Jude Bellingham shines but England win sparks more questions Gareth Southgate must answer
Jude Bellingham strutted around the pitch as if he owned it.
This was his stage and Bellingham showed that England are blessed to have the best and most exciting talent at the Euros. Incredibly, this is Bellingham’s third major tournament, he is a La Liga winner, a Champions League winner and is now a European Championship goalscorer.
And he is not even 21 until June 29. Bellingham was just magnificent, powering home a header to give England a precious victory even if it was rarely comfortable.
England lost control of the game as it wore on, allowed Serbia back into it and Gareth Southgate ’s men were hanging on by the end. Bellingham, who is making the iconic No10 shirt his own, was England’s standout player while Bukayo Saka was also superb down England’s right wing.
It was Saka who created the goal, Bellingham who scored it and there were some other good support acts with Declan Rice anchoring midfield and Marc Guehi impressing in defence. But not enough other players shone.
The starting XI, the formation and shape still needs work because, while getting the best out of Bellingham, Phil Foden ’s bright start faded and Harry Kane managed just two touches in the whole of the first half. The hard truth was that because Bellingham was all over the pitch it impacted upon Foden’s space and Kane did not have the space to drop deep and get involved.
Trent Alexander-Arnold had nice moments but the midfield experiment did not work overall as England were too open at times. England did not get enough quality to offset his lack of defensive duties. It almost felt as if Southgate had just got his best players in the starting XI in the hope they would sort it out amongst themselves.
Jude Bellingham is pictured next to England's head coach Gareth Southgate
They were paying a heavy price for a difficult warm-up to the campaign with so many players missing or injured. They will have to play their way into form to win this tournament. But the most important thing for Southgate was to start with a win because they are now in charge of Group C after Denmark drew with Slovenia earlier in the day.
The puzzles can be solved - and must be solved - but it was still three points even if there are bound to be more question marks and inquests despite the result. England’s bravery and quality paid off just when it looked as if Serbia were ready to dig in and defend deep. And sure enough, England’s best two players on the night made and scored the goal.
Kyle Walker released Saka with a perfect pass inside the full back, the Arsenal winger’s cross deflected off Serbia defender Strahinja Pavlovic but still reached its target in the box. There was Bellingham powering in with perfect timing to head home into the top corner to give England a dream start after just 13 minutes. Saka and Bellingham were looking like a brilliant double act.
Jordan Pickford of England
HAVE YOUR SAY! What did you make of England's performance? Comment below.
You could see both sides of Alexander-Arnold. His mistake let in Serbia captain Aleksandar Mitrovic who rifled just wide. Then Alexander-Arnold made a superb interception, Saka released Walker whose pace took him clear but his cross shot flew just wide. England were in charge but they failed to get a second goal to really shut the game down. Serbia rang the changes while Southgate’s first move was to replace Alexander-Arnold for Conor Gallagher’s energy and work rate.
England were so close to a second goal after Jarrod Bowen came on. The West Ham winger was excellent and his cross found Kane and his header looked a certain goal only for Serbia keeper Predrag Rajkovic to push the ball onto the underside of the bar. It was close. Too close. But ultimately, England got the job done.
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