Start-stop England give Gareth Southgate food for thought after narrow win

A resilient 2-1 win over Poland at Wembley will have done nothing to convince Gareth Southgate that his pre-match doubts about England’s game-management were misplaced.

For 45 minutes, England played like a top international side, confidently starving Poland of possession while probing patiently for a breakthrough, which came through Harry Kane’s 19th-minute penalty.

The second half was a different story, however, with the hosts quickly losing control and their lead after John Stones’s mistake gifted Poland an equaliser.

Stones went some way to making amends with a header to set up Harry Maguire’s thumping late winner, but England’s loss of control in their final competitive match before Euro 2020 is one of a number of niggling concerns for Southgate ahead of the tournament.

Overall, it has been an encouraging week and a 100 per cent start to their World Cup qualifying campaign from three matches leaves England firmly in charge of Group I.

After a muddled autumn, when England seemed to go backwards, Southgate’s probable team for the delayed Euros has firmly taken shape over the course of wins against San Marino, Albania and Poland.

Last night’s XI could easily line up against Croatia on June 13 and only Kalvin Phillips should still be sweating over his place in the final 23-man squad.

The return of Stones and Luke Shaw has increased the manager’s defensive options and added balance to the squad, while Mason Mount and Declan Rice have definitively ended questions about Southgate’s perceived favouritism and Phil Foden has shone.

Jesse Lingard’s return to the fold increases competition for places in attack and Phillips has established himself, while Kane and Raheem Sterling further underlined their importance.

Yet, Southgate’s side’s inability to manage games for 90 minutes was evident against Poland and in the closing stages of the 2-0 win in Albania on Sunday, when the manager was left frustrated by England’s lack of savvy.

It is a problem he will want to address with more controlled displays in the warm-up matches against Austria and Romania at the start of June.

England’s defensive fragility will also concern Southgate, after Stones failed his first test since returning to the fold with a careless error for Poland’s equaliser.

The Manchester City defender was guilty of overconfidence and a poor touch on the edge of his box, losing possession to Arkadiusz Milik, who slipped in Jakub Moder to fire home. It was an unwelcome reminder of the mistakes that Stones appeared to have eradicated this season and, as Poland pushed, England would have been relieved they were not facing the injured Robert Lewandowski. The contest was close enough that the brilliant Bayern Munich striker might have made a decisive difference.

It was not the only time England have displayed defensive weakness this week and the question for Southgate is whether he holds his nerve and sticks with a four-man defence or reverts to the security of three centre-backs.

Playing an extra defender would reduce spaces further forward, and on last night’s evidence England should be wary about sacrificing creativity, leaving Southgate facing a tricky balancing act.

For all their first-half dominance, the hosts mustered just two shots on target — Kane’s cool penalty after Sterling was fouled and a low effort from the captain which was palmed away by Wojciech Szczesny.

After the break, they managed just one more effort at Szczesny’s goal before Maguire’s emphatic winner, which came after Stones kept Phillips’s corner in play with an acrobatic header.

Set-pieces have been a strength of Southgate’s England, but they will need to create more from open play at the Euros, with Croatia, Scotland and the Czech Republic all promising to be well-organised opponents.

The return of Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Jack Grealish should add creativity and goals, but this week England have been too reliant on Kane for firepower.

Ultimately, Southgate can reflect on a successful week, while knowing there are problems that he must solve on the job this summer.

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