England's fringe players running out of time to impress despite Australia win

13 October 2023 , 21:03

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England boss Gareth Southgate during the match (Image: Getty)

Nobody quite grabbed the mic and took centre stage on England’s rehearsal night.

Instead, England just about squeezed past Australia in front of a bumper 81,116 crowd at Wembley who barely got to enjoy much in the way of revenge over their great sporting rivals.

Ollie Watkins got the winner, Jordan Henderson got booed off, Lewis Dunk was the stand out performer in defence while Trent Alexander-Arnold showed plenty of promise in the inverted full back role.

England boss Gareth Southgate had challenged the players in what was a largely experimental line-up to seize their opportunity as they are now running out of time before next summer’s Euros.

But it felt more like a damp squib at Wembley which was less than half full by the time the final whistle as the friendly just faded out amid a raft of substitutions in the closing stages.

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At least the period of silence before kick off was well observed amid nerves about the pre-match tribute to the horrible atrocities in the Middle East and only a couple of Israel flags found their way into the stadium past security.

But Southgate probably did not learn too much either other than the England fans have really turned on Henderson for his Saudi betrayal and the ex-Liverpool captain also looks well off the pace now he is playing second rate football.

Dunk made one heroic clearance and is surely staking a claim to start because there probably is a place to be had alongside John Stones next summer.

Watkins, despite his goal and hard work, does make a habit of running too early and getting caught offside. Jack Grealish provided an assist and will surely have a chance when he is back to full match fitness.

Ollie Watkins celebrates after scoring (AFP via Getty Images)

James Maddison showed nice touches while Alexander-Arnold’s passing and forays into midfield surely make that experiment worth pursuing as Southgate nicked that tactic straight from the Pep Guardiola coaching manual.

But it is also hard to believe that any of the players who started against Australia will start against Italy on Tuesday which was always going to be the main event as England could potentially clinch qualification.

That is perhaps why it was surprising that some of the players did not look sharper or ready to seize the moment. Levi Colwill struggled in the back three, Fikayo Tomori showed good pace but only to bail himself out of trouble while keeper Sam Johnstone looked solid. Watkins went through in the first half only to hit the post after rounding Aussie keeper Mat Ryan but it might have been offside.

James Maddison was deployed behind Ollie Watkins against Australia (The FA via Getty Images)

You do not need VAR in a friendly game especially when French referee Stephanie Frappart - the first female to take charge of a men’s international at Wembley - was taking such strict control as she dished out yellow cards like there was no tomorrow.

England had their biggest let-off just before half time. The Aussies worked a counter attack brilliantly and Ryan Strain who seemed certain to score but Dunk made an incredible goal line block.

Finally the breakthrough came after 58 minutes. It was Alexander-Arnold’s deep diagonal ball to Grealish on the left side of the box and his cross shot was turned in by Watkins from point blank range

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That was Watkins’ third goal for England in eight caps but incredibly he has scored in consecutive appearances, albeit 563 days apart. The raft of substitutes soon followed as the game began to stop-start. Henderson went off to a chorus of boos , Arsenal’s Eddie Nketiah came on for his debut but the game faded away.

John Cross