Once again, against a poor opposition, England failed to assert their superior quality in a World Cup Qualifier, and that seems to have become a theme of my reports over the last few years. A slightly weakened England team, missing several regulars, are now so indoctrinated into the Premier League style of play, you know what I mean, back, back, square, square, that there seems no escape. Where have all the good schemers gone? England showed a complete lack of flair or positiveness to overcome Andorra. Having said all that, they won the match and we move on.

The game itself was scrappy and downright boring at times as the expressions on the faces in the crowd showed, they were looking for fireworks and excitement. It was in poor quantity I'm afraid. On three minutes Marcus Rashford tried to wriggle past two defenders with some clever footwork but was eventually crowded out, and that was the sum total of anything happening in the early stages, apart from an early booking for the Andorran number 11. The first shot of the game came after 10 minutes, inevitably from Harry Kane, but it was weak and straight at the goalkeeper. Meanwhile, several passes were either too long from England or intercepted by the hard-working visitors. Five minutes later a better England attack ended with Eberi Eze shooting low, but again it was an easy save for the keeper.

The first instincts of the modern player is to turn and play the ball back, when maybe a piece of positive play might bring more rewards. Myles Lewis-Skelly and Reece James were wide and free at full-back but both players continually opted to pass responsibility to someone else instead of taking the initiative to try and beat their man. Frustration isn't the word for it.

There were virtually no attacks coming from Andorra although one poor back pass to Jordan Pickford had him scrambling a little to clear. England were dominating possession and only Noni Madueke looked as though he wanted to run at players. In the first 20 minutes it was hard to remember a cross coming into the Andorra penalty box and it was so easy for them to defend this lacklustre attack. When a cross did come in on 23 minutes both Eze and Kane came within a whisker of finding the decisive touch. Two minutes later a cross finally paid dividends, but not as you would expect.

Madueke's chipped centre was 'brilliantly headed in' by the defender Christian Garcia. How ironic was that? The defender got his head to the cross first but only succeeded in heading into the far corner giving the keeper no chance to save.

There was lots of walking football from England after the goal, but I suppose they must be tired after a long and arduous start to the season! I know, I know, sarcasm is the lowest form of wit, but that line made me laugh! There was so much pushing and shoving at the few England corners, but the referee saw fit to ignore it all. The final action of a scrappy half ended with a shot by Madueke being pushed away but Eze can't reach the rebound quickly enough and the players trooped off after a dismal first period.

The second-half started promisingly with Madueke making a positive run before passing to Eze. His shot was parried away by the keeper and Rashford followed up. Unfortunately his shot curled wide of the far upright and the chance was gone and the former Manchester United player faded from the game after that. Good work by Elliot Anderson, who did have an excellent and tireless debut, chased down a pass from the keeper to a defender and wins possession for Kane, who then gave the midfield player a return pass, but the keeper redeemed himself to make a fine save and then did even better to save a follow-up shot. Andorra had a small chance with a free-kick awarded to them wide on the left, but the attempted finish from the cross was well wide. Meanwhile, in tennis terms, England continued to make many unforced errors looking rusty and lethargic at times. Another problem was how many times the England forward's lack of concentration left them offside.

As the half dribbled on, at last we had a moment of joy. James finally found that he could cross a ball into the danger area, and it was a good one too, as there was Declan Rice at the far post to head an excellent goal. The goal was totally out of character with the game, and also it was the last action for the goalscorer and the goal maker as they were immediately substituted. Livramento, Morgan Rogers and Anthony Gordon came on, and then Marc Guehi, who had had a quiet but effective game, was replaced by Konsa. Gordon then had a good chance but the half-asleep Newcastle player was again caught offside.

The attacking play was lifted by the substitutions though and Valentino Livramento was already running at the defence and crossing the ball into the box. Three minutes from the end the lively Madueke might have had a penalty on another day and then Dan Burn was unlucky to receive a yellow card for an innocuous clash. Late substitute Morgan Gibbs-White almost added a third goal before the final whistle went to end the night.

Maybe I have been a touch over-critical but I'm a fan and I want to see more from our squad of undoubted talent rather than yet another poor England performance against a less than average side. Credit to Andorra who once again stuck at their task and they will be pleased to have only lost 2-0, but quite honestly England must do better than this when it comes to the big guns. A World Cup Final victory seems a million miles away at the moment.
           

Source Notes