Plenty of positives but some negatives for England after win

England’s World Cup campaign got off to the start manager Gareth Southgate demanded and required as they turned back the tide of recent history to beat Tunisia in Volgograd. Harry Kane’s stoppage-time winner delivered England’s answer to Belgium’s earlier win against Panama and gave them their first opening-game win at a major tournament in 12 years. England needed the victory to build on the platform of good PR and the positive mood at their Zelenogorsk training camp and, most importantly, to ensure they were not instantly on the back foot here in Russia.

So what were the two key sides to this England performance?

Southgate has plenty to build on

This was a match where victory was England’s minimum requirement – and the manner in which it was achieved echoed one of Southgate’s key pre-match messages. He insisted England must have the in-built resistance to settle matches in “the 93rd or 94th minute if required” as he attempts to build street-wisdom into a relatively inexperienced squad. And England will have delighted Southgate with how they battled through dark periods in the second half – when the fire of their first half had been largely extinguished by an increasingly stubborn Tunisia – to grind out the win. It was a trait that earned England what could be two vital points in the final equation and avoided old faults being revisited had Tunisia earned a draw they barely deserved.

England still have flaws to fix

England and Southgate know they were three minutes away from very different emotions – and perhaps a very different inquisition – before Kane stepped in to make his decisive contribution. While Southgate basks in the afterglow of such an important win, he will also know there is much to ponder and then work on as England head back to their Zelenogorsk training headquarters. Their approach work was not backed up by end product as Tunisia were carved open time and again, only to be let off the hook by a combination of the woodwork and rank bad finishing. It was against this backdrop that Tunisia somehow found themselves back in the game as opposed to several goals behind after they equalised against the run of play through Ferjani Sassi’s disputed penalty.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *