The Sunday Times - UK (2022-06-05)

2 June 5, 2022The Sunday Times 2GS

Football Uefa Nations League

JUDE 5/10

BELLINGHAM

18, 13, Borussia Dortmund

Played as the more

advanced

midfielder and

looked to press

high up the pitch.

Little time on ball.

TOTAL

61/110

Subs B Saka (for Justin 46min,

6), J Stones (for Walker 62, 5),

R James (for Alexander-Arnold

62, 5), J Grealish (for Mount 62,

6), K Phillips (for Coady 79).

Booked Maguire, James.

TRENT 6/10

ALEXANDER-ARNOLD

23, 17, Liverpool

Used as right

wing back in

another match

when

Southgate

wasted his

talents.

MASON 5/10

MOUNT

23, 28, Chelsea

Did not see

enough of ball

and effectively

reduced to

workhorse.

Fluffed one

cross.

HARRY 6/10

MAGUIRE

29, 43, Manchester United

Willing to step out

and try and inject

variety into play.

Picked out

Bowen with a

good long

pass.

HARRY 5/10

KANE

28, 70, Tottenham Hotspur

Dropped deep to

link play. One

excellent pass,

but starved of

chances and

must wait for

50th goal.

CONOR 6/10

COADY

29, 10, Wolverhampton Wdrs

Good awareness

to clear off the

line from

Szoboszlai, he

went close

with a header.

Booked.

JARROD 6/10

BOWEN

25, 1, West Ham United

England’s main

threat. Busy and

menacing, should

have done

better with a

volley. A

bright debut.

KYLE 6/10

WALKER

32, 66, Manchester City

Performed

adeptly. Not a

position that best

harnesses his

attributes and

made way for

Stones on hour.

JAMES 5/10

JUSTIN

24, 1, Leicester City

Took up advanced

positions on left,

but Hungary

played balls in

behind. His

debut was

cut short.

JORDAN 6/10

PICKFORD

Age 28 Caps 44 Club Everton

Troubled early by

Szoboszlai and later

beaten by his

penalty.

Also made a

good save

from Nagy.

DECLAN 5/10

RICE

23, 30, West Ham United

When Hungary

beat the press,

Rice had plenty

of work. Good

foraging to

win back

possession.

ly by

nd later

s

ENGLAND

RATINGS

3-4-3

By Paul Joyce

est

.

ness

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ss,

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ely

p out

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ay.

ht t

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atcchh

Dortmundd

ore

h.

all.

anced

left,

n

am United

ain

and

hould

than the top-level club game but it still

wins in terms of meaning and

pressure. Some good talents shrink

because of that, while some ordinary

ones are galvanised and rise.

Examples are Hungary’s warhorse

striker, Adam Szalai, whose past three

club seasons have brought a total of

three league goals — but he is a talis-

man for his country. He was one star

of this match. Another was a 29-year-

old jobbing footballer from Puskas

Akademia, Zsolt Nagy. And another

was Loïc Négo, once an obscure

French player jettisoned by Charlton

Athletic, who has become Hungary’s

Cafu since they naturalised him.

These journeymen embarrassed

Harry Kane et al but the player who

bestrode the action is a serious item:

the artistic, richly promising 21-year-

old RB Leipzig No 10, Dominik Szobos-

zlai. England never knew what posi-

tion he would take up next, let alone

what he might do with the ball, and

Szoboszlai decided things with a class-

ily converted 63rd-minute penalty.

A questionable penalty, mind you.

It came after Hungary exposed

England, not for the first time, by play-

ing an early diagonal pass. This one

went from right to left and Nagy stole

in on the wrong side of Reece James,

who had been introduced as a substi-

tute two minutes earlier. He brushed

against Nagy’s back and Nagy went

down, enticing the Portuguese

referee, Artur Soares Dias, to point to

the spot.

Szoboszlai whipped a low pinpoint

shot inside Jordan Pickford’s right-

hand post. It was impossible to save,

despite Pickford guessing the right

way. The defeat was England’s first

since the Euro 2020 final and their

first over 90 minutes since losing to

Belgium 23 games ago, but the match

it resembled most was the shock 2019

loss to the Czech Republic in Prague —

W

hat was more sham-
bolic? Uefa allowing
35,000 fans, some of
whom booed as the
players took a knee,
into a stadium sup-
posed to be “closed”
because of a racism
ban? Or the performance of England,
who were all over the place while los-
ing to Hungary for the first time since
1962? A bungle in Budapest: Gareth
Southgate’s side looked nothing like
World Cup contenders here.
They paid for a lack of control in
midfield, where the opposition’s
clever shape left them outnumbered.
How many times — well, predating
Southgate — has that been England’s
story? But they also suffered through
more excusable factors. With no
friendlies before November’s World
Cup finals in Qatar, the Nations
League programme has to be used for
experiments.
Southgate tried new players and a
new slant on the 3-4-3 formation he
likes, and started with probably only
five of his first-choice XI. England
struggled for inspiration and organi-
sation as a result. However, at least it
was a balanced performance: they
defended as badly as they attacked.
Hungary, in contrast, summoned a
kind of hotchpotch brilliance.
They’re a team who ride waves of
emotion and play in unorthodox ways
under their wily Italian manager,
Marco Rossi. International football is
no longer more difficult, technically,

JONATHAN
NORTHCROFT

Football Correspondent
At Puskas Arena, Budapest

SOUTHGATE BACK

TO DRAWING BOARD

England have

five more games

before the World

Cup begins

Tuesday Nations

League v

Germany (a,

7.45pm)

Saturday

Nations League

v Italy (h,

7.45pm)

Jun 14 Nations

League v

Hungary (h,

7.45pm)

Sep 23 Nations

League v Italy (a,

7.45pm)

Sep 26 Nations

League v

Germany (h,

7.45pm)

Nov 13 Premier

League season

pauses until

Boxing Day

Nov 21 World

Cup opening

group game v

Iran (Doha, 1pm)

ENGLAND’S ROAD TO

THE WORLD CUP

It was the first time

Hungary have beaten

England since May 1962

when they won 2-1 at the

World Cup

60

another night when, with a tinkered

line-up against swarming opposition,

English composure melted away.

It doesn’t happen often under

Southgate, so let’s spare the big

inquests, but this match did raise

questions. One was about the attack

versus defence emphasis. England

have been grindingly good in two

tournaments playing with two hold-

ing midfielders and five defenders but

could perhaps have put more talent

on the pitch. Here, Southgate had only

one pivot and licensed his wing backs

to attack, but it didn’t work, contribut-

ing to the big spaces in the centre of

the pitch.

James Justin, while he has England

potential, may not be ready yet, his

debut lasting 45 minutes before he

was replaced by Bukayo Saka. Jarrod

Bowen, with his ferreting and scurry-

ing, did suggest he could play himself

into World Cup contention. However,

from Trent Alexander-Arnold and

Mason Mount — two talents who have

not always brought their best for

England — there were more inconclu-

sive performances.

It was the most cacophonous — and

outrageous — “closed doors” game in

football history. The stadium ban was

imposed for supporters’ discrimina-

tory behaviour at Euro 2020 but,

exploiting a Uefa loophole allowing

under-14s and their parents to attend

such games, Hungary had a half-full

Puskas Arena. When England took a

knee, the children booed. Great. The

sound of next-generation discrimina-

tion. It was uncomfortable, and so

were England on the pitch, especially

in midfield, where Jude Bellingham

and Declan Rice were often penned in

by five opponents.

Négo and Nagy exploited iffy posi-

tioning by Alexander-Arnold and

Justin on the flanks. Hungary pressed

hard and passed boldly. After only

15 minutes Kyle Walker was panting,

hands on knees.

Négo had just played a gorgeous

10

HUNGARY ENGLAND

Szoboszlai 66 pen