How Bellingham lived up to his No 22 against Iran – he excelled at No 4, No 8 and No 10

Eighteen teenagers have been selected to represent their countries at this World Cup in Qatar.

For many of that group, you might expect to see them get a few minutes off the bench, others to simply be around the squad and gain experience among the senior set-up with an eye to future tournaments. 

Rarely would you expect to see a teenager dominate the game in their first World Cup finals start. Enter Jude Bellingham.

The eyes of Europe’s elite clubs are already fixed on the 19-year-old after an exceptional 18 months in a Borussia Dortmund shirt. As The Athletic has analysed, Bellingham is a generalist — an all-rounder who is not confined to a certain role and can play anywhere across the pitch. 

That is why Bellingham is England’s No 22, just as he is for his club. 

“He said he wanted to be a No 10. I said, ‘I think you can be a 22’,”  said Mike Dodds, Bellingham’s Birmingham City academy coach. “He asked what I meant and I said, ‘You can be a No 4, a No 8 and No 10 — someone who can do it all’.”

If ever there was a game that encapsulated his wide skill set across each midfield role, it was on Monday against Iran.

In his 18th appearance for England, Bellingham’s 113 touches were more than any other midfielder on the pitch, as he dominated possession and found particular joy in the left and right half-spaces.

Only centre-back colleague John Stones had a higher pass completion than Bellingham’s 97 per cent, and he was everywhere — a No 4, a No 8, and a No 10 within a single game. 

Let’s look at exactly how…

Bellingham as a No 4

England’s domination of the ball was particularly evident in the first half, where they had 82 per cent of the possession. 

Faced with a 5-3-2 low block, they had to be clever with their midfielders to create overloads — in this instance, the role of the No 4 is typically to link play between the defenders and forwards, who have limited space to operate, and circulate possession before finding moments to play forward.

Declan Rice was the deepest point of England’s upside-down midfield triangle and played a disciplined anchoring role that gave Bellingham the freedom to play across the different roles in midfield.

Some of Bellingham’s best early moments came when he dropped alongside the centre-backs and acted as a connector between full-back and winger.

Inside the first two minutes he moved deeper, to the right of Stones and played out to the right-back Kieran Trippier, who is just out of shot beyond the bottom edge of this next screengrab…

When he received a return pass from the right-back (the white arrow below), Bellingham controlled with his left foot and played a forward pass with his second touch to Bukayo Saka (blue arrow).

Using both feet and playing the ball quickly are central to Bellingham’s game. He ignites attacks and finds gaps in opposition defences by speed of thought and executes actions with precision.

He is probably the most press-resistant player England have, constantly able to find ways out of trouble and to pick successful passes even when surrounded by opponents.

Later in that same attacking phase, we saw the broader value of Bellingham, whose passing range and security in possession allow his team’s full-backs to push further forwards.

Again he drops deeper to receive the ball from Stones then plays a wedge pass to the advancing Trippier…

…who gets a cross in. 

Breaking down Bellingham’s passes to and from his team-mates during Monday’s match, it’s interesting that the top two combinations involve left-back Luke Shaw (31 total) and right-back Trippier (27).

Bellingham as a No 8

Moving from pass quantity to pass quality, Bellingham’s ability to break the lines really stood out against Iran. This is a key role for any No 8 — to be a primary ball progressor for their team.

There are patterns in the three grabs below — all are passes made from the left half-space and all show good decision-making.

On each occasion, there is limited pressure on Bellingham, who is able to pass to the back foot of a more advanced England central midfielder and bypass the first line of Iran pressure.

The pick of Bellingham’s line-breaking passes was in the build-up to Jack Grealish’s goal, England’s sixth. The move involved 35 passes, a record for a World Cup goal, and Bellingham played eight of them.

Looking at the move’s pass map, there are clusters which encapsulate his passing range.

He can be seen in his own defensive third centrally and wide, circulating play, combining with team-mates through short passes just into the Iran half and most notably playing the defence-splitting pass that is key to the goal.

Bellingham (highlighted with the yellow dot below) times his forward run to arrive in the space exactly when he needs to. Any earlier and he gets marked, any later and Marcus Rashford’s pass does not reach him.

Stones breaks the line, Rashford sets the ball for Bellingham and the Dortmund midfielder dissects the defence to thread Callum Wilson through — who squares to Grealish for a tap-in.

England’s domination of the ball in their World Cup opener means little could be seen of his defensive capabilities but there was a glimpse in the build-up to the third goal.

Below, Bellingham (again, the yellow dot) is on the right of England’s midfield triangle as goalkeeper Jordan Pickford launches a pass…

…and is the first to react to Rouzbeh Cheshmi’s loose touch, pouncing and then driving forward past the Iran centre-back.

Without breaking stride, he spots the diagonal run of Harry Kane and, using the outside of his right boot, dinks a ball through to his captain, who crosses for Raheem Sterling to put England further ahead. 

Those forward passes across the whole game are shown below, where Bellingham exposes those pockets in the left and right half-spaces to play such penetrating balls within England’s attack.

Bellingham as a No 10

“I’ve wanted to score more goals for Dortmund and England and to get in the right position,” said Bellingham at full time. 

Bellingham has picked up internationally where he left off for his German club. Going into this game, he was yet to score for England in 17 caps. However, he has found the net nine times in all competitions this season for Dortmund — a career-high with barely one-third of the season complete.

The Athletic’s Raphael Honigstein wrote recently about how Bellingham thrives when playing behind a No 9 who runs the channels because it creates space for his late runs.

We see this with Kane’s positioning and movement for the Bellingham header that opened the scoring and made the 19-year-old the second-youngest Englishman to score a World Cup goal — 45 days older than Michael Owen was when he scored against Romania in 1998.

Bellingham (yellow dot) positions himself in the right half-space, staying away from Mason Mount to allow the Chelsea man to receive Harry Maguire’s line-breaking pass…

…but as soon as the ball goes wide, Bellingham drives into the box, spotting the gap between the centre-backs…

…and he meets Shaw’s cross perfectly, with an accomplished header that loops into the far corner.

This was not a one-off. For Sterling’s goal — where Bellingham was pivotal in the build-up, as described above — the teenager also makes a late run to attack the box.

“The midfield was excellent, both Declan and Jude,” was manager Gareth Southgate’s post-match assessment.

There is an inherently strange feeling of setting youngsters up for failure when predicting they have high ceilings and bright futures, but Bellingham feels like a certainty to be key to this England side for a long time.

The youngest member of Southgate’s squad was visibly orchestrating the play against Iran — demanding where he wanted the ball or pointing to where the  team-mate in possession should pass it. 

Rarely has someone so young played for England with such maturity on the world’s biggest stage.

GO DEEPER

Every World Cup question you’ve been too afraid to ask