More questions than answers as unimpressive England labour to Wembley win over Malta

Harry Kane is congratulated after scoring England’s second goal (Image: PA)

WELL that certainly wasn’t signing off in style. England’s final home game of 2023 was also their worst by a considerable distance as they laboured to a thoroughly underwhelming 2-0 win over Malta.

Gareth Southgate’s side failed to record a shot on target until the 64th minute at Wembley, with their eighth-minute opener coming via an own goal from Maltese centre-half Enrico Pepe. Harry Kane added a second goal with 15 minutes remaining, but much of what happened in between made for painful viewing.

With Jordan Henderson, Conor Gallagher and Marcus Rashford all proving especially disappointing, this was a return to some of the characterless attacking displays that punctuated the early stages of Southgate’s England tenure, and that were supposed to have disappeared with the arrival of a crop of exciting young attackers.

True, Jude Bellingham, the brightest of England’s attacking stars, was missing last night, along with fellow injury victim James Maddison, and the players that did line up for the Three Lions had nothing of significance to play for given that qualification for next summer’s Euros in Germany was confirmed last month.

Even so, the sight of England’s players struggling to break down a Maltese defence that had shipped seven goals in its last two matches was extremely depressing. James Ward-Prowse, kicking his heels at home, must be wondering what on earth he has to do to displace Henderson from the midfield, while Newcastle’s Anthony Gordon must also be questioning his own continued absence from Southgate’s squad. This felt like too many of the same old faces falling short again.

What did last night tell us about what might be in store in Germany next summer? In truth, not a great deal given that England were playing against a Malta side rated 171st out of the 207 nations currently contained within FIFA’s World Rankings, although the fact the home side’s winning margin was so slender hardly inspires confidence. For three or four players in Southgate’s starting line-up, the final home game of the year provided an opportunity to stake a claim for a place in the squad for the Euros. Suffice to say, things did not really go to plan for any of them.

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Fikayo Tomori and Marc Guehi are among a batch of defenders battling for a squad spot in Germany, and while Malta were never going to seriously extend the England defence, the pair didn’t exactly stand out. It was interesting to see Tomori playing at left-back, a position where Southgate has found himself having to put square pegs in round holes in the absence of Luke Shaw and Ben Chilwell. While Tomori is a much more natural centre-half, the fact he has shown he can slot in at left-back if needed could work in his favour.

With Tomori starting in the back four last night before being replaced at half-time, Trent Alexander-Arnold found himself back in the central-midfield spot he had filled to positive effect in June’s victory in Malta’s Ta’Qali Stadium and the same month’s home hammering of North Macedonia.

Both Alexander-Arnold and John Stones have morphed into central-midfielders with their club sides over the last year or so – would Southgate be bold enough to select either in a midfield slot for England in a game that really mattered? You suspect not given his wholehearted backing for both Henderson and Kalvin Phillips in recent months, but perhaps in a group game against inferior opposition next summer, Alexander-Arnold as a midfielder could be a viable option. At the very least, the 25-year-old’s place in the squad for the Euros looks much more guaranteed than was the case ahead of the last World Cup.

Foden, Rashford and Kane will be on the plane to Germany, but Gallagher, who was the other member of the front four that started last night, could well find himself sweating on his selection. He has stepped up his performance level with Chelsea this season, but finds himself competing with the likes of Ward-Prowse, Jarrod Bowen, Eberechi Eze and his team-mate, Cole Palmer, for an attacking-midfield berth. Last night’s ineffective performance, which saw him hauled off and replaced by Bukayo Saka at the break, will not have done much to advance his cause.

In terms of England’s attacking midfielders, Gallagher was outshone by Foden, who was his side’s brightest spark for much of the evening as he strove to break beyond Kane into the 18-yard box.

The Manchester City playmaker was the key figure in England’s eighth-minute opener, breaking onto Guehi’s pass and surging into the area thanks to a wonderful first touch. His attempted pull-back was aimed towards Kane, but it struck an unfortunate Enrico Pepe, who could only deflect the ball into his own net despite the scrambled efforts of goalkeeper Henry Bonello.

The early goal might have been expected to open the floodgates, but England’s midfield play lacked fluency for much of the evening, and the hosts struggled to carve out chances despite the limitations of their opposition.

That said, however, they should have been awarded a penalty shortly before the half-hour mark when Kane seized on an awful pass from Bonello and was clearly felled as he went to round the Maltese goalkeeper. A spot-kick looked inevitable, but Portuguese referee Luis Godinho made the remarkable decision to book Kane for diving. There have been occasions in the past when the England skipper has gone down with minimal contact – this was not one of them.

A one-goal lead at the interval was a thoroughly underwhelming state of affairs, particularly given that Southgate’s side reached the break without having recorded a single shot on target. In fact, things could have been even more awkward with Malta fashioning a couple of decent opportunities of their own in the first half.

The first came just 30 seconds in, and saw Teddy Teuma break towards the edge of the area before firing a low shot just wide of the left-hand post. The second, which saw Paul Mbong also fire wide from just outside the area, was the direct result of a dreadful ball out of defence from Harry Maguire, who passed up possession despite being under no pressure at all.

Maguire passed straight to a Maltese player again a few minutes later, and while Southgate is hardly blessed with a plethora of options at centre-half, his continued reliance of such an out-of-form player is a worry ahead of next summer’s finals. Some of the criticism aimed at Maguire in the last 12 months has been over the top, but plenty of it has also been justified.

There was plenty of grumbling in the stands throughout last night’s game, such was the lethargic nature of England’s performance, although the half-time introduction of Saka at least provided a modicum of energy in the final third, with the Arsenal forward shooting wide just before the hour mark after a slick one-two with Alexander-Arnold.

A second finally arrived with 15 minutes remaining, courtesy of England’s best move of the game. Kyle Walker, Foden and Saka were all involved in the build-up, with the latter teeing up Kane to sweep home from the edge of the six-yard box.

Declan Rice thought he had added another goal a minute later, but the Arsenal midfielder’s driven finish from the edge of the area was ruled out because the ball whistled past Kane, who was standing in an offside position in the 18-yard box.