pieces are not won in isolation.

"I think the style of our football gets us the free kicks and gets us the corners,” Southgate said. “In the end, teams are stopping us by fouling us, and it's great if we are able to punish them like that. We can't overlook the fact we are controlling games, and so composed playing out from the back, that we are making teams work extra hard, get dragged out of place and having to dive in and make challenges they don't want to.”

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Which may well the case. But that does not mean that England cannot play any better. And if they do want to play more expansively and creatively then they do have options. Danny Rose is looking better with every appearance, and was responsible for giving England more energy in the second half of extra-time on Tuesday night. After his 90 minutes against Belgium in Kaliningrad he looks back to full sharpness and should come into the team.

Southgate may also want to refresh the midfield, with continuing questions over the effectiveness of Dele Alli. The Spurs midfielder came back in for Tuesday night but did not look fully fit, did not make much of an impression on the game, and was the first player Southgate removed. With Fabian Delph away with his wife about to give birth, Ruben Loftus-Cheek is still at the front of the queue, even if he looked slightly nervous in his two starts against Panama and Belgium. But the Sweden defence will require some clever unpicking, and Loftus-Cheek’s unique skills could still make him the man to do it.

But while there will always be calls for Raheem Sterling to be replaced too, his performance against Colombia again underlined his importance to the team. Even if it was slightly lacking in end product. Sterling’s job in this team is to make selfless runs in behind, scaring defenders, trying to make space for Kane just outside the box for him to shoot or pass. That is how England play and on Tuesday Sterling was just as good, making those dangerous runs, occupying defenders, even if he did not get his rewards.

“I just tried to get on the ball as much as possible and to get behind them as well,” Sterling explained after the game. “I was just waiting for the ball to come across and hopefully to get my chance. But as long as the team keeps winning I’m more than happy.”

Sterling also faced some serious provocation, not just being thrown to the ground by Wilmar Barrios in the penalty area in the first half, but being pushed by a member of the Colombian coaching staff when the players walked off at half-time.

“I just remember running in and someone stepped in front of me,” Sterling recalled. “I just looked back at him. But we knew their gameplan and exactly what they were trying to do. We knew what would get thrown at us and that was silly from him. We just keep going and black that out, and focus on the football.”

That is what Sterling and the rest of the England team have done so well in Russia so far. The football is going better than anyone expected, but if England want to go one extra step, it does not have to be Sterling who pays the price.