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Southgate dissipates England fears in composed 2-0 victory over Malta

By on October 9, 2016

Interim manager Gareth Southgate had the England national team on cruise control in a dreary victory over Malta, avoiding the spontaneous combustion his predecessor Sam Allardyce suffered after his first game in charge of the Three Lions.

The England national team are often criticized for their dull predictability, but it was a welcome relief for the Three Lions to return to their familiar ways this weekend following the dramatic departure of manager Sam Allardyce.

Allardyce’s embarrassing sacking put the English FA in crisis mode and left the national team in momentary disarray, yet caretaker manager Gareth Southgate pulled together a composed 2-0 victory over European minnows Malta in Wold Cup Qualifying. Strong performances from the likes of Dele Alli and Jesse Lingard offered English football glimmer of light and assurance in a dark time and although England weren’t particularly exciting or “brave” as Southgate had hoped, the forty-six-year-old will regard the victory as a job well done.

The home side methodically wore down Malta’s stringent defense and snatched the victory courtesy of two moments of brilliance from Daniel Sturridge and Dele Alli in the first half.

Southgate played his cards cautiously in comparison to Allardyce’s voluminous persona, easily hurdling the low bar that his predecessor had set. This conservatism was reflected on the pitch and in the stands, which is to say there was a rather languid, passive atmosphere for a 90,000-strong crowd at Wembley.

The age-old debate regarding Wayne Rooney’s positioning flared up at the very end as the Manchester United forward was booed off the pitch, but otherwise, this occasion was rather subdued. For all of the hype surrounding the red-hot form of Marcus Rashford and Theo Walcott, neither managed to make an impression on the match.

Sturridge scored a fantastic header from Jordan Henderson’s cross to put England in front on the hour mark, but had also missed golden chance just nine minutes prior. The rebound of Alli’s saved header had fallen kindly for Sturridge right in front of goal, only for the Liverpool striker to balloon the ball miles over.

Alli and Henderson appeared to sew the seeds of a tantalizing partnership in the middle, combining again to score England’s second. Henderson drove into the box and laid the ball back to Alli, who poked home after his original effort was saved.

With managerial candidate Roberto Mancini watching on from the stands, Southgate will be confident that the victory lent credence to his managerial qualifications. For better or worse, at least this was a recognizable England team.

Homepage photo credit: cchana [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Flickr

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.