England finished second in Group G after a second-string side lost 1-0 to Belgium – but who would have impressed Gareth Southgate?
Adnan Januzaj scored the only goal as a Belgium side featuring nine changes edged beyond Gareth Southgate’s rotated side, featuring only three of the players who started Sunday’s 6-1 thrashing of Panama.
Derby County defender Curtis Davies watched the game on The Football Social – and he gave each of England’s players a rating out of 10…
Jordan Pickford – 6
He didn’t have a lot to do, other than pick the ball out of the net. There was that one contentious moment where it was kicked out of his hands, but that was it.
Phil Jones – 6
Jones has played in midfield for Manchester United, so you know he can play from the back, but with the way the midfield was set up, you didn’t see a lot of it from him. He didn’t have much to do because much like England, Belgium didn’t create all that much.
John Stones – 6
He was less effective from set-pieces as we’ve seen in the first few games, because we just lacked that consistent quality without Trippier’s deliveries, but like his other two defensive colleagues, he had a generally quiet night at the back.
Gary Cahill – 6
Cahill didn’t have a huge amount of defending to do. He didn’t get forward as much as Harry Maguire did on the left side of the defence in the Panama or Tunisia game, but that could be because the players around him aren’t the same. We did lack that extra drive going forward into midfield, though.
Trent Alexander-Arnold – 7
He was positive on the ball, always looked forward and was there to help when he needed to at the back. It was bold to give him every set-piece, they could have been a little better generally but he was there to take them and he had the most key passes in the game, so he’s done something right. Trippier’s a bit more experienced as a player, not for England, but he’s older and his delivery is top-drawer, one of the best I’ve played against.
Eric Dier – 5
The rating is simply because he had the defensive role to do, which he did alright, but where Henderson was probing and playing forward, we didn’t see much of that from Dier. I think he’s a top, top player, but there wasn’t much drive and when you’ve watched Henderson in the last few games, he’s had that sort of drive, even as the holding midfielder.
Rueben Loftus-Cheek – 7
He was quite positive, and perhaps got a little frustrated that a lot of balls were going over his head, but he did try to move forward with the ball and pick out passes into the strikers when he did get the ball. That’s what I like to see in an attacking midfielder.
Fabian Delph – 6
Fabian was driving on but didn’t run at people quite as much as I’d like to see, I know what he’s about but he plays nice little passes, tried to play forward but naturally found himself bombing on a bit more, possibly because Rose was bombing on a lot, but he found himself defending a little more than going forward.
Danny Rose – 8
The frustrating thing is the goal, because I thought he was our man of the match, and the way he plays down that left-hand side. He drove forward, won a lot of fouls and gave us a lot of opportunities to put the ball into the box, so I think he was really positive against a strong side.
Marcus Rashford – 6
That miss takes him down a mark, because he was positive and tried the right things but missing that key chance, you’d fancy him nine times out of 10.
Jamie Vardy – 7
He worked really hard for the team. It wasn’t the performance he would have wanted in terms of chances in front of goal, but any ball over the top he would chase. He created really well, and made Rashford’s chance out of nothing – that’s what he was trying to do all game. He was the donkey guy, doing the hard work and running the channel even though he wanted to be in the middle.
Substitutes
Harry Maguire (for Stones, 46) – 7
He was positive. Where the others failed to get forward, he stepped out well. He was playing nice one-twos with Rashford or Rose, and would end up near the box, and he knew he had players behind him so was happy to get forward. Whenever you see him in an England shirt, he’s played against some big teams and not done himself any harm at all.
Welbeck (for Alexander-Arnold, 79) – 6
He had a chance, he took it really well but because of Fellaini’s block he was denied a goal. He had a really bad touch from a quick free-kick which could’ve been an opening.
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