I started my last report, against Scotland, by saying what a difference three days makes, well, I'm hoping there will be a big difference from this England performance to when we host Italy in the Euros in our next game. This was pretty dire from England at times, as Gareth Southgate made lots of changes to his line-up to give others a chance to stake their claim to a place in the side. That is understandable, but on this occasion, in the main, it didn't work.

England began sluggishly on a very wet night at Wembley, although they did come close when Jarrod Bowen fired in a cross-cum-shot that goalkeeper Matt Ryan just managed to divert away from Ollie Watkins feet. On 12 minutes Sam Johnstone was forced into a good save when Keanu Baccus's shot clipped the head of a defender and the goalkeeper pushed the ball around the post. After that the match slipped into the usual England mode of passing the ball across the back, back to the keeper, and then doing that all over again! Is it me, because I find that so boring and negative?

To be fair to Australia, they played well, chasing, harrying and pressing England at every opportunity, and that did make it difficult for England to find any rhythm. Having said that, all the team changes made England look disjointed and struggling to find any decent attacking moves.

On 22 minutes Mitchell Duke hit a volley just wide, and then two minutes later, James Maddison cut inside well and his shot landed in the Royal Box, and yes, it was that bad! Six minutes later Australia had another chance as, following a corner, with the ball bouncing loose, Kye Rowles shot over when it seemed easier to hit the target. Ironically, this led to the best chance for England, so far, at the other end. A good break down the middle saw a fine pass by Maddison played right into the path of Watkins. The striker took it round the keeper, but then just mishit his shot slightly, and the ball trickled across goal, hit the far post and was cleared.

Shortly after that incident the referee, the wonderful Stephanie Frappart, brandished two yellow cards in quick succession, as Levi Colwill and Baccus came together. The ref was quite right and she celebrated this honour of being the first female referee to take charge of an England Men's game at Wembley with an impressive no nonsense display. She then booked Conor Gallagher for a reckless challenge, and when she shows a card, she really means it!

Those incidents did enliven a very poor game, okay, there were chances, but there was no real pattern to England's play as the players struggled to come to terms with playing with each other so few times before.

Just before the break Bowen had a header saved from a corner and then right at the end of the half Australia had the best chance of the game so far. A fast attack saw the influential Martin Boyle lay the ball perfectly into the path of Ryan Strain. He seemed certain to score and although his shot beat Johnstone's dive, Lewis Dunk made a goal saving block on the line. And that was half-time. Australia really should have been comfortably in the lead to be honest, but England were still in it.

The second-half started in a similar fashion as the first had ended although England were trying to get the ball forward a little quicker, at last! After a couple of pieces of desperate clearances by the Aussie defence, it was England who made the breakthrough. Jack Grealish was brought down by Baccus, not for the first time, and when the free-kick came into the box the ball was cleared out to Trent Alexander-Arnold and this time the Liverpool player did his one good thing of the game by sending the ball back into the middle with a peach of a cross. Grealish took control well, and shot across goal. It probably would have missed the target but in came Watkins to touch it home to give England a lead they hardly deserved.

For the rest of the match there was plenty of effort from both sides, a whole swathe of substitutions and chances at both ends. The introduction of John Stones and Kieran Trippier gave England more assurance at the back, although replacing Gallagher with Kalvin Phillips made little difference to the poor midfield showing by England.

Alexander-Arnold had a shot deflected wide, Baccus shot wide after an awful pass from Dunk had set him up for a shot, and a good move involving Trippier and Bowen came close to producing a second. But generally play was more and more scrappy, and there was one funny moment when Jackson Irvine was pulled up for a foul and let rip at the ref. She was not going to stand for that, quite rightly, and the way she brandished the yellow card to him reminded me of John Wayne making a point in a western film!!

On 80 minutes Australia had another great final chance to score. They won a corner and from the kick Conner Metcalfe had a clear header, but instead of hitting the net the ball struck the outside of a post and went wide. Australia will certainly look back on this match and rue all those missed chances, especially that last one.

England then saw the game out fairly comfortably from that point and although they finished with a win, they do have much work to do when they face Italy in their next important match. Quite frankly, this game was one they will quickly want to forget.
  

Source Notes