MY ACCOUNT
England were embarrassed 4-0 at Molineux by a combination of poor defending and a clinical Hungary side.
A tame Three Lions side went a goal down in this Nations League game with little over a quarter of an hour gone when Roland Sallai was on hand to turn home Adam Lang’s knockdown.
Sallai got his second with 20 minutes to go, before England collapsed, conceding another from Zsolt Nagy before John Stones was sent off.
Substitute Daniel Gazdag rounded off the rout in what was England’s worst defeat for 12 years.
We look at five talking points from England’s Nations League at Wembley.
Worst World Cup prep
If England thought these would be fairly low-key games to help prepare for the World Cup, they had another thing coming.
It couldn’t have gone worse for Gareth Southgate who saw his side on the end of a heavy defeat.
The scoreline doesn’t flatter Hungary either, whose players were on hand to punish some terrible England defending.
As the last game in this international break, with the World Cup on the horizon, this was the worst possible outcome for Southgate and his players.
“You don’t know what you’re doing”
It’s safe to say the England fans in Molineux were not pleased with what they were seeing.
By the end of the game England boss Southgate may have wished this game had been played behind in front of a limited selection of fans, as was the case in the previous match.
He may have wished it was played at the more corporate Wembley, but even the dignitaries may have shown their discontent at this display.
His decision to bring Harry Maguire on for Bukayo Saka with his side 3-0 down was roundly booed.
This continued at the end of the game when the fans who hadn’t made an early exit made their feelings known.
Nether formation worked
Southgate sent his England side out in a back four but changed it up in the second half.
Reece James started at left-back with John Stones and Marc Guehi in the middle and Kyle Walker on the right.
It was soon abandoned after his side went in a goal down at halftime.
Walker dropped into the right of a back three, James moved to his usual position as a right wing-back, and Saka fulfilled the same role on the left.
Neither formation worked, as England looked blunt in attack and shaky in defence. Not a good combination!
Where are the left-backs?
One of the reasons for the imbalance in the England team is the tendency to pick all the right-backs, but no specialist on the left.
James Justin has played left-back for Leicester in the past, and was included in this squad, but it’s early in his international career and it doesn’t feel like a solution for the World Cup.
Justin, James, Saka, and Kieran Trippier have all featured at left-back in this international break, and the only left-footed player in this list — Saka — plays on the right-wing for his club.
It’s something Southgate needs to sort by November.
Another game too many.
There’s a sense at the moment that we should either be enjoying a summer tournament or enjoying a break from football.
That goes for the players, too, who must surely be fatigued mentally and physically having had no break following their often gruelling club seasons.
There is usually a break between the end of the season and summer international tournaments, but these games have come straight on the back of the final club games.
This is not an excuse for England’s defeat — Hungary players are in the same situation, but these extra games straight after a season of football have diluted what was an interesting competition
