England had enjoyed an almost perfect record at Wembley under Gareth Southgate — until the last four days.
But having lost 1-0 to Brazil on Saturday, Southgate’s injury-hit side at least managed to avoid another defeat to Belgium courtesy of a last-gasp equaliser from Jude Bellingham, just when it seemed dreadful individual mistakes from Jordan Pickford and Lewis Dunk were going to cost them.
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England have two games left before Euro 2024, where Southgate’s talented young squad is widely expected to challenge.
So where does this leave them? And who had nights to remember — and forget? Our experts analyse the major talking points.
Were England that bad?
Some of the Southgate-critical voices out there will see these two friendlies — one defeat, one draw — as a step backwards, a sign that the team is stagnating at the worst possible moment.
But that seems unfair. This is an England squad ravaged by injury, fielding teams that will look very little like what we will see in Germany in three months. Even here, John Stones was forced off with fewer than 10 minutes played, further disrupting Southgate’s plans.
But also because this was a very impressive performance, far better than what we saw against Brazil on Saturday. England pressed high, attacked well and created chances throughout.
The team looked better balanced than they did on Saturday, and stronger for the changes: Kobbie Mainoo was better on the ball than Conor Gallagher, Ivan Toney is more of a reference point than Ollie Watkins, Jarrod Bowen looked more incisive than Anthony Gordon.
On another day, the chances they made would have seen them score plenty. They have often won international friendlies and been less convincing than this.
Jack Pitt-Brooke
Has Dunk played himself out of contention?
It seems more certain than ever that England’s starting centre-back pairing in Germany will be Stones and Harry Maguire for the fourth major tournament in a row.
There are still question marks over which other centre-backs will go with them. Marc Guehi, who might have been next in line, is injured and missed this break.
Next in line is probably Dunk but he struggled tonight. He was outmuscled by Romelu Lukaku for Belgium’s second goal, in a manner reminiscent of how Lukaku overpowered him to score for Roma against Brighton & Hove Albion in their recent Europa League tie at the Stadio Olimpico.
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Dunk gets to a bouncing ball first but Lukaku is in hot pursuit…
Under pressure from Lukaku, Dunk goes to ground in a bid to clear but misjudges it horribly…
Lukaku has time and space to collect the loose ball before delivering a perfect pass for Youri Tielemans to score
Against Brazil on Saturday, Dunk lost Endrick, who scored Brazil’s late winner. These are just brief moments in games against elite opponents but they can decide international futures.
This was not a bad break at all for Ezri Konsa and Joe Gomez, both of whom can play full-back as well as centre-back, and who came through these games unscathed. They are that little bit likelier to be on the plane to Germany.
Jack Pitt-Brooke
How good was Mainoo?
If Mainoo was nervous about making his first senior international start at 18 years old, he showed no signs of it.
He was constantly looking for the ball and trying to progress England forward from midfield. If anyone thought his role was going to be more withdrawn to sit alongside Declan Rice at the base of midfield, they were mistaken. Mainoo was regularly picking up positions inside Belgium’s block, or making runs into the channel to stretch the opposition’s midfield.
When England needed a spark to get back into the game, it was Mainoo who provided it. Rather than play a simple square pass in the centre of Belgium’s half, he scanned the pitch, dropped a shoulder, and changed the pace of the game — stabbing a neat ball to Bellingham whose pass to Toney led to England’s equaliser.
It was a theme of Mainoo’s evening — brave, penetrative play that looked to get England moving in the right direction. As their side’s most technical players on the pitch, it was palpable how much Bellingham and Phil Foden were enjoying playing with someone on their creative wavelength.
Sure, it was a friendly, but that does not take away from the performance level — and Mainoo may have just passed the audition to secure a seat on the plane to Germany this summer.
Mark Carey
Has Toney staked his Euros claim?
While Toney served an eight-month suspension for breaching the Football Association’s betting rules, he mentioned in multiple interviews that he was determined to break into England’s squad for the European Championship. He narrowly missed out on going to the World Cup and will not want history to repeat itself.
The Brentford forward gave his chances of playing in Germany this summer a huge boost with an accomplished performance against Belgium. The 28-year-old was making his first England start and, having let a great chance to score within the opening 30 seconds slip by, he earned and converted a penalty in the 17th minute.
His all-round display will have impressed Southgate, particularly the moments when he linked up intelligently with Mainoo, Foden and Bellingham.
In one example, Toney chested the ball down to Mainoo and received it back before playing a perfectly weighted pass into space for the midfielder. The move ended with Bellingham firing off a shot from the edge of the box. Toney’s ability to bring others into play means that even when he is struggling for chances he still positively impacts the game.
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If Watkins struggled in his audition to be Harry Kane’s deputy in the 1-0 defeat to Brazil, Toney showed everybody he belongs at this level. Watkins has been in exceptional form for Aston Villa all season but it feels like Toney holds the advantage.
Jay Harris
Was Lukaku’s ‘trivela’ proof he is still an elite force?
Lukaku might have felt he had a point to prove upon returning to England.
There were plenty of good times during spells at Chelsea, West Bromwich Albion, Everton and Manchester United, but the circumstances in which he left west London pointed to an overall disappointing decline.
If anyone in Wembley needed a reminder of his quality, you only need to look as far as Belgium’s second goal. The harrying run that panicked Dunk into a poor mistake was one thing, but it was what Lukaku did next that took the breath away: squaring Dunk up, and finding the onrushing Tielemans with a delicious outside-of-the-boot ‘trivela’ pass, with the midfielder heading in his second goal of the game.
Another error from England and Tielemans takes full advantage 🫣#ThreeLions | #ENGBEL pic.twitter.com/jGZjemOeZx
— Channel 4 Sport (@C4Sport) March 26, 2024
In truth, it has become something of a trademark for Lukaku, who performed a similar trick for Inter Milan against Slavia Prague in the Champions League in 2019, and for Everton against Sunderland in 2015.
With one flick of his left foot, Lukaku rolled back the years and reminded the English crowd of his quality.
Mark Carey
What’s next for England?
Monday, June 3: Bosnia & Herzegovina (H), Friendly, 7.45pm BST, 2.45pm ET
The first of two pre-European Championship warm-up games for England in a week sees them play a home fixture at Newcastle United’s St James’ Park, against a side currently 71st in the world rankings who lost 2-1 to Ukraine in the semis of the play-offs over one of the last three spots at the tournament this summer. With the Champions League final just 48 hours earlier, will Southgate have to work without any injured, plain exhausted or galactically hungover players here? The good news for him is only one of Arsenal, Harry Kane’s Bayern Munich and Manchester City can get to that final, as they are all in the same half of the last-eight draw.
Recommended reading
- Why Gareth Southgate’s England look more defensively vulnerable than ever
- Kane and Saka absences vs Brazil underlined England have strength but not depth
- Interview: Sir Geoff Hurst, England World Cup-winning team’s last man standing
- Ruben Loftus-Cheek being left out of this England squad does not make sense
(Top photo: Alex Davidson – The FA/The FA via Getty Images)