An away win and a record breaking goal for Harry Kane meant England left Naples with valuable boxes ticked.
Ukraine at Wembley on Sunday, which will be broadcast live on Channel 4, now presents Gareth Southgate’s team with the opportunity to take control of European Championship qualifying Group C.
Importantly, the way Southgate wants his first XI to look as he moves towards Germany 2024 continues to harden in his mind. From that point of view, these opening two games have left questions to answer for players who were not with the squad on this occasion.
Arguably there is now only one place up for grabs in Southgate’s first-choice team. We can expect him to rotate tomorrow, but in terms of the team he would choose for a game his life depended on, only the berth on the left side of his attacking three is open.
For these two games, that has become a tussle between Manchester City team-mates Jack Grealish and Phil Foden and that was due, in part, to the fact Marcus Rashford and Raheem Sterling were not here. Sterling was not selected because of injury while Rashford withdrew before taking a holiday in New York.
Bukayo Saka appears to have nailed down one of the spots next to Harry Kane for England© Provided by Daily Mail
Jack Grealish and Phil Foden are both extremely present in Gareth Southgate’s thoughts© Provided by Daily Mail
Marcus Rashford posted a photo of himself and his partner enjoying time away in New York © Provided by Daily Mail
That was an interesting choice, as was the decision to post Instagram photos in the hours leading up to kick-off in Italy, captioned ‘Downtime’.
There is no reason to doubt Rashford’s commitment to England, even though he played all but the remaining five minutes of Manchester United’s last game against Fulham before withdrawing from Southgate’s squad with an injury that remains unspecified.
However, it is hard to be at the forefront of the England manager’s mind if you are not standing in front of him. Rashford may well be the country’s in-form forward — someone whose post-World Cup form would get him into any team on the planet — but Southgate was candid when asked about his absence this week.
Rashford has, after all, pulled out of five of the last six non- tournament England squads for which he has been selected.
‘Well, the feeling was he was playing really well, but we haven’t often had him,’ Southgate told the BBC. ‘So, in terms of a loss, when you haven’t had him that often then it’s different to being a loss. But without a doubt he was in good form. We were looking forward to seeing him.’
Rashford and Sterling were Southgate’s go-to pair for the positions either side of Kane not so long ago. Sterling in particular was one player the England manager never wanted to be without and with good reason.
But Rashford’s form dipped in the year before the winter World Cup in Qatar while Sterling had a strange tournament, travelling home at one point to deal with the fall-out of a burglary at the family home outside of London.
In football the wheel always turns and against this backdrop, Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka has made the slot on the right side of the front three pretty much his own. He was not at his best in terms of his delivery against Italy, but the 21-year-old is always a threat.
After an encouraging World Cup campaign and a thoroughly impressive win in Naples, Southgate will feel he is close to a settled XI© Provided by Daily Mail
Southgate’s comments regarding Rashford suggest he is not a certain pick for the manager© Provided by Daily Mail
Southgate may yet change tack at right back. Kyle Walker currently has the shirt, while Reece James and Kieran Trippier bring strong competition.
On the other side, Ben Chilwell may hope to usurp Luke Shaw while Mason Mount, also injured currently, will hope to find a way back into the midfield conversation. But now that the precocious Bellingham has been pushed further forward in the England formation, there seem to be diminishing opportunities for the Chelsea player.
The England spine of Pickford-Stones-Maguire-Rice-Phillips-Bellingham- Saka-Kane seems pretty set now. Rashford can expect to return to contention when he starts to play again and perhaps cannot be blamed if he felt he needed a rest.
United’s schedule has been demanding and he has carried a heavy load as Erik ten Hag’s team have pursued success in the Premier League, FA Cup and Europa League.
It would also not be a surprise if the 25-year-old had not quite managed to rid his mind of the racist abuse he, Saka and Jadon Sancho received after missing penalties in the final of Euro 2020 at Wembley.
Nevertheless, the test in Naples was the biggest game of England’s post-Qatar reset and Southgate will have noticed that Rashford was effectively on holiday while it was taking place.
