England v Belgium: Nations League – live!
11-Oct-2020 16:00:58 | The Guardian
The players are on their way out! Kevin de Bruyne, the Belgium captain, is not only carrying the traditional matchday pennant, but something in a gift bag. Is it somebody’s birthday?
“Dier, Rice and Henderson? Mount out wide? Not even our 1996 family Volvo would feel safe enough for Gareth,” writes Julian Menz. “I’m watching in Sweden, trying to get my five-year-old daughter to follow England (not impossible now Zlatan has retired), but give me a break Gareth! It’s pouring here, and you are not making it any easier. At least she’ll probably be sleepy come bedtime.”
Here’s another snippet of Southgate on today’s line-up:
Clearly no Kane no Stirling is a big loss, but it’s a big opportunity for others and this is the type of test we need. We know the quality they’ve got, we know most of their players, this is a really good challenge to match up against their system, and I’m looking forward to seeing how we go.
We feel this is a game for our experienced players to really match up, see where we’re at. We’ve got a lot of players who two years ago were less experienced, hadn’t experienced those big matches, hadn’t won things with their clubs, but had a great mentality and spirit among them. We’ve still got a lot of youngsters, but it’s a team that’s focused and ready for today’s game.
Here’s Gareth Southgate on Harry Kane, who starts today’s game on the bench:
He’s had a strange training week. We gave him a couple of days’ recovery after Sunday. He started training on Wednesday, had a big of what he felt was cramp, so he’s had muscle fatigue basically. Missed most of the week’s training, got a little bit more confident in it towards the end of the week but hasn’t really done enough on the field to start. So he’s not injured, he’s there perhaps for later in the game, but that’s the situation. He seems confident in how he feels, but he hasn’t had a lot of training time on the pitch this week.
“There’s a certain kind of player who is neat and tidy, looks like a 1970s journalist’s idea of a continental technician and plays a crucial role in one game in 10,” writes Gary Naylor. “That’s Mason Mount, the reverse Jordan Henderson. Jack Grealish is a better option - more fun too.”
I do like Mount, I think he works hard and provides a useful goal threat, but with a Henderson/Rice/Dier central midfield pure creativity is what England need and given current form I too would have gone with Grealish. That said, well as he played against Wales it was an issue that Grealish spent too much time too far forwards, often leaving his side undermanned with two men in midfield, and I think Mount is likely to be more tactically disciplined.
Today’s big talking point in football, at least in England, is Operation Let’s Take Advantage of a Pandemic to Fix Everything In Our Favour Forever, or Project Big Picture as it’s proponents would like us to know it:
Related: Project Big Picture: Premier League and EFL plan radical reform to avoid crisis
Roberto Martinez has a chat with Sky:
When you come to Wembley it’s always a challenge. You have to find a way to perform as a team and be yourself, and obviously we’ve got our own challenges, without Vertonghen, Vermaelen, Hazard, Mertens, players who have bee really influential in getting to that No1 spot. For us it’s a real opportunity to test the squad, to see how well we can react with new players coming in and then facing an outstanding team.
As a former Evertonian I’ve been following Calvert-Lewin’s progress and I think he’s as good as any No9 in that England squad. Of course he’s still a young player, compared to the experience of Harry Kane, but we respect every single player in that England squad.
The England players are at Wembley and have been out to check out the pitch. I don’t know where the revolting jackets they were wearing on Wednesday have gone.
I do think that England’s line-up is a little more conservative than is necessary against an under-strength Belgium team, just as it was for what turned into a dreary game against Denmark. There are no left-footed players beyond the goalkeeper, there’s not a lot of creativity in central midfield, and it is, in short, a very England England team.
For reference, the top assist-makers in 2019-20 league games in England’s team:
Belgium’s line-up is now also out. We already knew there would be no Dries Mertens or their usual captain, Eden Hazard. In their absence Kevin de Bruyne captains the side for the third time:
1️⃣1️⃣ Here we are again! #ENGBEL #NationsLeague #COMEONBELGIUM #SelectedbyPwC pic.twitter.com/cTxkzO5bLF
England’s team is out, and the headlines are: Pickford returns, Calvert-Lewin keeps his place, Kane is on the bench, and the first three outfield players on the list are all right-backs.
Here it is... your #ThreeLions to take on Belgium in today's #NationsLeague clash! pic.twitter.com/XtOBEJwrql
Today’s entertainment sees Belgium, officially the best national team on the planet according to Fifa, visit England, the governing body’s global No4, as stonking a tie as the Nations League is ever likely to throw up. The thing about England’s record against Belgium is this: it is superficially a tale of complete superiority - 23 matches, 15 victories, only three defeats - but in games that have actually mattered, competitive matches in significant competitions (so discounting the King Hassan II International Cup, the 1998 World Cup warm-up event at which England (inevitably) lost on penalties after a goalless draw), England have played Belgium five times, won once (“Chipped in ... and volleyed in! And it’s there by David Platt! England have done it in the last minute of extra-time!”), drawn twice (a bonkers 4-4 draw in 1954 and a 1-1 in 1980) and lost twice (in the 2018 group stage and again in the third-place play-off).
England have already been held to a goalless draw by Denmark, and if they are to qualify for the Nations League finals, scheduled for next October, they can’t really afford to lose this game, against a Belgium side with a 100% record in two games so far, a team that has lost once in 16 games since the last World Cup, is basically very good indeed and generally can’t be expected to blow five-point leads, which is what victory would give them. As Gareth Southgate puts it: “We have got a great opportunity to have a fantastic game and a really good test and also try to advance ourselves to the latter stages of the Nations League. There is a lot riding on the game for both teams.”
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