Middle England still in a muddle after Trent experiment ends early

England will leave Gelsenkirchen with most of the same worries they arrived with. Maybe a few new ones too.

SUBBED: England's Trent Alexander-Arnold is hugged by manager Gareth Southgate after being substituted during the UEFA Euro 2024 Group C match at the Arena AufSchalke in Gelsenkirchen. Pic: Adam Davy/PA Wire. 

With 63 minutes flashing on the hulking four-sided video board that looms over the centre circle of this place, Trent Alexander-Arnold swung his right leg in a panicked pivot. He sent the ball skyward on a trajectory which, for just a split-second, had you thinking it might hit the floating sky-telly. England could have done with the stoppage of play that would have resulted.

And that, ultimately, is the answer to the question: so how did the whole going with Alexander-Arnold in midfield thing go Gareth? It didn’t go horribly but it didn’t go well. It certainly didn’t suggest it can send Southgate’s team, Euro 2024’s tournament favourites, to the places Germany and Spain have pointed towards on our opening two days.

They’ll leave a Gelsenkirchen happy to see the back of them with three points but most of the same worries they’d arrived with. Maybe a few new ones too.

Right up until the team was announced at 8pm, rumours had swirled that it would be Crystal Palace’s Adam Wharton who would slot in alongside Declan Rice. The fact that the chatter, around a player who was still in the Championship in February, was believed and debated said plenty about the state of flux the favourites pitched up in on their opening night.

England’s middle ground has been treacly, treacherous territory for a real-world generation and at least three or four of the footballing variety. The last major tournament game to take place at this once modern, now well-worn arena was a World Cup 2006 quarter-final: England 0 Portugal 0, three Lions missing penalties as another golden generation exited.

Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard both blinked from the spot that night, Owen Hargreaves’ the only successful penalty. Sven-Göran Eriksson had buckled to pre-match pressure to find room for the in-form Bayern Munich man, switching to a three-man middle. Might it have worked if Wayne Rooney hadn’t seen red? Maybe. But it was an England midfield so, most likely, no.

HEY JUDE: England's Jude Bellingham scores their side's goal. Pic Adam Davy/PA Wire. 

Coming back to Germany 18 years later, Southgate was seen as bold, a rebel even, for the suite of unlikely options he’d brought. Yet he did so only after giving his favourites more road and rope than most: Jordan Henderson was still a central figure in the squad in late March.

But here on Sunday night was Alexander-Arnold, all five competitive midfield caps to him, marshalling the middle. When the early opener arrived it was the bravery and brilliance of Jude Bellingham which proved decisive. But a detail in the build-up: Alexander-Arnold had out-verted to right back to allow Kyle Walker step up and find Bukayo Saka, whose cross Bellingham met so emphatically in a stellar individual first-half. England’s collective though? Too much of the same.

For eight years now, Southgate has done his best to make his national team something different than before. Off the pitch as much as on it. Aided by a bold, young and diverse cast he’s made them accessible, relatable, even momentarily likeable. Then the other moments duly arrive, a boozed-up, St. George’s Cross-festooned bus which is so rarely late. And which must make Southgate do that internal Jerry Maguire “help me…help you” speech again.

Before you could even step into the grey streets of Gelsenkirchen, chants about German bombers and Emile Heskey’s own, ahem, artillery pierced the air at its central station. Members of the English media had already gone viral in Germany for slating this admittedly post-industrially drab host city. England has more than enough Gelsenkirchens of its own. This could just as easily sub in as Mittlesbräu or Sünterland. No matter, let’s slate it. And let’s get caught up in a street skirmish or two and then lustily jeer the Serb anthem after they boo GSTK. Never mind Charlie, god save Southgate.

Could Alexander-Arnold save him first? Lee Dixon sure thought so. “Perhaps the best passer of a ball in all football,” the pundit’s pre-match verdict. Lord save us all.

A couple of Alexander-Arnold’s first-half interventions weren’t quite divine but key, snapping in and breaking up a 25th-minute Serbian attack to send Saka and Walker scurrying and threatening again. But there was the other side too. Five minutes earlier, he’d lost concentration and miscontrolled horribly, the ball eventually breaking to Aleksandr Mitrovic to whistle one wide.

While too multi-faceted of a footballer to have just two sides, this is nonetheless the Jekyll and Hyde, the Alexander and Arnold, of the 25-year-old. He certainly hadn’t offered enough of himself to the whole when England reached half-time looking for it. As much as they led 1-0, there was still a lack of balance. The worry that against better teams who’ll soon come — sides that can contain Bellingham’s brilliance especially — Southgate needs to get much more out of his crew.

The early part of the second half didn’t provide light. Alexander-Arnold attempted a Zidane-esque roulette and spun the ball off the wheel gifting Serbia another chance. His set-piece deliveries weren’t great either.

On 69 minutes, five minutes after his punt at the floating TVs, he was the first Englishman replaced, Southgate calling for Conor Gallagher rather than Wharton. A let’s-not-lose rather than let’s-finish-this-off move. Rice continued getting through dirty work but the pretty stuff was woefully short in supply, Bellingham’s influence fading, Harry Kane and Phil Foden never involved, Saka removed early.

The game ended with the Serbs pressuring but not penetrating. Relief…but Southgate’s midfield muddle persists.