Has a broken toe ever been so significant? Declan Rice escaped Harry Kane’s blow-torch address to the England absentees with a legitimate complaint. His discomfort results not from the skipper’s moral upbraid but the emergence of Curtis Jones in his absence.
Jones made his debut against Greece and followed that up with a first match in white at Wembley. It’s a small sample but impressive nonetheless, especially in Athens, where he lit up the night with a goal befitting the Olympian setting.
The Liverpool man’s quick feet, movement and eye for the pass set England’s clock, offering a sense of dynamic control, the absence of which has bedevilled the national team down the years. Gareth Southgate built his midfield around big lungs and willing legs, runners and grafters like Kalvin Phillips, Jordan Henderson and Rice. This is a long, unproductive tradition in the English game.
The double pivot so favoured by Southgate was eventually disrupted by the emergence of Jude Bellingham, but he ran out of gas at the Euros in Germany. In the final against Spain and in the previous rendition against Italy, England lost to opponents who established control of the centre.
After falling behind in 2021 at Wembley, Jorginho and Marco Verratti imposed themselves inexorably on the match. It was not until extra time when the pitch was stretched that England began to push Italy back with conviction. Against Spain, Rice, Kobbie Mainoo and Phil Foden were comprehensively outmanoeuvred by Ballon d’Or winner Rodri, Fabian Ruiz and Dani Olmo.
The preference for dependable grunt over risk is the English prejudice Carsley tried to roll back with an emphasis on attack. He took this philosophy a step too far for the October visit of Greece with the inevitable consequences. That defeat, you feel, will scar him for the rest of his days should he not be called to the head coaching role again.
That aside, his instincts were right and in the bold introductions of Angel Gomes and Jones might just have shown incoming Thomas Tuchel the way. When he presents his portfolio of findings to England’s new coach sometime in the coming weeks, a new way of seeing the historic midfield problem might just be the silver bullet that ends the 60-year wait for a pot at the next World Cup.
The gold standard is set by Rodri. Before him it was Toni Kroos, and before him Sergio Busquets, players who set the tempo with their vision and passing. Rice has his attributes, but code-breaking is not one of them. His orientation is essentially defensive, covering ground, shutting down the danger, intercepting, blocking. All necessary qualities just not sufficient to make England truly productive against the best.
That is not to say Rice won’t feature in Tuchel’s England, only that he might have to accept a status downgrade, no longer one of the undroppables. Mainoo, Gomes and Jones are now viable alternatives, all of whom offer better feet, greater variation and control.
And since you are only as good as your last game, Jones has a shout to start in Tuchel’s first selection. Bellingham is a given. The mistake would be to buttress him with the dreaded double pivot. Conor Gallagher showed how effective he can be in the dust-pan-and-brush role, clearing up the mess on the edge of the box, leaving Jones to get England moving forward decisively.
The mistake was always to start Gallagher alongside Rice, a defensive reflex that ultimately exposed Southgate’s lack of faith in England’s capacity to manage the game against the best. It was about containment for him, about the elimination of risk instead of taking one.
Spain set up like an old Premier League team with two conventional wingers either side of a centre forward, supported by three in the middle. They backed themselves in a way Southgate never could.
Tuchel’s appointment is precisely to counter this confidence deficit, to eradicate caution and doubt by establishing pattern and identity. Carsley offered us a glimpse of what might be possible, particularly when the dam broke against Ireland. England cut loose and seemed to enjoy the experience.
The ability to embrace any occasion, to treat the game like a kickabout in the park, is the code change England require to have any chance of succeeding. Nico Williams and Lamine Yamal played with the kind of abandon that England could not access under Southgate.
Carsley identified the centrality of this dimension at the outset, emphasising the need for a workable attacking template to unleash the potential of the team based on combinations and form. Spain coach Luis de la Fuente did exactly that via an irresistible midfield trio that freed Yamal and Williams to slice England apart.
