Player ratings in Nations League action

How did the four England debutants fare against Denmark? Better than Trent Alexander-Arnold and Eric Dier, that’s for sure.

JORDAN PICKFORD
The clamor for Nick Pope, Dean Henderson and Scott Carson will continue in most of the quarters, but a fourth clean sheet in a row makes Pickford his point. He even earned this one, saving Dolberg point-blank when the defense summarily failed him, and maintaining control of his little limbs for 90 minutes instead of 89 with a brain fart. The layout of the Everton goalkeeper tends to impress nonetheless, but was actually quite poor on Tuesday night. However, this was much better overall.

LIVERPOOL FAN CONOR COADY
Probably the best player in England. I would do him a disservice to suggest that he looked completely at home because that was an absolute dirge and he deserved better. But he immediately felt comfortable internationally and raised the question of why it has taken so long to include it. Coady is perhaps less famous for his defense than most other central media, but he did well against a diligent attack from Denmark. He should also be nicknamed The Bishop if he isn’t already because, by God, he likes a diagonal.

JOE GOMEZ
I got carried away with the rake passes, but felt like he did most of the defensive work in those last three. It was completely normal in a game that was absolutely terrible, but pretending that just playing alongside Virgil van Dijk makes him look good is all the rage, so let’s get on with that even though it’s clearly untrue and the Dutchman gets away with it. more mistakes than I should because of his self-perpetuating reputation yes that’s the hill I’ll happily die on.

ERIC DIER
Christian Eriksen rinsed him off like a tattered kitchen towel for that first-half opportunity from Dolberg, but he didn’t play and train with the Dane at club level every week for half a decade, so he can be forgiven. If you close your eyes and imagine Eric Dier playing as the left-side middle middle in the back three, then this was pretty much what you imagined. There were no lessons to be learned here.

TRENT ALEXANDER-ARNOLD
He’s got ‘Scouse not English’ tattooed somewhere on his person, right? England has so far resisted the temptation to emulate Liverpool by building their entire system around Alexander-Arnold and it really shows in their exhibits. He seemed suspicious on the defensive a handful of times and suffered from such a slow overall approach. One of the best outings in the entire Premier League found no teammate with a single center and often struggled to reach a white jersey with simple five-yard passes.

KALVIN PHILLIPS
A debut to be content with, to say the least. Phillips was the best of thousands of defensive midfielders on the field, forced to share responsibilities that he has assumed only with poise for Leeds. He made five tackles, as many as the rest of his new teammates combined in 75 minutes, while no one had more than his two interceptions. And that ball to Alexander-Arnold early in the second half was the best of the entire game. Southgate will presumably be fine and leave him for daring to try to create something.

RICE DECLAN
He seems like a lovely boy. The kind that does well with in-laws and changes the filter on his vacuum cleaner every month. But not the kind to suit this England lineup, if any player does. He offered roughly nothing on offense and much more on defense, which feels counterproductive when you only have ten outfield spots to fill a full-size soccer team. I managed not to propose any Icelandic models, of course. We know that.

TRIPPIER KIERAN
No more of that, please. It does some useful work left and that is testament to its ability and adaptability, but this cannot be more than a temporary fix. At least we know that he can do it if absolutely necessary. That said, Trippier created three of the six England chances. As someone who has often struggled with math, even I know that it is about half.

JADON SANCHO
Not good. Absolutely. The absolute dictionary definition of a ‘5/10 – Manchester United goal fought to make an impact’, assessment in each of the national newspapers on Wednesday morning. It’s hard to know which stat is more surprising: 100% passing accuracy or the fact that you didn’t complete a single successful dribble. An explosive attack player of this caliber might not look at either of them too fondly, although his uninspiring performance was one of the many avoidable consequences of such an unadventurous system.

HARRY KANE
One of those afternoons, personified by the fact that he committed as many fouls as he shot and had fewer attempts at goal than punts. A late clearance of the line prevented any polish from being added to some general hard work crap from a performance where Kane worked hard but had no problems.

STERLINA RAHEEM
The only England player to achieve that delicate balancing act between taking a shot and creating an opportunity in 90 minutes. Sterling was far from the most effective, but at least he looked bright and confident enough to carry the ball and try different things. It’s a shame none of them were worth it, but still.

Substitutes

MONTE MASÓN (in Sancho, 60)
Injected energy and thrust. England had one shot in an hour without him and five in the next 30 minutes. He has a role to play, even if that includes being mocked and punished as a sensible substitute in the second half.

JACK GREALISH (delivered by Phillips, 76)
It had to be impeccable, such are the obstacles that Southgate seems to try to make him jump. Grealish didn’t miss a single pass, he created an opportunity and put the Danish defense to the test with a dizzying run in a quarter of an hour. That should be enough to stay in the fold.

AINSLEY MAITLAND-NILES (in place of Alexander-Arnold, 87)
I had a touch and it was fucking brilliant.

Matt stead

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