It has not really been a great year for England manager Gareth Southgate. After the highs of the European Championship tournament where England failed at the final stage, the Nations League campaign has seen dwindling performance levels and entertainment, and some not very great at all results.
It is clear the build up to the first ever winter World Cup out in Qatar has hardly been perfect, but Southgate had a pretty decent start as we opened up the Group B battle with a 6-2 victory over Iran, but plenty of fans still had rightful concerns given the overall performance and the goals that were conceded.
Friday’s clash with the United States, was certainly not an improvement as the USA were easily the better side in what was a very poor and largely unentertaining scoreless draw, and having blown the chance to already have secured qualification to the knockout stages of the competition, fans of the Three Lions are now desperately hoping there is not a major home nations shock as we close the group out with a game against Wales – who themselves simply have to win to keep any hopes of their own qualification alive following their shock defeat to Iran in the second game. For those who like a flutter, betting sign up offers could well be your friend as the Welsh game approaches.
Whether he admits it or not, one major problem for Southgate is the form of Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane. Kane normally offers more than just goals, which affords punters the opportunity to maximise free bet bonuses at bookmakers, but Kane’s recent performances have the former England striker concerned that he might leave the punters and fans disappointed.
After the opening two games of the last World Cup, the England skipper had already found the back of the net five times, this time around as we head towards the
Welsh clash, he is yet to even hit the target. Many are concerned and feel that Kane needs a break against Wales so he can get himself right for the knockout games.
“We know the provider role Harry plays for this England team even when he is not scoring himself, but watching him against the United States it was clear something wasn’t right. He came through that scare about his ankle before the US game but, after playing a big part in an impressive team performance in the Iran game with two assists, he looked very tired and very leggy to me. It might be time to think about getting him right for the knockout stages, and I have a sneaky feeling Callum Wilson might come in to face Wales on Tuesday instead.”
Shearer does not blame Southgate for sticking with the same side that beat Iran for the United States, even if it did mean possibly slightly rushing Kane back a bit too quickly after his injury scare, but another big concern from the game was in how little effect the substitutes and any tactical tweaks made to the flow of the game.
“I thought England defender Harry Maguire was our man of the match by a mile, and that tells you a lot about the team’s performance. But of course it was disappointing that we were not able to change the direction of the game with the attacking options we had on the bench. I am not saying that in hindsight, either. We were all watching and thinking about the substitutes Gareth Southgate made, and whether they could have been earlier and could they have been different.”
It is a World Cup, there are usually a few bumps or two and we have already seen some strange and unexpected results in other games, but we will have to see if we bounce back against Wales as Shearer expects us to.
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