Serbia and Albania Analysis

Two fairly comfortable 2 – 0 victories for England in their final World Cup qualifiers. Goals from Saka and Eze in the first and two goals from Kane in the second saw England maintain their 100 per cent record without a goal conceded.

But what did we learn from these two victories and more importantly what did Tuchel learn as he looks to shape his world cup squad.

We will look at the players who featured in these games and give our opinion on where they should lie in terms of making the World Cup squad.

In goal there is no doubt that Pickford is number one for the foreseeable future. Henderson came in against Albania and did well to surely cement his place as first cab off the rank should Pickford suffer an injury between now and then.

Stones played both games at centre back with Konsa, his partner in opening game, and Burn in the second. Only an injury or severe lack of game time will prevent Stones from starting the first game in the tournament and he will most likely be partnered by Guehi with Konsa also pushing. Burn will struggle against better teams so will be back up at best.

Full back is a position I am most concerned about. At right back we saw James and Quansah. Quansah has never seen being a full back and I thought James was poor, defensively and positionally and doesn’t look as good or as quick and mobile as he once was.

At left back, O’Reilly received rave reviews from the commentators, but he is nowhere near ready to start for England. In the first game they creamed about how comfortable he was, but I saw the exact opposite of that. He was nervous, his first touch was poor, and he dallied on the ball as he didn’t know what to do with it. He will no doubt be a top player, but this world cup will come far too soon for him.

In the holding midfield role Anderson is an absolute shoe in, he will be one of the first names on the team sheet. He oozes class and his passing is quick and forward. Wharton on the other hand was poor and certainly not international class at this moment in time.

Rice alongside Anderson as the six/eight is another certain starter but it is the number ten position that will be most intriguing.

For me, we look better as a team with Rogers playing there. Bellingham tried too hard to impress and was poor against Albania and his reaction to being subbed will do him no favours with Tuchel. And despite being able to produce moments of magic such as that goal in the Euros, he hasn’t had a good game in an England shirt since well before that tournament, since he started believing his own hype basically. A good player no doubt but severely overrated and never seen being a number ten, he’s an eight every day of the week. Boxx to box, physical and can pop up with a goal. Just because he scores a few doesn’t mean he has to play as a ten. He doesn’t have the passing creativity to play there, well not in comparison to the players he is up against.

On the right you just cannot look past Saka, another goal and it was his corner that caused Kanes’ first in the second game. For all Bowens’ effort and energy, he just lacks that final bit of quality needed.

On the left I think both Rashford and Eze will be part of the squad but both play much better as impact players than starters so it seems Gordon will be the starter come the world cup.

Up top, I am worried by the lack of backup to Kane should he get injured, but for me he was man of the match in both these games. Two goals in the second, none in the first but his passing was sensational as he dropped deep as creator. Something that he needs to do because it gets us on the attack.

He manages to do this yet still be in the box to score goals so I will hear no criticism of Kane in an England shirt for dropping deep. Let’s also mention that tackle on the edge of the box.

One final point on Kane, how many goals would he score if wingers actually crossed the ball now instead of cutting and shooting?