England were beaten 3-1 by the Netherlands, leaving them to contest a third-place Nations League play-off with Switzerland
Friday 7 June 2019 15:10, UK
England have made great strides under Gareth Southgate but their 2-1 loss to Netherlands in the UEFA Nations League semi-finals showed there is still plenty of room for improvement - and much still to learn.
Marcus Rashford opened the scoring from the penalty spot after he was felled by Matthijs De Ligt in the first half, but the Dutch defender made amends when he headed home an equaliser in the 73rd minute.
Jesse Lingard had a goal ruled out for offside by the VAR after that, with the Netherlands taking full advantage in extra-time as they capitalised on England's defensive errors.
The defeat denied England a place in the Nations League final against Portugal, instead setting up a third-place play-off against Switzerland.
England have played out from the back to great effect at times under Southgate, but they struggled right from the start against the Netherlands. As early as the eighth minute, Harry Maguire could be seen sending a pass astray deep in his own half, allowing Steven Bergwijn to fire a shot at goal. The sloppiness proved to be a recurring theme.
The Netherlands pinned England back aggressively, closing down passing channels and pressing them high up the pitch, and Southgate's defenders were not helped by a lack of movement in front of them. At times, the gap between the defence and midfield was far too wide, allowing their opponents to keep them under sustained pressure.
"Maguire is getting caught on the ball, but he's got no options," said Gary Neville in the Sky Sports commentary box. "He wants to pass, he needs to pass."
Stones, Maguire's centre-back partner, appeared typically relaxed in the face of the Dutch pressure, at one point in the first half even attempting to nutmeg Ryan Babel on his own byline, but there is a fine line between confidence and over-confidence and in extra-time he stepped over it.
First, he was caught on the ball by Depay on the edge of his own box in the lead-up to the Walker own goal which put the Netherlands in front, then, for their third, his poor pass put Ross Barkley in trouble, with Depay subsequently squaring for substitute Quincy Promes to score.
"They have created their own problems all night," added Neville. "There haven't been the passes into midfield and the use of the ball hasn't been good enough. The centre-backs should have multiple options when they are on the ball to pop it into midfield. It's a mixture of taking the chances when you should, but also not having the options in front of you."
The errors will re-open the debate about playing out from the back, but England need refinement rather than a rethink. "We need to play out better," Southgate told Sky Sports afterwards. "I don't think it's a case of stopping doing what we're doing."
The problems in defence were compounded by a mismatch in midfield, where England's options were depleted and the Netherlands could call on the brilliant Frenkie De Jong.
Sky Sports pundit Jamie Redknapp raised eyebrows before the game when he described the 22-year-old as the world's best midfielder, but after his Champions League heroics with Ajax, this was another performance to justify the hype.
Over the course of the 120 minutes, he barely put a foot wrong. By half-time, he had completed 41 passes out of 42 and had more touches than Fabian Delph and Declan Rice combined. With his head constantly swivelling and with feints left and right, he was able to evade the white shirts around him and run the game from start to finish.
By the final whistle, De Jong had completed 101 passes out of 105, giving him the highest accuracy rate on the pitch. Even on one rare occasion when he lost the ball deep in England territory, he immediately regained possession and won a free kick. In total, he made more tackles (five) and interceptions (three) combined than any other player.
Delph, Rice and Barkley could not compete, but the problem is not limited to that trio. England's issues in midfield are long-standing. They were apparent in the World Cup semi-final against Croatia, when they were outplayed by Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic, and they have been apparent many times before that, too.
"De Jong ran that game from start to finish," said Redknapp on Sky Sports. "If you're a centre-back, every time you get the ball you can pop it into him and you know he's going to receive it, he's going to make another angle. Everywhere on the pitch he was looking to receive the ball, and I think that was the difference between the two teams."
Jamie Carragher added: "That was the problem in the last semi-final, when Croatia had Modric, we didn't have that type of player. We don't produce that type of player very often - if ever, really. And that was apparent again tonight. When you get to this level, that is a massive difference."
"This is a 20-odd-year-old argument," added Neville. "It's Pirlo one year, it's Modric the next, now it's De Jong. I'm not going to start the debate around Scholes, Gerrard and Lampard here, but the reason I say he's the best player I ever played with is because he controlled every single match I played in for Manchester United. He was doing that for 20 years."
The issue, of course, is that players like Scholes do not come along often. Neville mentioned Tottenham's Harry Winks as a potential candidate to step in, while Redknapp mentioned Manchester City's Phil Foden and Leicester's James Maddison. So the potential is certainly there. For now, though, England's midfield remains a work-in-progress.
You can watch every minute of the Nations League finals live on Sky Sports.
Third and fourth place play-off - Switzerland v England: Sunday 9 June from 1.30pm, live on Sky Sports Football and Sky Sports Main Event; Kick-off at 2pm.
Nations League final - Portugal v Netherlands: Sunday 9 June from 7pm, live on Sky Sports Football and Sky Sports Main Event; Kick-off at 7.45pm.
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