![]() The first had been an own goal from the Maltese defender Ferdinando Apap, the 58th in history to have benefited the England team and still the most reliable source of goals. That was the most intriguing element of this game and Alexander-Arnold’s right foot dispatched the second England goal of the night. Southgate said that he had been convinced of Alexander-Arnold’s readiness to play in midfield by his partial deployment there towards the end of the season by Jurgen Klopp, in the periods when Liverpool were in possession. There was no questioning the focus of Southgate’s players who, as Malta’s Italian coach Michele Marcolini observed, pressed for 90 minutes and were prepared to go one-against-one on his team. “That’s the mindset they are going into the series with.” “People will judge them on the outcome as they do the decisions you make as a coach,” he said. By the end of the night Southgate was invited to reflect on the first day of the Ashes series and what of that mindset which informed Ben Stokes’s declaration against Australia he could borrow for his own players. There was a debut too for Eberechi Eze, the silky Crystal Palace playmaker, as the goals came against the world’s 172nd-ranked side. ![]() England’s four goals mean they are way out ahead at the top of Group C – and even before that Southgate felt he could afford to deploy Trent Alexander-Arnold as a midfield experiment and rest many of his biggest names. ![]() Not quite the riskiness of the phenomenon that is English cricket’s “Bazball” but for Gareth Southgate perhaps a bespoke “Gazball” might suit his team as they approach the fourth major tournament under their manager next summer.Ī win over Malta means that England have one foot in the European Championships next year, and a long World Cup-extended season draws to a close against North Macedonia on Monday. By Sam Wallace at the National Stadium, Ta’ Qali, Malta ![]()
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