JOE HART: Is it a good thing when your goalkeeper is hands down the best player on the pitch? No. Will Hart care? Well yes, actually; he’s a team player and he would surely have preferred to be as quiet as he was against Malta. But just when England’s No. 1 needed a boost, he got several. Was outstanding to rush from his goal and twice thwart opponents assisted by individual error, but it is the diving second-half save that will rightly get the headlines. A magnificent comeback from a man under pressure.
KYLE WALKER: Struggled to control the ball when fizzed in to his feet. Too often caught in possession. Crossing generally poor. Failed to offer security in defence or impetus in attack. It’s like the school report of the naughty modern full-back.
DANNY ROSE: Right, let’s balance the Walker criticism a touch. Tottenham’s full-backs are so effective at club level because they are effectively given licence to roam the flanks, wide players tucking in and allowing them to overlap. You can’t be that surprised when their skills are negated by two out-and-out wingers picked in front of them. If you really do want these two as your full-backs, at least utilise what got them in the squad in the first place. Rant over.
JOHN STONES: The passing is good, the stepping out of defence is excellent, the moments of indecision and concentration-related wobbles are worrying. Tell me something I don’t know.
GARY CAHILL: Current status: Wondering whether Cahill was actually ever any good at all? I’m all for sprinkling experience over a team, but not when it gives a VIP pass to the guy swaying at the back of the queue outside the club, loudly telling his mates that it’s fine because he never loved her anyway.
JORDAN HENDERSON: ‘I’m still not sure whether Henderson is not very good for England or just not very good, but neither option makes his continued presence in the starting line-up anything other than a cause for large measures of spirits taken neat. After 27 caps, we’re still left asking what it is that Henderson does that any two-dimensional player couldn’t do just as well?’ Wrote that in September’s ladder; he’s only the sodding captain now.
ERIC DIER: To let you see how the sausages are made, the sum total of my notes on Dier in the first half were ‘Eeesh’. That referred to a dire (don’t) pass to set up a Slovenia chance, a stupid yellow card when players were covering him and regularly being caught in possession. Got better in the second half, but that is damning __with the faintest of praise. Jack Cork __with Henderson dropping deeper, anyone?
DELE ALLI: While we’re in the business of damnation by faint praise, Alli was the best of the three players behind the striker. Struggled to get on the ball enough, but at least showed willingness to drop deep and then surge forward and create in the final third. This was not an evening for any outfield England player to enhance their reputation, but Alli does get more leeway than the rest. He’s still 20, remember.
JESSE LINGARD: It’s a word that we find ourselves writing too often about Lingard, but: meh. That’s at least a far more bearable emotion when discussing a 23-year-old rather than a 29-year-old, which has been a regular annoyance in the past. Yet Lingard joins a band of England players (and yes, I’m probably being harsh) who leaves us wondering what it is that he’s actually supposed to be doing, and then left unconvinced when we’re told what it is.
THEO WALCOTT: There’s no doubt that Walcott has been excellent for Arsenal this season, perhaps even the Premier League’s most improved player. Yet England’s ultimate confidence player is still lacking belief in an England shirt; this was emphatic evidence of that. Twice fouled when turning his man, but the conviction to beat the full-back was absent. That takes away about 92% of what makes Walcott Walcott.
DANIEL STURRIDGE: When Sturridge regularly shoots from distance, you know it is because he’s struggling to make an impact in the penalty area. Shot from distance a lot.
SUBS
ANDROS TOWNSEND (for Walcott, 62): England’s best outfield player, despite having only 28 minutes. That’s a bit strong, but Townsend did at least beat his man. Not quite sure whether it’s a good thing that we’re back to where we were three years ago.
WAYNE ROONEY (for Alli, 73): Hit the first man with a corner, overhit a free-kick, did some nice passes. Praise be that Southgate’s Wayne check didn’t become the big issue.
MARCUS RASHFORD (for Sturridge 82): Can’t actually remember him touching the ball, so…
Daniel Storey