Five things learned as young England side shock Spain 3-2

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In a stunning display of counter-attacking football, England have beaten Spain 2-3.

It was a shocking result, the first competitive home defeat for Spain for 38 games. But England were fully deserving of the result as they punished a lackadaisical Spanish side in a devastating first-half display. What did we learn?

1. Rashford and Sterling’s redemption

Despite Harry Kane going nearly 500 minutes without a goal for England, after the goalless draw with Croatia the only players who were receiving criticism for failing to score in an England shirt were Marcus Rashford and Raheem Sterling. The reason why they were singled out ahead of Kane is fairly obvious for anyone with eyes, but it still wasn’t fair.

How wonderful, then, that they responded in such spectacular fashion against the might of Spain. They walked into Seville with all the pressure weighing down on their young shoulders (Sterling is 23, Rashford just 20) and ripped Spain to pieces.

The first goal saw Rashford streak down the left channel and then bisect the Spain defence, putting Sterling through on goal where he finished with devastating authority. The second had Rashford run through the middle, collect a Harry Kane through-ball and serenely double England’s lead. And finally Raheem Sterling made a classic back-post run to tap-home a Kane cutback.

Three goals, each one involving England two young maverick forwards. The two players who are often the most criticised but, as they showed tonight, possess all the quality The Three Lions need to push forward and genuinely threaten elite sides on the break.

2. Spain’s Real problems

Spain have a massive Real Madrid contingent in their squad. In the starting line-up Sergio Ramos, Nacho and Marco Asensio were the Madridistas starting, with Dani Ceballos coming off the bench. Moreover Marcos Alonso and Rodrigo, also starters, came through Madrid’s academy back in the day.

Unlike Spain’s peak where the squad was shaped by Barcelona, it is now shaped by Real Madrid. And just like Spain’s peak where Barça’s style shaped Spain’s, now Madrid’s is doing the same – for good and for ill.

First, the good: Spain’s comeback in the second half was pure Real Madrid, all blood and thunder, flying forward and pushing their opponent back. It was all sparked by Madrid’s Dani Ceballos coming off the bench and seizing control of midfield, too. And two glorious headed goals, including one in stoppage time. All very, very Real Madrid.

But the bad, in the first half, was oh so bad. No shape, no control. Sergio Busquets isolated by his two midfield partners, the forwards looking for the quick pass or shot too readily. And the defending… well, that was vintage Real Madrid. Marcos Alonso is being picked over Jordi Alba because of Luis Enrique’s pettiness, and he defended so loosely. Rarely using his sheer size to his advantage.

Then there was captain Sergio Ramos and Nacho, both of them an absolute disgrace. In a way it’s hard to blame Nacho, he’s a career back-up who should never be starting for his country. He couldn’t handle Kane physically and was absolutely nowhere positionally for any of the goals. Even Los Blancos don’t start him, so it’s baffling that Spain chose to and they were made to pay for it because he lacks the necessary attributes to cover for his captain.

Oh, Sergio Ramos. For a player routinely labelled the world’s best defender he’s honestly better attacking than he is actually defending. Ramos was floored by Eric Dier early on, and it was almost like the shock of such a thing happening turned his brain into mush because even by his very low standards this season, that was pitiful. Ramos was all at sea for every England goal, and although he scored a stoppage time header to make the scoreline more respectable, for him to so massively fail to organise and lead his defence without Gerard Piqué next to him was a sad sight to see.

3. Jordan Pickford is an ICBM

Jordan Pickford is not a fashionable goalkeeper. Nor is he often credited as a top-class goalkeeper, especially in terms of playing out from the back. To look at him, all rosy-cheeked and shouty, you’d assume he was your “typical” English goalie: strong on crosses, iffy on saves, poor with the ball at his feet.

Yet Pickford’s skill with the ball is probably his greatest attribute, and tonight England saw the full extent of his genius. Pickford’s passing was essential to the first two England goals; with the second goal showing the power of his kicking as he boomed a long ball all the way downfield for Harry Kane to out-muscle Sergio Ramos and set-up Rashford.

But the first? The first goal was again a pass to Kane, but it was Pickford finding Kane with a perfectly-weighted pass that cut the entire Spain team in two like a butcher cleaving a prime cut of meat. It was a thing of beauty, played with such speed and accuracy that Spain had no chance to defend it and were instantly on the back-foot.

If England are to play this system against future elite opponents, Pickford’s kicking will be essential. Although he should watch out in future because he was lucky to not give away a penalty when getting dispossessed by Rodrigo and pulling him back. Still, a mostly superb performance.

4. Paco Alcacer is EN FUEGO

Paco Alcacer had scored a goal on average every 27 minutes this season, so when he came on with 34 minutes left to play England must have been understandably nervous. Literally one minute later, he rose majestically at the near post and thumped a spectacular header all the way over Jordan Pickford and into the back of the net.

That made it 10 shots on target this season for club and country, with every single one going in. 10 shots on target, 10 goals. An utterly absurd statistic for any player, let alone one who entered the season deemed a flop whose career needed restarting. Well, consider it well and truly restarted! If he keeps this up, who would bet against him?

5. England produce a diamond display

England ostensibly were lined up as a 4-3-3 tonight, but in actuality the shape functioned more like a diamond. Raheem Sterling wasn’t really in right-wing for much if any of the game, often playing centrally, floating between lines and springing forth from there. Meanwhile Marcus Rashford operated on both flanks defensively (using the ball on the left more), but was always bursting forward into key spaces.

With those two players pushing forward, Harry Kane sublimated himself into playing an orthodox target man role. He rarely pushed beyond the Spain defence, instead coming deeper and challenging for all those big long balls Jordan Pickford was sending forward. No Spanish defender could live with Kane as he made mincemeat of Sergio Ramos and Nacho.

Gareth Southgate also used Kane to, in defensive phases, put pressure on Sergio Busquets along with Eric Dier. Kane would drop back, Dier would push up. This forced Busquets out of his usual central zone, usually wide a bit into space. The thing is none of Spain’s other midfielders thought to fill in for him, the way that Harry Winks did for Dier when he went rampaging upfield, and England exploited this zone magnificently on the break through Kane.

This was a masterful display from Gareth Southgate who coached circles around Luis Enrique tonight.

The post Five things learned as young England side shock Spain 3-2 appeared first on Squawka News.



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