Maguire and Chilwell struggles raise familiar doubts: England player ratings v Brazil

England faded after a bright start to lose 1-0 to a new-look Brazil side at Wembley. The major areas of England concern before this game… are still the major areas of England concern.

JORDAN PICKFORD
Busier night than he generally finds himself having at Wembley and often played into trouble by the assorted confusions and calamities going off in front of him. Made a couple of smart saves and a bit unlucky with the way his save from Vinicius Jr ricocheted straight to Endrik for the goal.

KYLE WALKER
England’s captain for the night and presumably still reeling from Joey Barton (zero major honours) telling him (14 major honours) he would never win anything. Because earrings. Walker’s 82nd cap lifts him ever further into the higher echelons of England’s all-timers, and we adore the fact he is essentially the exact same footballer now as he has always been. Brilliantly talented, extraordinarily quick, occasionally just far, far too nonchalant. A lovely bit of Kyle Walkering occurred early on here, in which he was initially caught napping and outpaced by Vinicius Jr before sprinting back in to block the ball on the line before casually clipping a clearance straight into Harry Maguire’s back.

Forced off after just 20 minutes with hamstring twang to hand Ezri Konsa an England debut.

BEN CHILWELL
A miserable first half spent looking lost defensively and shanking or slicing horribly when offered several presentable chances to cross or shoot. Left-back is a genuine problem position for England now. Did make a good block to deny Raphinha in the second half

JOHN STONES
Far from his best in what was an uncomfortably fire-fighting type of role given the struggles of those around him. Ran under one long ball and was lucky not to be pulled back for trying to claw Vinicius Jr back by the hair, and then caught unawares and slightly wrong-footed by Dunk’s error in the build-up to the only goal. We’re not going to worry too much about Stones, but this… wasn’t great. At all.

HARRY MAGUIRE
Horrible Meme-Maguire-at-his-worst error to let Raphinha in for what really should have been an opening goal and this was an uncomfortable night overall against precisely the kind of tricky forwards custom-built to expose the fragilities in Maguire’s game. The doubts that exist in every mind bar Southgate’s remain.

DECLAN RICE
A very Declan Rice performance from Declan Rice, one player about whom England need have no concern whatsoever.

CONOR GALLAGHER
Had the early beating of Lucas Paqueta, winning two near identical free-kicks on the right that would in a competitive game surely have placed the West Ham man firmly atop the disciplinary tightrope. But sloppiness crept in and the sense remains that in a Southgate England midfield Gallagher is neither one thing nor the other. He doesn’t quite offer enough going forward to be a compelling 8, nor the defensive solidity of a good 6. This was a performance that, ultimately, plays Jordan Henderson and Kalvin Phillips back into contention and makes Kobbie Mainoo look a genuine starting option.

England’s question marks exist at left-back, centre-back alongside John Stones and in central midfield alongside Declan Rice. Those question marks remain in place.

PHIL FODEN
Lots of flashes and neat touches, and enough interplay with Bellingham to whet the appetite for more meaningful games down the line, but Foden as much as anyone exemplified England’s baffling lack of final product against a Brazil backline that looked distinctly get-attable throughout.

JUDE BELLINGHAM
The Portuguese ref had made it clear with his leniency towards Paqueta and Joao Gomes that friendly rules were in place even if the players pushed their luck really quite enormously, but still felt – quite rightly – that he had no choice but to book Bellingham for a daft, late and unnecessary lunge at Bruno Guimaraes. Bellingham would then spend the rest of the first half getting booted up in the air by assorted Brazilians to his obvious and increasing frustration.

Luckily, there is absolutely no precedent for England’s great young hope getting themselves sent off in a massive tournament game, so we can all rest easy this summer. But Brazil won’t be the last team this year to take this approach to dealing with the Bellingham Problem, albeit an approach harder to commit to fully in a tournament environment where refs are not bound by the friendly international protocols regarding red cards.

ANTHONY GORDON
A lively enough debut just missing an end product. Certainly enough to suggest it won’t be the last despite the vast competition for places in those wide attacking positions. Feels like it’s fundamentally unfair to judge any contender for one of those positions on the basis of any game not featuring Harry Kane. Gordon did enough to merit a further look at the very, very least.

OLLIE WATKINS
Did nothing much wrong, did nothing much to suggest he’d be capable of stepping up in the absence of Harry Kane at crunch time and therefore remains in a much-of-a-muchness group with a whole bunch of other players.

Even if there weren’t other areas of greater concern from tonight’s performance (which there absolutely were) you’ll have to forgive us for remaining entirely ambivalent about this one. We have literally no preference for the Kane Back-Up Role because whoever it might be is going to be a perfectly worthy footballer who is nevertheless levels and levels below Kane. The England jig is up if Kane is unavailable, essentially. There are no solutions to that, so no use fretting about it.

SUBSTITUTES

EZRI KONSA (for Walker, 20)
Coming on at right-back with the task of shackling Vinicius Jr might not be the precise debut Konsa envisaged. Maybe it was, maybe he relishes a challenge. Did fine, anyway, and has certainly put the hard yards in to earn this chance. Even if that ‘chance’ was ‘out of position’ and ‘against one of the best players in the world’. Also just undeniably funny that England – a team generally possessed of more actual right-backs than it knows what to do with – should end up relying on a makeshift option in a scenario that really did call for a specialist.

JARROD BOWEN (for Bellingham, 67)
This was a night where plenty of England understudies were presented with a chance to make a case, to stake a claim, to show Gareth what they could do. Bowen with a lively cameo was arguably the only one to do so. Maybe a touch harsh on Gordon, that, but Bowen was a bright spot in an overall England performance that had taken a distinct turn for the dreary by the time he was introduced.

JOE GOMEZ (for Chilwell, 67)
Played Vinicius onside in the build-up to the only goal after replacing the hapless Chilwell. Gomez’s versatility makes him a compelling squad option for Southgate, but he did little to ease those wider concerns about England’s left-back options.

LEWIS DUNK (for Maguire, 67)
Weak header created the danger from which Brazil scored. Really, just a relief for all concerned – apart from Dunk himself, sure – that it was him rather than Maguire who made the mistake because if Maguire had done it there would have to be a Discourse and we’re very, very tired.

KOBBIE MAINOO (for Gallagher, 75)
The whirlwind rise of the teenager continues with an England cap after just 23 senior games for Manchester United. Some nice touches, but ultimately rather upstaged by Endrick in the ‘precocious teenager coming off the bench for the last 20 minutes’ stakes.

Does look like he’s got it, though. Has that ineffable ‘time on the ball’ that separates the good from the great. We’re going to try very hard not to get overexcited about him given the general meh nature of the options for England’s third midfielder, but we’re already uncertain we’ll succeed.

MARCUS RASHFORD (for Gordon, 75)
Closing in on Jermain Defoe’s record.