Four truths (and one verdict) from England’s win over Italy

England booked their place at Euro 2024 with Tuesday night’s 3-1 victory over Italy at Wembley, a match in which they trailed 1-0 before two goals from Harry Kane and one from Marcus Rashford do not carry the Three Lions to the three points. Gab Marcotti has a few points to make regarding the heavyweight clash.

1. Experience matters

England manager Gareth Southgate reiterated this in his pre-match conference, when he spoke of how formative England’s experiences have been over the last three major tournaments, reaching the semi-finals of Russia 2018, the Euro 2020 final and the Qatar 2022 quarter-finals. He also noted that often you learn as much – if not more – from defeats.

Seven of Tuesday’s starting XI (plus Jordan Henderson, who came off the bench) were part of that 2018 World Cup squad. Nine of the XIs have at least 45 caps, as does Henderson. Ten of the XIs are playing Champions League football this year (well, assuming Maguire is chosen by Erik ten Hag).

Compare this with Italy. They completely missed the experience of the last two World Cups. In fact, only five players – Francesco Acerbi, Stephan El Shaarawy, Bryan Cristante, Giovanni Di Lorenzo and Gianluigi Donnarumma – had been selected from the start of 2018. Of those, only the latter three were national team regulars. side in recent seasons. Only two of the starting eleven (Donnarumma and Nicolo’ Barella) have more than 45 caps, and only four of the eleven are playing for Champions League teams this season.

You’re loath to attribute intangibles like experience to what actually happens on the pitch, but those who remember the England of yesteryear might imagine them getting upset when they score a goal and concede several chances in first half at home. This one didn’t.

Likewise, one wonders if a more experienced and battle-hardened Italy could have been a little more clinical with the chances they created.

2. Chemistry matters

Southgate is getting a ton of stick for continuing to call out Harry Maguire and Kalvin Phillips, both of whom started on Tuesday night. This is mainly because neither plays very often for their club – Maguire has started nine league matches in the last 15 months, Phillips only two – and when they do play, mainly in the cup, they do not are not particularly good. .

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Part of this may be because Southgate is not enthusiastic about the alternatives – rightly or wrongly, the latter in my opinion – but you suspect a lot of it has to do with a genuine sense of valuing what what they do within the system. pitch and the locker room next to it.

Phillips only made his debut in September 2020, yet has 30 caps. They are very familiar with Southgate’s not-so-adventurous style of play and work well within that system. Integrating a newcomer – especially if he plays differently at club – is not easy: he must be a real added value for it to be worth it, because you would lose that chemistry.

That’s exactly the kind of chemistry Italy doesn’t have. Partly because most haven’t played much for the national team, partly because coach Luciano Spalletti has only been in charge for about six weeks.

3. People matter

It’s not just the fact that England have, objectively, better players than Italy have released. This is because, in key moments, the best players won their individual battles, probably because they are better players.

Whether it’s Harry Kane charging through the middle for the third goal, Marcus Rashford cutting in from the flank, Declan Rice dominating the middle of the park or, of course, Jude Bellingham breaking through the middle to scoring a goal and winning a penalty, the superior quality shone through. Tactics can only mask certain things and, especially in open spaces, football is a series of individual battles that England’s best players usually won.

On the other hand, Italy defended very poorly, especially in the middle. Giorgio Scalvini and Alessandro Bastoni (who replaced Acerbi) are very gifted defenders who failed to perform that night.

4. Context matters

Managers always say they go out to win and play well and blah blah blah, but players can also read the rankings. It was a game that didn’t matter, meaning the pressure was off on both sides.

Had England lost, they would still have topped the group and been almost certain to qualify, given their last two games are against North Macedonia away and Malta at home. Italy should still have avoided defeat against Ukraine on November 20. (The only real advantage? Not needing to beat North Macedonia on November 17). A draw would also have had no impact on Italy’s prospects.

Logic suggests that you should be able to play better when the pressure is off because you can simply focus on the results. Maybe it works that way sometimes, but in reality, many teams play on adrenaline. Knowing that play has only limited importance will have a moderating effect.

5. That said, this is the right way to go…for both teams

We can debate endlessly whether Southgate is being too cautious, but in terms of results at major tournaments, this is as good as England have been in half a century. And he cultivated an image for the team that avoided many of the psychodramas of old England teams, even endearing them to the kind of supporter who always put his club first.

It’s not particularly sophisticated or modern – most big clubs play completely different football – and one wonders what happens when variability conspires against it: even on Tuesday, there is a parallel universe when Jordan Pickford doesn’t does not make this save, where Phillips is sent off for a second yellow, while the Italian defenders do not make all the Keystone Kops. But it works for him, and it works for England too.

As for Spalletti, one thing he shares with his predecessor, Roberto Mancini, is the belief in playing modern football. This means to press, possess and engage men forward. It’s what has delivered silverware to many of the world’s top clubs, from Manchester City to Bayern to Liverpool. This may go against the Azzurri stereotype, but that mold was broken years ago by Mancini.

The problem is you need the players to do it and as he himself pointed out, you expose yourself to risk on the counter-attack, as England exploited at Wembley. The latter, you hope, is something that can be corrected over time, although it will never go away.

As for having the right players, he can name the guys who weren’t available for him that night (Mattia Zaccagni, Ciro Immobile, Lorenzo Pellegrini and Federico Chiesa due to injury, Nicolo Zaniolo and Sandro Tonali because they were under investigation for illegal betting). ) and to a talented generation of young players arriving. Italy won the Under-19 Euro and reached the final of the Under-20 World Cup; it will get better.