Rating the players from England 1-0 Australia: Weak Colwill debut, drab Henderson, Dunk great

Matt Stead
The England starting line-up against Australia at Wembley
Who shone for England? Well, no-one really...

About four starters failed their England auditions at Wembley, while Gareth Southgate must know enough about one established name to see he must be dropped.

 

SAM JOHNSTONE
Only three keepers in Europe’s top five leagues have kept more clean sheets than the Crystal Palace man so far this season so another shutout should come as no surprise. That’s four England caps and four clean sheets for a 30-year-old playing the best football of his career. And it wasn’t entirely without merit as there was one particularly good save from a deflected Baccus shot in the first half. The rest of Johnstone’s stops were routine so a word for his distribution, which appears to be better with his hands than his feet. Some of those throws to a player on the halfway line were pinpoint and one early kick was hammered straight out of play under a bit of pressure. Commensurate with the going rate, a penny for Aaron Ramsdale’s thoughts.

 

TRENT ALEXANDER-ARNOLD
Did some more inverting. Displayed some really good defensive awareness to intercept his own teammate’s invitingly short attempted header back to Johnstone at one point early in the first half. Those trademark ludicrous switches of play which are taken for granted were present and correct but let’s not include the delivery in the build-up to the goal in that: it was a fine cross back into the box and absolutely nothing more than that. Stop being weird.

 

LEWIS DUNK
A great clearance off the line from Strain and some really brave headers from an Australia corner which became more of a sustained attack underlined what a great defender Dunk is. His role in possession with Brighton has overshadowed that somewhat but that was as ubiquitous as ever, with no player making more passes and only one completing theirs at a more accurate rate. He was almost precisely as good as he needed to be.

 

FIKAYO TOMORI
Even accounting for the amount of covering he had to do on the right when Alexander-Arnold moved up into midfield, Tomori just didn’t look particularly convincing. A drinker from a half-full glass might say he did just enough to put Duke off when he volleyed just wide at the end of a crisp Australia move; those staring at the bottom of a half-empty receptacle could point out he was scrambling after struggling to lock the striker down in the first place. Two things can be true here: he has deserved more opportunities for England, but he let this one pass him by.

 

LEVI COLWILL
It feels like this will cause the most consternation, having briefly scanned the reaction both during and after the match, but Colwill was ordinary at the absolute best. There were some bright points and he is undoubtedly an excellent and versatile defender who should gradually become a more permanent part of the England set-up, but the defending leading up to the Strain chance which Dunk cleared off the line was weak and naive. Colwill lost Boyle initially and then let him turn in the area, with Strain filling the space the Chelsea defender had vacated. And there was the silly yellow card for Some Handbags with Baccus, with plenty of sloppiness in possession. A debut to learn from.

 

JORDAN HENDERSON
“We need to find out about people,” was the explanation Gareth Southgate offered for his experimental starting line-up. Plenty of uncomfortable things have already been discovered with regards to Henderson recently but this game offered no developments on his contribution to England which, on the pitch, remains plodding, distracting and uninventive. Was mildly booed when substituted but at least the 2034 World Cup is coming home.

 

CONOR GALLAGHER
One excellent early run from the Chelsea space invader was followed by a superb driven cross which was unfortunate to remain unconverted, with a rogue Australia touch diverting it between the waiting Watkins’ legs. That moment offered promise of the sort of energetic, dynamic performance which has marked him out as Chelsea’s best player so far this season. The awful tackle which earned him a booking two minutes later was far more representative of a really quite disappointing hour as part of an England midfield which largely provided neither creativity nor protection, so busy it was being overrun.

 

JARROD BOWEN
It feels like he suffered more than most for a) how flat the game was, and b) how disjointed England were considering the changes they made. Bowen was really lively at times, linking up delightfully with Gallagher and Alexander-Arnold and hardly shirking in terms of the defensive work. Perhaps that played a part in a relatively subdued performance, the knowledge that there was a fair whack of space behind him which Australia would look to exploit on the counter. That and not being passed to all that often as England focused on attacking through the centre or down Grealish’s side. Yeah, that probably didn’t help actually.

 

JAMES MADDISON
Exceptional kick-off. Exchanged some lovely touches with Grealish at times but no-one else seemed to be operating on the same wavelength as Maddison for long stretches, save for the couple of off-the-shoulder runs Watkins managed to time correctly. Maddison also treated Wembley to one of *the* great shanked shots, cutting inside on his right foot and curling an effort which went out for a throw-in almost behind him. Credit both to the Spurs man for immediately blaming the turf, as is customary in such a situation, and the broadcasters for subsequently cutting to Ange Postecoglou in the crowd. Mate.

READ MORE: James Maddison ‘digs’ keep England on joyful path away from Golden Generation

 

JACK GREALISH
There were a few sloppy moments and jarring instances of imperfect control, particularly in the first half. Entirely to be expected, given a relative lack of minutes and the continued handling of injury issues. A fair few well-constructed attacks broke down at his feet, some for the odd slip, others because he was being shadowed typically eagerly. But Grealish’s class shone through in the end as he played a crucial part in the chance Watkins put against the post in the first half, before setting up his former Aston Villa teammate’s tap-in with a perfect delivery across the face of goal. Was “absolutely furious” at that, according to Stephen Warnock. But then he did call former European champions Red Star “part-timers” once so who knows what to believe?

 

OLLIE WATKINS
Has started the season well and hit a bit of scoring form in the last couple of weeks. You have to be careful with that, you can’t just go on recency bias when you are looking at England player ratings. Got a hefty elbow in the face within 10 seconds. Held the ball up generally well and partook in some neat link-up play but was robbed for one of the better Australia chances. A spirited performance which seemed destined to not quite click was summed up with that first-half chance. Taking it round the keeper never seemed like the best available option and the finish was suitably unconvincing. But he kept going and after a few bright runs at the start of the second half, scored in consecutive England games, 19 months apart.

Ollie Watkins celebrates a goal for England against Australia with Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Ollie Watkins celebrates a goal for England against Australia with Trent Alexander-Arnold.

 

SUBSTITUTES

MARCUS RASHFORD (on for Grealish, 61)
Remember when he completed the joint-most dribbles of any England player (three) in a five-minute cameo against Iceland at Euro 2016? Obviously not because your brain probably functions normally but this was a bit like that, except far less depressing.

 

KIERAN TRIPPIER (on for Henderson, 61)
Took the armband off Henderson as Newcastle got one over on Sunderland for once.

 

KALVIN PHILLIPS (on for Gallagher, 62)
Make your own jokes about it being nice to see him actually play.

 

JOHN STONES (on for Tomori, 62)
Paint trophy.

 

PHIL FODEN (on for Maddison, 73)
This just about covers it:

 

EDDIE NKETIAH (on for Watkins, 73)
Lovely to see him make his debut. Less lovely for it to be spent chasing lost causes about 50 yards from the closest teammate as England defended a 1-0 friendly lead for their lives.

F365 Says Jordan Henderson

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