NO BOW-ING
Back-ups flop in shambolic run as Jarrod Bowen and Co play themselves out of World Cup reckoning
THE idea was for a few of Gareth Southgate’s World Cup wannabes to play their way into the squad.
But over these four games in 11 days, most of them played their way OUT of the reckoning.
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What an absolute shambles. Barely any of this squad, senior stars or fringe players, can be truly pleased about their performances in this lethargic and uninspiring batch of Nations League games.
Some of them will be downright ashamed. One or two might never return to play for their country.
England were hopeless in the 1-0 loss to Hungary, Jack Grealish delivered a nice cameo in the 1-1 draw with Germany, and Declan Rice produced an assured display in the bore draw at home to Italy.
But against Hungary, in another desperately poor performance, boss Southgate’s stars once again flopped.
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For all of these players, the beach could not come soon enough.
And they were perhaps lucky that the crowd were taking their anger out on the manager just as much as the team.
Here was a huge opportunity for Jarrod Bowen to take his terrific form with West Ham onto the international stage. He played in all four matches, starting two of them, but the fact he was replaced at half-time last night by Raheem Sterling said it all.
Bowen had plenty of energy and enthusiasm throughout his total of 180 minutes on the pitch. Yet despite some encouraging flashes, he failed to truly hit the spot for Southgate.
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The only real winners from his performances were Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford, who will both believe they can force their way back into the squad.
With Bowen not exactly blowing them out of the water, the door is still open if they get off to a good start under new boss Erik ten Hag with Manchester United.
Conor Gallagher was handed his fourth cap and a second start.
Despite a really bright start, when he won some decent tackles and carried the ball forward well enough, he did not really do enough and was replaced by Mason Mount in the 56th minute.
After such a good season on loan at Crystal Palace, Gallagher will fly with Chelsea to the United States for their pre-season on July 8.
If he impresses Thomas Tuchel then he could remain at Stamford Bridge for the whole season.
The problem will be that cameo appearances off the bench will not be enough to keep him in the England squad.
So if Gallagher is to remain in with a shout of featuring in Qatar, he will have to return on loan either back to Palace — or move to somewhere like Everton, with Frank Lampard keen.
Marc Guehi did OK even if his first touch was not great.
Southgate is a clear fan but you would still have the currently injured Ben White ahead of him in the pecking order.
James Ward-Prowse is a player who Southgate absolutely loves but he failed to do enough in his 90 minutes against Italy.
Jordan Henderson was able to skip these four matches — lucky him — and he will definitely return to the squad for the final two Nations League matches against Italy and Germany in September.
The smart money would be on Ward-Prowse, despite his great free-kick stats, missing out.
And we are unlikely to see James Justin again. With England suffering a crisis in the left-back position, the versatile Leicester full-back was handed a debut — only for him to struggle against Hungary in Budapest despite getting injured.
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Against Italy, Tammy Abraham — having scored 27 times for Roma last season — was handed the chance to cement his place as Harry Kane’s deputy up front.
He also failed to impress and it was telling that Southgate decided against giving him a second chance against Hungary.
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Fikayo Tomori bagged his third cap against Italy and, after a dodgy start, looked pretty decent and is now ahead of Tyrone Mings.
But despite being axed from the squad, Mings will have been sat at home watching this embarrassment — and probably feeling glad he was not anywhere near it.
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