England are swimming in expensive attackers, but not in goals

Two thousand English children were chosen on Saturday evening to watch the replay of the European Championship final between England and Italy, this time in a much less attractive Nations League. The match was played without an audience as punishment for the chaotic scenes around last summer’s final battle, which Italy drew after penalties. It was not an unrequited pleasure for the young grunt. After the mediocre and aimless display, the kids even led both teams on Saturday night with a passionate boo.

England was brooding on its revenge, but last week was already simmering against Hungary (1-0 defeat) and Germany (1-1). Especially scoring goals is a problem. National coach Southgate’s side have been without a goal for four hours.

In fact, only captain Harry Kane delivers, he even scored more goals (50) than the others together (49), but was on the bench for a long time against Italy. At the European Championship, Raheem Sterling was also on the right track as a goalscorer. However, the City player is looking for his great form in the England side, who shone in the 51st minute when all he had to do was run into a cross from James, but the ball was hopelessly above the goal.

Dependent on Kane

Italy were no longer thrilled with the draw, national coach Mancini experimenting after missing out on the World Cup. Only two players from the European Championship final (Donnarumma and Di Lorenzo) appeared at kick-off, but it still combined easier and moved better than all those expensive players Southgate started. He also had more chances, while England with Grealish, Mount, Abraham and Sterling had an attacking quartet worth almost three hundred million euros. “We’re very, very dependent on Kane for goals at the moment and that’s a concern,” Southgate said.

That seems bizarre, given the value placed on his attacking potential, with Saka, Bellingham and Foden (jointly 250m in estimated transfer value) also on option. With the caveat that English players are a bit more expensive anyway, as English clubs have to have more in their squads due to regulations.

Southgate couldn’t get access to Phil Foden. But of his teammate Jack Grealish for whom Manchester City paid more than 100 million euros just under a year ago. pointed jack remains a fun player to watch. Deciding matches isn’t often part of it.

“Jack is what you saw tonight,” Southgate said. “He holds the ball very well, he has a control that forces opponents to walk on tiptoe. But I think he only had one hit tonight. Scoring is an area we need to improve if we want to progress as a team. We have to spread this burden between several players, because sometimes Kane is not there.

loss of trustworthy

England, easily qualified for the World Cup, will meet Iran, the United States and Wales in the group stage of the tournament in Qatar, but confidence in Southgate’s men is dwindling on sight. eye. Along with a dearth of goals, there’s a near-chronic lack of entertainment. To the neutral viewer, England weren’t actually in the game at the European Championship, but at least they still won. We hope for a revival of this form of tournament in Qatar. But Southgate noted that the negative noise around the team is getting “extremely loud”.

Curiously, there is again cautious optimism about the national team in Italy. The thud of missing the World Cup, after a lost play-off against North Macedonia at the end of March, has not yet been digested and will likely flare up again when the World Cup begins. But Mancini is clearly building a new team and giving plenty of unknown talent the opportunity. They usually adapt easily and were basically in charge of England even if it had a little more ball.

Italy is curiously awaiting the arrival of the blue filibusters team in Germany on Tuesday. Worn-looking England will host Hungary on the same day, with Molineux again at Wolverhampton as their playing set. It will be packed. Southgate must hope for an impatient Kane, who would rather break Rooney’s (53) international record today than tomorrow, to silence the critical sounds.