Foden, TAA, Guehi, Palmer shine but Gallagher and Rashford flop: rating England players v Malta

Phil Foden, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Marc Guehi passed their England auditions as starters against Malta at Wembley, while Conor Gallagher really did not.

JORDAN PICKFORD
Given ample time to flick through the profitability and sustainability rules, albeit with the odd panicked look up to watch a few too many Malta shots fly over his crossbar en route to a 28th clean sheet to take him past Ray Clemence and into outright fifth for England.

KIERAN TRIPPIER
Started on the right and moved to the left, which is very much Gareth Southgate’s international equivalent of having his cake and eating it. Trippier was absolutely fine, offering support on whichever flank he was stationed, defending diligently and finishing with marginally more touches than Newcastle have injuries.

HARRY MAGUIRE
Some really careless, scruffy and unnecessarily imprecise passes under no discernible pressure, followed by the most earnest of thumbs up in apology each time. There was a couple in the first half during that period of early and absolute Maltese dominance, then another at the start of the second. Maguire’s long balls were at least faultless and helped push England up against a superior footballing nation. But the centre-half quite embarrassingly lost 7-9 to the game’s other 30 players combined in terms of aerial duels won. Shame.

MARC GUEHI
With not even a hint of sarcasm, Guehi’s front-foot defending to intercept a pass through the England lines in the opening minutes was a crucial moment considering the start the hosts made. The Crystal Palace defender was quietly imperious throughout; “if I can avoid being seen in a game, as crazy as it sounds, I’m doing my job,” he said earlier this week, channelling Paolo Maldini before very much living that professional mantra at Wembley.

FIKAYO TOMORI
Stood to gain nothing playing out of position against a direct and seemingly entirely underestimated opponent. Involved in two remarkably similar bookings which were born of his own slightly rushed, loose defending within a three-minute spell, both times sliding to win the first challenge before engaging in a 50/50 for the second. Came out with studs being planted on top of his foot in each instance but received the yellow card the second time, which was probably not the only contributing factor towards his half-time substitution.

TRENT ALEXANDER-ARNOLD
A splendid showing, considering he was fouled a ludicrous amount of times in the opening 10 minutes or so. The 60-yard rakes were present and correct and Alexander-Arnold clearly enjoyed the added responsibility and influence as the central creative hub. Advancing further up the pitch as the game wore on, the No.10 ended up having at least twice as many shots as any other player while flicking through his vast catalogue of short and long-range passes. The manager was impressed so there you go.

JORDAN HENDERSON
Presumably phenomenal in the eyes of his manager but aside from one display of decent skill on the right touchline to play himself out of a tight spot, did absolutely nothing of note. By far the game’s best player in terms of xValues and xBeliefs.

CONOR GALLAGHER
A slack start in which he was hounded straight from a throw-in and surrendered possession to give Malta a chance after 30 seconds set a tone England hardly bothered to try and change for the subsequent 70 minutes. Beyond the usual energy, there was almost nothing resembling the midfielder who has shone for Chelsea this season; this version struggled to complete simple one-touch passes while being weighed down by instructions, low-block stodge and incompatible partners.

PHIL FODEN
The game’s best player, to the extent that it often felt like his performance was being projected in from elsewhere because it really didn’t belong to that Wembley fare. His touch for the first goal still looks slightly suspiciously unintentional to someone who would have caressed that Guehi ball into the stands, but his immediate change of direction and burst of pace before the Kane-seeking pull-back suggests it was entirely deliberate. Foden’s movement was bright and his passing sharp and it seems notable that he was fouled only once as Malta could not get near him. A hand in both goals while creating the most chances and completing the most dribbles of any player represents a solid evening’s work.

HARRY KANE
Has obviously picked up some awful habits in Germany because England’s brave boy would never have initiated contact and been booked for diving before. Klinsmann’s clearly got to him and he’ll be backing into jumping defenders next. Dropped deep. Was criticised for dropping deep. Did really well dropping deep in a team that was summarily failing to provide him with goalscoring chances until that lovely move he finished in the 75th minute. Still has zero proper England goals.

MARCUS RASHFORD
An absolute masterclass in how to run into players, most often the actual brick wall of a defender in Malta captain Steve ‘Si’ Borg, but also quite sub-optimally a sprinting Alexander-Arnold at one point. His confidence is shot, which is perhaps fitting for the current worst finisher in the Premier League.

SUBSTITUTES

KYLE WALKER (on for Gallagher, 46)
Made a pretty dreadful start off the bench, eliciting audible gasps for being dribbled past at the start of the second half. Soon after, Walker miscontrolled a simple pass from Pickford while reviewing his options, which seemed to be the moment he shifted up a couple of gears. He was then heavily involved in the second goal, contributed to the disallowed Rice effort, made some of his trademark runs up the right and spent an inordinate amount of time with his hands in the air forlornly requesting switches of play as England dallied on the left.

BUKAYO SAKA (on for Tomori, 46)
Will someone please just let the man sodding rest?

DECLAN RICE (on for Henderson, 61)
The difference Rice makes to that England midfield could not be more stark if he was Sean Bean dressed as Iron Man. The goal, disallowed though it was, encapsulated what he brings to the team. Those drives were not forthcoming beforehand.

COLE PALMER (on for Rashford, 61)
The media’s current favourite player and the clear flagbearer of Playing With A Smile On One’s Face. Palmer had one shot, created one chance and only one player – Alexander-Arnold – completed more dribbles in the entire game. England had five shots in an hour without him and six in his half an hour on the pitch. Now stick him in that starting line-up against North Macedonia and break his spirit.