The Times - UK (2020-10-15)

66 2GM Thursday October 15 2020 | the times

SportNations League

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England

Denmark

Eriksen 35 (pen)

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Fewer risks off the

field and more on

it please, England

Henry Winter

Chief Football
Writer

at Wembley since Steven Gerrard

against Ukraine eight years ago, could

hardly be blamed on the system, al-

though he was venturing out of posi-

tion, both of his offences occurring in

the Denmark half. His first yellow after

five minutes bordered on a red, as he

dived in and caught Yussuf Poulsen on

the ankle. Maguire was so high up the

field, he could have simply jockeyed

him, kept him deep, rather than commit

himself.

His second yellow arrived just after

the half-hour mark. Maguire bore a

look of the deepest frustration as he

tried to rescue a situation following a

poor first touch with his right after re-

ceiving the ball from Rice.

Again, in the Denmark half, this time

near the centre circle, Maguire gifted

the ball towards Kasper Dolberg. Ma-

guire dived in, stretching out his left

foot, and connecting with the ball but

he was travelling at speed, was out of

control, and his momentum took him

painfully into Dolberg. Jesús Gil Man-

zano, the referee, had little hesitation in

bringing out yellow, then red.

Maguire’s face was now one of deso-

lation, almost disbelieving what latest

mishap had befallen him. He mouthed

“ball” towards Manzano, but it was the

follow-through that left the official no

choice. Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg offered a

consoling word as Maguire trudged

away, gaining no recognition from

Southgate or Steve Holland as he

passed them en route towards the

dressing room.

Denmark quietly imposed them-

selves, and particularly Eriksen, cele-

brating his 100th international and gift-

ed a chance of his 34th goal for his

country, following a horrendous mix-

up between Pickford and Kyle Walker,

who was trying to challenge Thomas

Delaney. The Denmark midfield player

was falling even before Walker made

slight contact, and it was a ludicrously

soft decision by Manzano to point to

the spot. Pickford wagged his finger dis-

missively at the referee. Eriksen added

to Pickford’s discomfort with a clinical

penalty.

Southgate tried to shore up his de-

fence with Tyrone Mings replacing

Ainsley Maitland-Niles, and Walker

moving to left back. There is resilience

in this England team, and they almost

equalised when Rice flicked the ball to

Mount, whose header was athletically

clawed away by Kasper Schmeichel.

When the quiet Harry Kane cleverly

won a free kick off Thomas Delaney on

the edge of the box, James lifted the ball

up and over the wall, bringing another

reminder of Schmeichel’s agility.

Schmeichel was then beaten but Kjaer

cleared Coady’s header off the line.

Walker was so angry at the final whistle

that he slammed the ball high into the

Club Wembley tier. James marched up

to Manzano, had a loud word, and was

dismissed on an off night for England.

Red-card records

England’s fastest red cards

14min............. R Green (Ukraine, 2009)

31min......H Maguire (Denmark, 2020)

43min..........R Wilkins (Morocco, 1986)

England’s red cards at Wembley

P Scholes (v Sweden, 1999)

S Gerrard (v Ukraine, 2012)

H Maguire and R James (yesterday)

England last had a player sent off

and conceded a goal from a penalty

in the same game in their defeat by

Argentina at the 1998 World Cup.

How they stand

PW D L F APts

Belgium..............430 11049

Denmark............42 1 1427

England..............42 1 1327

Iceland................400 4 2110

Iceland 1 Belgium 2

Remaining Fixtures

Nov 15 Belgium v England; Denmark

v Iceland.

Nov 18 Belgium v Denmark; England

v Iceland.

H

arry Maguire’s first tackle

was late, he clearly catches

the player and is deserving

of a yellow card. The second yellow

comes as a consequence of a poor

first touch and he stretches to try

to make up for it.

Yes, he wins the ball but he

follows through in a manner that

is reckless and endangers the

safety of an opponent. That means

Maguire had to go.

Maguire had to

go – but was the

penalty correct?

Peter Walton

Former Premier League referee

34min Walker concedes penalty

Denmark (4-3-3): K Schmeichel 8 — D Wass 6,

S Kjaer 8, A Christensen 6 (M Jorgensen 45, 6),

R Skov 6 (J Maehle 45, 6) — P Hojbjerg 7

(M Jensen 88), C Eriksen 7, T Delaney 6

— Y Poulsen 6, K Dolberg 6 (P Sisto 37, 6),

M Braithwaite 6 (sub; J Vestergaard 74).

Booked Christensen, Hojbjerg.

Referee J Manzano (Sp)

Gareth Southgate needs to get a grip of

his players’ discipline and his own tac-

tics, otherwise England risk wasting

this talented generation. Southgate is a

good manager, with plenty of credit in

the bank after England’s run to the

semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup and

2019 Nations League, but he needs to

tighten up his players’ self-control and

loosen his own strictures on creativity.

Fewer risks off the field, more on it

please.

Discipline first. Harry Maguire was

rightly dismissed for two bad challen-

ges by an otherwise poor Spanish refer-

ee, and Reece James tarnished the

memory of an excellent display on his

full debut by getting sent off after the

final whistle for a foul and abusive lan-

guage. As well as these two red cards,

and Kyle Walker’s in Reykjavik, South-

gate was also left red-faced by some of

his players’ behaviour off the pitch

ranging from Maguire involved in an

alleged incident in Mykonos, Phil Fo-

den and Mason Greenwood breaching

isolation rules in Iceland, and then

Tammy Abraham, Ben Chilwell and Ja-

don Sancho breaking the “rule of six”.

This England group is hardly a hell-

raising bunch, and as a player South-

gate shared an England dressing-room

with far rowdier characters, but a lack

of respect for protocols and guidelines

is a rising concern for the manager.

Tactics next. Southgate needs to de-

cide whether it is really worth continu-

ing with an overly defensive configura-

tion, 5-2-3 as certain players call it, or be

more attack-minded and gamble on

some of his maverick talents such as

Jack Grealish. His lack of commitment

in Grealish was even more bizarre here

when they were crying out for more

creativity, and he brought on Dominic

Calvert-Lewin, Everton’s king of the

penalty area, on the left wing, usually a

starting point for Grealish’s productive

forays.

Southgate has some gifted, game-

changing players to call upon and they

must not be wasted. Mason Mount, a

Southgate favourite, produced

some dangerous moments,

dribbling in from the

right here, but En-

gland still lacked

that touch of inge-

nuity to open up

Denmark’s well-

organised de-

fence. On the

three occasions

England did

break through,

Kasper Schmei-

chel saved bril-

liantly from Mount

and James, and then Simon Kjaer

showed all his experience to intervene

and deny Conor Coady.

But England did not threaten con-

sistently enough, and his system is part-

ly culpable. He has moved away from

the exciting 4-3-3 formation that

ripped Spain apart in Seville two years

ago. His obsession with 5-2-3 is rooted

in concerns about residual defensive

weaknesses, saying, “We’ve got to be

secure.” England actually enjoyed six

clean sheets in succession, split

between last season and the start of

this, but Romelu Lukaku showed the

defence can be vulnerable to quick,

high-class raiders, even if they recov-

ered to defeat Belgium. That masked

flaws. Southgate again fielded two de-

fensive midfield players in front of his

back five, Declan Rice and Kalvin Phil-

lips, again highlighting his concerns

about his defence.

Uncertainty ripples along the de-

fence. Southgate always insists that he

picks on club form but neither Jordan

Pickford for Everton nor Maguire for

Manchester United have enjoyed con-

fident starts to the season.

The debate about Pick-

ford’s right to be South-

gate’s No 1 intensified

here; Southgate is

loyal, and Pick-

ford rarely lets

him down, but

he is not

spreading

much certainty

in the back five,

certainly in the

lead-up to

Christian Erik-

sen’s decisive first-

half penalty.

Maguire’s deserved

expulsion, England’s first

James receives a red

card at the final whistle

rite, produced

moments,

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red

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“We have got to learn from it for

sure because if you go to ten men in a

tournament then, historically, that

has meant we are out. [A red card] has

cost other teams.

“Of course there have been things off

the field which haven’t been right.

We’ve addressed them.”

Maguire, the Manchester United

captain, has found himself in the spot-

light after missing September’s interna-

tionals, having been found guilty of

assault while on holiday in Mykonos in

the summer. He awaits a retrial after

the conviction was quashed.

His form at club level was poor

coming into the latest get-together and

dreadful tackles on Yussuf Poulsen

after five minutes and then on Kasper

Dolberg led to his marching orders.

Southgate refused to elaborate on his

suggestion that the 27-year-old “has

been getting all sorts for a while from

some people who should know better”

and vowed to continue picking him.

“He’s having a difficult period and in

these periods you learn a lot about

yourself,” Southgate said. “You learn

Southgate

gives backing

to defender

after red card

England to a first home defeat for two

years and Southgate conceded that

their problems are self-inflicted and

need to be rectified.

Having gone six years without a red

card, England have now had three in

four competitive matches with Kyle

Walker also sent off against Iceland

last month.

“It is an obvious question that we are

going to be asked and we have put

ourselves in unnecessary situations off

the field,” he said.

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