Gareth Southgate finds another leader amid Harry Maguire and Jordan Henderson questions

“Kyle Walker has been given the armband this season for City after Ilkay Gundogan’s departure and with Kevin De Bruyne also out injured. That gesture helped persuade Walker to stay at City rather than move to Bayern Munich this summer as the German champions wanted to sign him.”

Gareth Southgate reviews Ukraine game

For years Kyle Walker has been under-appreciated as an England defender.

‌Walker, 33, has won everything with Manchester City and no-one can doubt his quality as a tenacious, lightning-quick full back. But Walker has not felt as much love on the international stage despite being a huge part of Gareth Southgate’s England revolution.

‌Maybe it took Walker to score his first goal for England after 77 caps in a 12 year international career to underline his importance to the squad. Or maybe it is because he actually seems to be getting quicker with age, smarter and wiser as a defender and also because of his qualities as an elder statesman and leader for the younger players. Maybe he is just not fashionable enough or that he has got himself into far more than his fair share of off-the-field scrapes.

‌Either way, Gareth Southgate now puts him in the bracket of being world class and it is easy to understand why he was so determined to talk him out of retiring from international football. Not just once but twice.

‌Southgate said: “Well, I think he has got better with age. It doesn’t always happen but he’s not only playing well but also him around the training, the way I hear him speak when he’s interviewed, his influence on the group, he’s become a really mature leader for us.

Kyle Walker’s experience is vital to England(Foto Olimpik/NurPhoto/REX/Shutterstock)

‌“The way he’s trained all week, his influence on younger players in the group. His all round game, great composure in a position where you don’t always find it and our senior players were important and he was the pick against Ukraine.

‌“He’s got huge experience of winning big matches. I pulled him two or three days into the training because his focus was really clear, the way he was organising on the pitch. I think he’s enjoying the extra responsibility he’s had at his club and I know he’s ready to embrace that with us as well.”

Walker scored his first international goal in Wroclaw(Nigel Keene/ProSports/REX/Shutterstock)

‌Walker has been given the armband this season for City after Ilkay Gundogan’s departure and with Kevin De Bruyne also out injured. That gesture helped persuade Walker to stay at City rather than move to Bayern Munich this summer as the German champions wanted to sign him.

‌But that is also tribute to Walker’s importance to Pep Guardiola and it was almost embarrassing to see Ukraine’s Chelsea winger Mykhailo Mudryk try to get past him in their Euro qualifier in Wroclaw.

‌Walker just swatted him away with ease while, on the occasion that Mudryk threatened to beat him for pace, the vastly experienced right back just blocked his run with all of his defensive nous.

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‌He has seen better players than Mudryk off, shutting down the threat of Vinicius Junior in last season’s Champions League semi final and even limiting the threat of France superstar Kylian Mbappe in last year’s World Cup quarter final. Not only that he has seen off Joao Cancelo at Manchester City. Even amid a below-par England performance, Walker was superb as he equalised Oleksandr Zinchenko’s opener and was also the team’s defensive safety net.

‌It was a disappointing performance because England had been in such good form, Southgate had appeared to find the right balance and formation but it simply did not gel against Ukraine.

Harry Maguire is struggling for football at Manchester United(Nigel Keene/ProSports/REX/Shutterstock)

‌Harry Maguire looked rusty through not playing enough and Jordan Henderson is 33 and will struggle to keep his place now he has gone to play second rate football in Saudi Arabia.

‌The formation certainly did not get the best out of two in-form players in Jude Bellingham or James Maddison. Harry Kane provided an assist and Bukayo Saka got better as the game wore on but it was all a bit flat, although they were the first points dropped in Group C.

‌Surely now England must get back to a formation and system that gets the best out of Bellingham and also allows Phil Foden to get a run of games for his country.

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