England 3-0 Wales: Rating players as The Clamor works and Rashford thrives, but Henderson…
Phil Foden and Marcus Rashford had a good time against Wales, with Kyle Walker and the defense doing well. Jordan Henderson… speaks.
If 16 conclusions is more your thing, knock yourself out…
JORDAN PICKFORD HAS already kept more clean sheets than he managed in all of Russia 2018 and he deserved it with that majestic dive at the end of the first half. There was a tiny bit more urgency and seriousness in his acrobatics for a cross from James that eluded everyone after half-time. A good save from Moore's deflected effort finally left him getting his gloves properly dirty and he was pretty neat on the ball. Bring back Ravey Jord. This guy is boringly efficient.
KYLE WALKER seemed to enjoy the company of someone else who can run very fast, as evidenced by the fact that he followed James to the center circle to snap him. There was nothing spectacular from Walker, but that was unnecessary, with the other full-back more often used to provide width. The Manchester City defender was pretty neat in possession without ever dropping his usual noise. It's also to Walker's credit that he managed to get on the same page as Bellingham when the Dortmund midfielder came on full steam ahead to create that first-half Foden chance. Not bad at all for his first match of the tournament; you can see why Gareth trusts him.
JOHN STONESep. Good work. Should have scored at least once. It's a nice and welcome change that his mistakes almost always come at that much cheaper end and no longer in his own defensive third. This should probably get more attention as his focus levels and general aura have increased markedly with age and experience. Remember when Fikayo Tomori was a thing?
HARRY MAGUIREPure box office. Wales' passivity allowed much of their defense to be proactive and driven into the attacking half, which is something Maguire absolutely thrived on. The trademark marauding run came midway through the first half as he rushed into the area before completely shoving his cross for a throw-in. Textbook. Inheritance. Glorious. A little odd when he tried to direct a relatively strong Moore shot towards Pickford from around 18 yards out, but he still needed his moment.
LUKE SHAW really didn't notice much, which isn't a bad thing. Hindered Rice when the midfielder was desperate to leather a loose ball that had just been cleared. During the same attack, he moved straight into an offside position for Rashford, which his club-mate surely appreciated. It was a strange few seconds for Shaw, who has otherwise been reliable at worst so far for England.
JORDAN HENDERSON Improved in the second half, but it says a lot that his main contribution to this England team, as Jermaine Jenas was keen to point out in his co-comments, is that you can hear him constantly. He talks a lot. Like fillers. To everybody. Points to them and all. Tells them where to be and what to do. Surpart probably. It must be a f**king ballache when he and Conor Coady get into a conversation anywhere. Surely that helped make the English press a bit more coherent, but good God. As for his actual game, there was the time he oddly misjudged stealing a cross from Shaw when unmarked at the back post, before going low to absolutely no one right after . Another delivery from his privileged position inside the right was also excruciating. He doesn't seem to light the ball sometimes. But he was involved in creating one of Foden's first-half chances and he put up a bloody load of receptions. Love them. I can't get enough. Is probably telling everyone in the locker room now.
DECLAN RICE Withdrew just before the hour mark with a player returning from injury and Sir Harold de Kane, underscoring Rice's importance to this team. He's just obviously awesome and the minority of performative morons who like to ask their seven Twitter followers, "wat dus Declan Rice even do lol?" after every game is steadily decreasing for good reason. The turnover he forced in the build-up to Rashford's chance was an elite read of the game and his level rarely dropped from there.
JUDE BELLINGHAM Incredible balance, composure and skill to give Foden the chance to ski in the first half. He should have fallen or been tackled at least twice, but ordinary rules don't apply here. Some of his touches were divine and despite his forward position and...
Phil Foden and Marcus Rashford had a good time against Wales, with Kyle Walker and the defense doing well. Jordan Henderson… speaks.
If 16 conclusions is more your thing, knock yourself out…
JORDAN PICKFORD HAS already kept more clean sheets than he managed in all of Russia 2018 and he deserved it with that majestic dive at the end of the first half. There was a tiny bit more urgency and seriousness in his acrobatics for a cross from James that eluded everyone after half-time. A good save from Moore's deflected effort finally left him getting his gloves properly dirty and he was pretty neat on the ball. Bring back Ravey Jord. This guy is boringly efficient.
KYLE WALKER seemed to enjoy the company of someone else who can run very fast, as evidenced by the fact that he followed James to the center circle to snap him. There was nothing spectacular from Walker, but that was unnecessary, with the other full-back more often used to provide width. The Manchester City defender was pretty neat in possession without ever dropping his usual noise. It's also to Walker's credit that he managed to get on the same page as Bellingham when the Dortmund midfielder came on full steam ahead to create that first-half Foden chance. Not bad at all for his first match of the tournament; you can see why Gareth trusts him.
JOHN STONESep. Good work. Should have scored at least once. It's a nice and welcome change that his mistakes almost always come at that much cheaper end and no longer in his own defensive third. This should probably get more attention as his focus levels and general aura have increased markedly with age and experience. Remember when Fikayo Tomori was a thing?
HARRY MAGUIREPure box office. Wales' passivity allowed much of their defense to be proactive and driven into the attacking half, which is something Maguire absolutely thrived on. The trademark marauding run came midway through the first half as he rushed into the area before completely shoving his cross for a throw-in. Textbook. Inheritance. Glorious. A little odd when he tried to direct a relatively strong Moore shot towards Pickford from around 18 yards out, but he still needed his moment.
LUKE SHAW really didn't notice much, which isn't a bad thing. Hindered Rice when the midfielder was desperate to leather a loose ball that had just been cleared. During the same attack, he moved straight into an offside position for Rashford, which his club-mate surely appreciated. It was a strange few seconds for Shaw, who has otherwise been reliable at worst so far for England.
JORDAN HENDERSON Improved in the second half, but it says a lot that his main contribution to this England team, as Jermaine Jenas was keen to point out in his co-comments, is that you can hear him constantly. He talks a lot. Like fillers. To everybody. Points to them and all. Tells them where to be and what to do. Surpart probably. It must be a f**king ballache when he and Conor Coady get into a conversation anywhere. Surely that helped make the English press a bit more coherent, but good God. As for his actual game, there was the time he oddly misjudged stealing a cross from Shaw when unmarked at the back post, before going low to absolutely no one right after . Another delivery from his privileged position inside the right was also excruciating. He doesn't seem to light the ball sometimes. But he was involved in creating one of Foden's first-half chances and he put up a bloody load of receptions. Love them. I can't get enough. Is probably telling everyone in the locker room now.
DECLAN RICE Withdrew just before the hour mark with a player returning from injury and Sir Harold de Kane, underscoring Rice's importance to this team. He's just obviously awesome and the minority of performative morons who like to ask their seven Twitter followers, "wat dus Declan Rice even do lol?" after every game is steadily decreasing for good reason. The turnover he forced in the build-up to Rashford's chance was an elite read of the game and his level rarely dropped from there.
JUDE BELLINGHAM Incredible balance, composure and skill to give Foden the chance to ski in the first half. He should have fallen or been tackled at least twice, but ordinary rules don't apply here. Some of his touches were divine and despite his forward position and...
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