Match Summary

Netherlands Team

England Team

In their first match of 2018, England travelled to Holland and came home after a good, composed performance gave them a single goal victory.  There were a few eyebrows raised when manager Gareth Southgate named his team and indicated his formation strategy.  To play with a three man back line is something Southgate prefers and on this night, it all worked perfectly.

However, the match did not have the planned start that the manager would have liked as an injury to Liverpool's Joe Gomez after just six minutes meant a reshuffle after Harry Maguire was sent on as a replacement.  The formation stayed the same though and Maguire gave an assured performance throughout.  With Kieron Trippier and Danny Rose encouraged to push forward when possible England played the first half well.  The surprise choice as a central defender, Kyle Walker, slotted in well to his new role, and England looked well balanced.  Jordan Henderson captained the team with a good deal of thought and Southgate's plans were executed very efficiently.  Goal chances were few and far between though as both sets of forwards struggled to find a way through.  England were definitely the more lively team, and the interchange between Raheem Sterling, Jesse Lingard and Marcus Rashford was impressive at times.  The first shot in anger came from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, but it was straight at Jeroen Zoet and the goalkeeper gathered safely.

On 17 minutes, good work from Sterling set up Lingard, but his cross-shot went out for a goalkick.  Holland, meanwhile, almost made Henderson pay for a misplaced pass but Matthijs de Ligt's shot was mishit and Jordan Pickford gathered cleanly.  When the England goalkeeper came to my club Preston North End on loan at the start of the 2015/16 season, I soon made the prediction that he would be an England goalkeeper soon.  I was glad to see my forecast come true and the player did really well on this, his second appearance in the team.  I think there will be many more to come.

The game was being played at a good pace but England's crossing was not as effective as it could be, especially from Rose.  Trippier was an exception though, and just after the half-hour his excellent cross was only just missed by the alert Rashford's lunge.  Zoet then had to be smartly off his line after Lingard's pass almost found Sterling and the disciplined way that England held their 3-5-2 formation was impressive.  John Stones showed that he played for Manchester City with some cool, controlled play on the ball, so typical of Pep Guardiola's influence.

Holland enjoyed their best spell of the match in the last five minutes of the first-half and Memphis Depay forced a save from Pickford after a bad throw-in by Rose had put Maguire in trouble.  Overall, England had definitely had the better of the half, but their play in the final third was still lacking those final killer touches.

England began brightly after the restart and were on the front foot immediately.  Lingard saw a shot blocked and then Rose chose the wrong option when another good break saw Rashford and Oxlade-Chamberlain go to the near post only for Rose to cross to the far post.  On 52 minutes though, it was the referee's turn to make a huge mistake.  Rashford made a fine run onto a through ball and as he tapped the ball around the goalkeeper he was clattered to the ground by a combined effort from de Ligt and Zoet.  It was a 'stonewaller', as they say, but not in the referee's eyes unfortunately.  Not to worry though as England's bright start to the half was finally rewarded with an excellent and deserved goal just after the hour mark.  A move began with Pickford, that then saw a surge forward by Oxlade-Chamberlain, which ended with a pass to Lingard,  the Manchester United player swivelled and found Rose overlapping down the left.  For once Rose hit his cross low to try and find Sterling, and the ball bounced away, right into the path of Lingard who hit a first time right-foot shot from the edge of the area wide of the keeper's despairing dive.  The goal was no less than England deserved and the players were visibly lifted by ending their goal drought of recent games.

Holland did hit back for a while, understandably, Bas Dost tried to divert Depay's shot with a cheeky back-heel, and the slowness of the deflection almost deceived Pickford, but the goalkeeper was down to save.  Quincy Promes saw a shot charged down by Maguire and Depay, Holland's best player, stretched England on a couple of occasions.  In the 67th minute, after several substitutions by the home side, de Ligt fired in a 25 yard shot which flew just wide.  It was then England's turn to ring the changes.  Rashford, Lingard and Sterling went off and Jamie Vardy, Danny Wellbeck and Deli Alli were brought on.  Shortly afterwards Ashley Young came on for Rose.

Stones was organising his back line well at this stage and there were no real alarms for Pickford in the next phase of the match.  In fact neither goalkeeper was tested again until the 82nd minute when Stones brought down substitute Ryan Babel on the edge of the area.  Depay's free-kick cleared the wall but the shot was central and easily saved by Pickford.  And that was about it as regards the action.  Holland made more pointless substitutions and Pickford had to cut out one cross aimed at the 6'6" striker Wout Weghorst in the last meaningful attack.  The final whistle then blew and England could celebrate victory over the Dutch for the first time in eight attempts.

It was a good performance from England, not one to go overboard about, but with lots of positives for the manager and his squad to enthuse over.  Holland were not a very good side, and probably it was their worst team for a number of years, but you can only beat what is put in front of you and England did that very effectively.
  

TheFA.com BBC Sport

KNVB.nl Voetbalstats.nl Mike Payne - football historian and contributor