Pre-match build up
The team England put out was very questionable. As expected, both Harry Maguire and Jordan Henderson started: Maguire who hasn’t featured regularly at club level for years and Henderson fresh off a move to Saudi Arabia which should have been the end of his England career.
Another confusing addition was James Maddison on the left wing instead of being in cm/cam his best position so it was no surprise that he wasn’t as effective on the left wing. Southgate should have started Rashford on the left and unlocked the dream midfield trio of Bellingham, Rice with Madders in the middle more advanced.
All England
The start was all us completely dominating the ball and in control of play and, when we lost the ball, we would win it back in rapid style. However, despite having all of the play, we didn’t create anything as we found it tough to break down Ukraine, who showed us a lot of respect, setting up in a robust low block.
Against the run of play 1-0
Ukraine got the breakthrough with a well-worked goal. Ukraine isolated, overloaded and doubled up on Chilwell. This was mainly down to Konoplia who made a fantastic overlapping run and pulled a pin point cut back on a plate for Zinchenko. Zinchenko was unchallenged and had lots of time to slot the ball home. Poor defending from us especially Harry Maguire who appeared to be marking Marc Guehi. Zinchenko’s little smug wave at the camara was very annoying.
Negative play from Henderson
Very quickly after the goal, Kane threaded a wonderful through ball which was begging to be hit, on the money for Henderson. He looked to be clean through but, instead of smashing it, his decision making was awful as he passed the ball to Madders which allowed the defenders to get back into position. Moments later he did have a shot on the edge of the box but blazed it over the bar.
Walker’s first international goal 1-1
A lovely moment for England stalwart Kyle Walker who finally opened his account after 77 games of waiting. A moment of magic from skipper Kane. I can’t put into words, the quality shown by Kane on this threaded pass. He patiently waited for an opening and curled an inch-perfect pass through to Walker who had made a great run, finishing with with a deft volley at the near post. Back in it!
Half Time Thoughts
Ukraine set up to frustrate us and frustrate us they did by showing us a lot of respect with the low block. However that does not excuse the criminal amount of chances we created. We had 70 odd percent possession with only 3 shots to show. We needed much more creativity and goal threat in the second half, which is crazy to say considering how stacked our attacking and creative outlets are.
Class save
We started the second half with a lot more intent and racked up a few more shots but nothing really of note to talk about as the majority were off target.
A moment of inspiration from Saka who rifled a shot towards the goal. Bushchan somehow got a massive hand to divert the ball onto the crossbar. A chance out of nothing and a ridiculous save to match.
Failure to break them down
Going to be honest, writing a match report for this game is tough because very little happened -the tempo of the game was pedestrian and slow. We never looked like we wanted it. From the 60th minute to full time a whole lot of nothing was created. I don’t recall Ukraine having a shot in the second half and the only somewhat notable chance created was Maguire nearly nipping in to divert the ball towards the net at the end but the keeper got there just before he could connect. Snooze fest.
In conclusion
Fair play to Ukraine they deserve that draw because we didn’t create nearly enough to merit a win. Need to see a much better performance against Scotland but, with the way they have been playing recently and the way we looked tonight, I’m not very confident.
On a more positive note, we are still unbeaten in the group with the draw being the first points dropped. We are soaring on our way to Euro 2024!
MOTM: Kyle Walker
Not a lot of contenders for this, but Kyle Walker is my pick: he pocketed Mudryk with ease and got his first England international goal with a cleanly taken volley so for that reason he is my MOTM.