A win for England in the Wroclaw Stadium, Poland this Saturday won’t mathematically mean they have qualified for next summer’s Euros. It would though require a momentous collapse thereafter to deprive them, an implosion so catastrophic, documentaries would be made in years to come.
All of which adds a further dimension to this weekend’s game, over and above the obvious importance of this being a Euro qualifier. Because should the Three Lions prevail over Ukraine it will surely afford Gareth Southgate a chance or two to experiment in the remaining fixtures, to look past dependable stalwarts who have served him well throughout his time in charge and deploy fresh blood, perhaps overdue.
Through no fault of his own, the England gaffer needs opportunities to explore new options right now and that’s because two of his key players are completely out of the reckoning at their respective clubs, while Jordan Henderson has recently joined a fledgling league in Saudi, and for a manager who has repeatedly stated how vital it is that his personnel get meaningful minutes at club level this poses quite a conundrum.
Harry Maguire has been a virtual ever-present under Southgate, a robust presence in three major tournaments and even made captain for a good period. Yet at Manchester United, he’s become the invisible man, so much so that last weekend he lost out amidst an injury crisis to Victor Lindelof for a starting spot despite the Swede complaining before kick-off that he was feeling unwell.
No player has played more minutes for England since the start of last season than Harry Maguire 🏴🔝
◾️ Maguire – 970 minutes
◾️ Rice – 927 minutes
◾️ Kane – 889 minutes pic.twitter.com/odnrxBqoQD— Football Daily (@footballdaily) September 1, 2023
As for Kalvin Phillips, England’s Player of the Year in 2021, an exceedingly rare six-minute cameo for Manchester City this week prompted smirks among the Etihad faithful. Henderson, meanwhile, may be on the cusp of becoming a peripheral figure for England anyway – as age gets the better of him – but it will still greatly concern Southgate that his most experienced lieutenant is no longer running Liverpool’s midfield on a weekly basis.
Will any of these three feature in Poland? Very probably Maguire will, by virtue of the fact that he has rarely let his country down, but it’s also pertinent that post-World Cup the Three Lions have only been breached once in 360 minutes, with Maguire prominent. Quite remarkably, in those four games they have faced only one shot on target.
As for Phillips and Henderson, possibly the latter may start, as he’s done in six of the last seven internationals and especially in light of Trent Alexander-Arnold’s injury, but no matter how well these established elements to Southgate’s England fare it still feels like fixtures on the near-horizon will represent a sea-change. That this might be a farewell to the old guard as a new generation take their place.
It’s exciting refresh spearheaded by Bellingham, who of course has already made a significant impact on the international scene, blazing a trail in Qatar before subsequently blazing a trail at Real Madrid following his big-money switch from Dortmund. Taking to La Liga like a duck to water the 20-year-old has scored five in four, assisting once for good measure.
Incidentally, with Declan Rice holding it all together centrally, that’s £219m spent on England’s new-look midfield this summer. Plus about the same in wages for Henderson.
Up front, it will naturally all be about Bayern’s new goal-machine Harry Kane, England’s record finisher looking to extend on a decent start to his campaign that has seen him bag three in three in the Bundesliga. Impressively, Kane has scored in each of his last six outings for his country.
https://twitter.com/e360hub2/status/1696466588101181865?s=20
And also naturally enough, joining him on the right with his adventurous marauding will be Bukayo Saka, a forward who also boasts great form for England, hitting a hat-trick vs North Macedonia back in June.
It’s on the left where there is some uncertainly, with Phil Foden and Marcus Rashford in equal contention. James Maddison and Eberechi Eze meanwhile will likely each have to console themselves with appearances off the bench and this will feel unfair given their blistering early impact on 2023/24.
The tip above suggests that a repeat outcome to last March’s meeting is on the cards and that’s as maybe but it’s worth noting that Ukraine are an improved proposition of late, since the managerial appointment of Serhiy Rebrov in the summer.
Unbeaten in his three games in charge, a draw in Germany – albeit in a friendly – was an encouraging opener and this was followed by close victories over North Macedonia and Malta. Should the Blue and Yellow manage to stay ahead of Italy in group C and secure passage to Germany next year it will amount to a magnificent achievement considering the trauma the country is presently suffering.
Rebrov’s side play some decent stuff too, even if they are too often undone at the back, and though Oleksandr Zinchenko and Chelsea’s Mykhailo Mudryk are the most familiar names, it is their attacking midfielder Viktor Tsyhankov who is worth looking out for.
Having scored seven in his previous 44 games for Ukraine, Rebrov has clearly unlocked the Girona schemer’s goal-threat. Four in his last three is testimony to that.
