Gareth Southgate saw the England crowd turn on him at Molineux as his side suffered a shocking 4-0 defeat by Hungary in the Nations League. The Three Lions put in a woeful performance and were put to the sword by a clinical Hungary side in the Midlands, with Southgate on the receiving end of some audible dissent from the stands in their worst defeat since 1964.
Roland Sallai blasted Hungary in front following some poor England defending from a deep free-kick. England fashioned a few openings from Reece James’ crossing and visiting goalkeeper Denes Dibusz had to push away a header from his own defender
But it went from bad to worse in the second half, with Southgate’s changes having no discernible effect before Hungary banged in two more. Sallai grabbed a second after a dreadful mistake by Kalvin Phillips before Zsolt Nagy smashed a loose ball past the hapless Aaron Ramsdale to make it 3-0 in the closing stages.
There was still time for it to get worse. John Stones to be sent off as the Hungary fans cheered their side’s every pass and the home supporters screamed at Southgate. Dániel Gazdag chipped Ramsdale for a barely believable fourth in the dying moments. Here are the five things we learned from a chastening night at Molineux.
Southgate losing support
Not many England supporters were excited about the prospect of four Nations League fixtures in quick succession, but many are now beginning to lose faith in Southgate. It was perhaps a lose-lose situation for the Three Lions boss coming into this run of games against Hungary, Germany and Italy, but it could hardly have gone worse for him.
Defeat in Budapest was followed by draws in Munich and Wolverhampton and it has now been topped off by what is probably the worst performances of Southgate’s England tenure. England were lacklustre and lacking invention in attack and – much worse – were completely ineffective in defence.
These matches were clearly earmarked as experimentation time by Southgate, with five months until the Qatar World Cup. But as chants of “you don’t know what you’re doing” rang out around Molineux, it appeared as though it could be the beginning of a slippery downward slope for Southgate, whose side have failed to win, or score from open play, in these miserable fixtures.
Bowen’s bluster
For many players this run of four Nations League matches appeared to be an inconvenience, coming at the end of a long and tiring club season. But for Jarrod Bowen they looked like a brilliant opportunity to try and translate his scintillating form for West Ham into his first games for England.
Bowen has featured in all four of the games and none of them have quite gone his way. The Hammers forward has been full of running, endeavour and determination, without actually setting up a goal or scoring one himself. After coming off at half-time at Molineux, to be replaced by Raheem Sterling, there was a sense of unfulfilled promise.
He had a great chance to get his first Three Lions goal early on, but saw his header from Reece James’ deep cross blocked. Bowen saw plenty of ball after that, yet, like his team-mates, could not turn England’s possession into anything more meaningful.
Sloppy Stones
With Harry Maguire on the bench, Stones started the game as the senior player in a central defensive partnership with Marc Guehi. It did not go well for the Manchester City man, whose performance early on was packed full of unforced errors, missed headers, sloppy passes and fouls.
It was Stones who failed to win the first header for Hungary’s opening goal and it was him who clattered into the back of target man Adam Szalai to pick up a yellow card minutes later. The challenge of trying to deal with Szalai proved tricky for Stones, who was frequently beaten to long balls by the 6ft 3in Basel striker. Stones looks a good bet to start England’s World Cup opener against Iran on November 21, but this was a game to forget for the 28-year-old, who was sent off in the 82nd minute after picking up a dubious second yellow card.
Midfield conundrum
Kalvin Phillips started alongside Jude Bellingham and Conor Gallagher in central midfield at Molineux in what looked – on paper at least – like an exciting, and attacking, three-man combination. In practice it was a disaster, with Phillips the most culpable for a wretched England performance in the Midlands.
Many England players have looked tired and off-the-pace during this poor and unsuccessful Nations League campaign, but Phillips put in a late shout for the worst performance on Tuesday night. While Gallagher was enterprising and Bellingham drove forward in bursts, there was nothing redeeming for the Leeds United man.
His succession of errors for Sallai’s second goal was quite something to witness: a terrible touch off his chest, another miscontrol and then a failure to tackle, or bring down, Martin Adam who played a simple ball into Sallai, who buried a low finish past Ramsdale.
Ramsdale fails audition
Hungary had five shots on target and scored four goals. While there are clearly bigger problems for England, who can call upon Jordan Pickford, the performance of Ramsdale is a worry. The Arsenal goalkeeper was beaten by three shots which were all within his vicinity and which he might reasonably be expected to stop, while his humiliation was completed by Gazdag’s cheeky dink.
Ramsdale was one of just two players to keep his place from the Italy draw, alongside James, and he definitely did not press his case for more starts in the future.
For all the latest Sports News Click Here
For the latest news and updates, follow us on Google News.
