England must rearrange the furniture in their starting XI after their nervy win over Serbia... with Trent Alexander-Arnold needing to be stood down from his new role in central midfield

England produced an unconvincing performance to beat Serbia 1-0 on Sunday  Trent Alexander-Arnold struggled in his new central midfield role for England LISTEN to It's All Kicking Off! Were England good in their opener or is the criticism fair? 

There are many ways to win a summer tournament and starting like a train is only one of them. For England that is probably just as well.

Victory over Serbia in Gelsenkirchen on Sunday night was precious. Gareth Southgate and his team have a foot in the last sixteen already. Some of England’s football was prosaic though.

An opening half hour of fluent and confident play eventually gave way to a loss of control and that was a little worrying against a team sandwiched between Peru and Qatar in the FIFA rankings.

There were obvious high points. The first half performances of Jude Bellingham and Bukayo Saka. A tournament debut of reassuring calm and measure from Crystal Palace central defender Marc Guehi.

Set against that, however, was a desperately quiet night for Harry Kane, an evening of compete indifference from Phil Foden and, perhaps inevitably, a bits and pieces performance from Trent Alexander-Arnold that left questions over his suitability for a central midfield role hanging in the air once again.

England produced a nervy performance as they beat Serbia in their Euro 2024 opener

Jude Bellingham (centre) scored the only goal for the Three Lions on Sunday evening

Despite the win, Gareth Southgate must consider rearranging the furniture in his side

Speaking afterwards, Southgate put it all down to tiredness and a lack of match fitness in some of his players. Right-back Kyle Walker, meanwhile, admitted that England had been anxious beforehand. At times, though, there seemed a little more to it than any of that and one would like to think that the Alexander-Arnold experiment is now over for the time being.

Read More

England fans leap to Phil Foden's defence after spotting the moment Man City star was IGNORED

The heat of a European Championship is no place for a player, no matter how talented, to learn a new position as he goes. If England are to win this tournament they will need a platform on which their array of attacking talent can play.

On Sunday night, that platform fell away like rusty scaffolding in a storm once Serbia found the confidence to grow in to the contest. Alexander-Arnold made way for Conor Gallagher with 20 minutes to go and that pretty much said everything.

‘We expended a lot of energy in that first-half and I knew that we would dip,’ said the England manager.

‘I thought physically we had players that needed the game. We’ve had a lot of players that hadn’t played 90 minutes for a long time.

‘In the second-half didn’t have the same control. And it was a good moment to bring Conor into the game, who can get up to the ball and provide that bit more defensive solidity.’

Southgate will doubtless find the fuss over Alexander-Arnold a little rich. Under pressure to play him next to Declan Rice for so long, the wisdom of finally doing so in a big game is now being questioned. That just comes with the territory of England manager.

Trent Alexander-Arnold (right) had an underwhelming evening in central midfield

Southgate's experiment with the full-back should surely come to an end for their Denmark tie

Buried at the root of the debate, however, is a single inarguable tenet of tournament play. Defensive solidity – and in particular clean sheets – wins championships such as these.

There was plenty to admire and remember about England’s passage to the finals of the last Euros in 2021 but the truth is that Southgate’s team got there because they didn’t concede a single goal until the 2-1 semi-final defeat of Denmark. If they can bring that kind of surety to this summer’s festival in Germany then they will go deep once again.

England have enough attacking talent in this emerging squad to create chances and score goals regardless of who plays alongside Rice. But if they look vulnerable, unbalanced and a little skittish out of possession as they did against Serbia – and indeed in losing to Iceland in a Wembley warm-up game at the start of the month – then it is just possible that everything Bellingham, Saka and a long list of understudies offer at one end of the field could be undone by issues at the other.

‘If you keep clean sheets in tournaments you have a very good chance of going on and winning them,’ said Walker.

‘I think that counts in anything. In the Premier League, the Champions League. If you have a good foundation at the back and then you've got a good chance because with the attacking threat that we've got up front, we should go and score goals.

‘Obviously, there’s a lot of anxiousness around the camp with the first game as you want to get off to a good start.

England's defensive unit will need to be resolute when they take on Denmark on Thursday

‘We are wanting to do the country proud. Hopefully now we've got that game out the way and we can go on and achieve something really good.’

Everybody has an opinion about England. They remain one of world football’s biggest draws. Around Europe many were dismissive yesterday.

Read More

Keane claims Alexander-Arnold played 'one good ball in an hour' during England's win against Serbia

Even the Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag – working for Dutch television – appeared to suggest the drop off in England’s levels was typical of them. It’s amazing what one FA Cup final win can do for a man’s confidence.

The truth is, however, that nothing much needs to change in terms of personnel. Luke Shaw will replace Kieran Trippier once he is fit while Alexander-Arnold should be stood down for the time being.

That apart, Southgate needs to retain the courage of his convictions. People asked questions of Kane during the last World Cup and that was as ridiculous then as it is now. He is the best through the middle centre forward in Europe.

As for Foden, the Manchester City midfielder was the top player in the Premier League last season and talk of taking him out of Southgate’s team after one indifferent display is of the knee-jerk variety. Foden should play against Denmark here on Thursday.

Man City star Phil Foden is yet to find his scintillating club form with the national side

If he does then he would be one to benefit from the absence of Alexander-Arnold. With Bellingham’s tendency to try and occupy four positions at once and demand the ball at all times, England’s midfield and forward area grew a little congested at times against Serbia.

Another holding player may just give everyone a little more room to get on with it. Against Scotland in their opening game, the German midfield was perfectly balanced. The same could not be said of England.

Across the back four, at least, there was only good news to report. Guehi was exceptional against Serbia and Walker was happy to dig deeper in to that subject.

‘I think everyone feels pressure,’ said the 34-year-old.

‘I'm the oldest head in the camp and I still go out onto the pitch feeling a bit anxious. You feel a bit nervous just because you want to do everyone proud.

‘But Marc, I thought he was fantastic. He didn't put a foot wrong and hopefully that has got his feelings right now, and has settled the nerves a little bit, and we can form a good partnership along that back line.

‘The media like to build up a storm and put thoughts in your head that probably shouldn't be there.

Kyle Walker heaped praise on the Three Lions' defence during their 1-0 win over Serbia

‘But all of these players are fantastic players. I have played against them numerous times in the Premier League and I know what they can do.

‘Never mind who's here, who's not here, whoever was going to represent England are very good players.

‘So we use the players that we've got and we work to our strengths when other people can cover up other people's weaknesses. It is as simple as that.’

England beat Serbia on Sunday. We should remember that. Southgate needs only to rearrange the furniture a little. The sledgehammer can remain idle.