England have no excuses for display that leaves Southgate plenty of questions

17 November 2023 , 22:30

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England have no excuses for display that leaves Southgate plenty of questions

The paper aeroplanes were back at Wembley. And no wonder Gareth Southgate feels he will never win over some of his doubters. This was a hiding to nothing for England because they were expected to win by double figures and yet if they had people would say it was only Malta.

But there was no excusing a really lacklustre, flat performance in which England did not manage a shot on target until the 64th minute because their early opener was courtesy of an own goal. They finished with just three on target all night and Wembley was half empty by the final whistle.

Incredibly, it was the first time England have not had a shot on target in the first half of a game in six years and it was little wonder the crowd got restless and had to make their own entertainment.

At least TV viewers at home were left to debate whether Portuguese referee Luis Godinho was right to book Harry Kane for a dive or whether it should have been a penalty. One man’s dive is another’s clever play. That is generally decided by your club loyalty but no-one would be complaining if it was the semi final of a major tournament.

Kane certainly left his leg dangling and there was clear contact with keeper Harry Bonello and yet VAR did not intervene much to the England captain’s dismay. One thing’s for sure, it would have been a penalty in the Premier League. And Kane still looked unhappy even when he got England’s second to extend his own goalscoring record to 62 in 88 caps.

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It was a 81,388 sell-out and that is remarkable considering England have already qualified, they are virtually guaranteed as top seeds even before Monday’s trip to North Macedonia. We did not learn too much either other than Phil Foden is now firmly in pole position for the slot on the left side of England’s attack with a busy, inventive performance.

England ran out 2-0 winners over Malta at Wembley (Getty Images)

John Cross