England 2-0 Malta (17 Nov, 2023) Game Analysis

England coach Gareth Southgate said his side were not at the “level we want to be at” after a labored 2-0 home win over Group C heavyweights Malta on Friday all but secured top spot of Euro 2024.

Until the 75th minute, all that separated Southgate’s lackluster side from 171st-ranked Malta was an Enrico Pepe own goal and they had a few anxious moments in between.

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Captain Harry Kane eventually doubled England’s lead with his 62nd goal for his country after good work from Bukayo Saka before Declan Rice saw an effort ruled out for offside.

There was little to get excited about, however, as several England fringe players lost the opportunity to make a statement of intent to Southgate.

I’ve been in football for three years and I know that if you don’t start a game well, it’s really difficult to come out of it,” Southgate told a press conference. “We needed to show better quality with the ball, but we were also a little tense without it and sometimes a little disjointed in our pressing.

“We know it’s not the level we want to be at, nor the level we need to be at. But this group of players have been exceptional as well and I’m not about to get into their ribbing too much for a performance like tonight.”

England had already qualified for next year’s finals in Germany and their victory against Malta ensured they won Group C. They only need a point against North Macedonia on Monday to be sure to be one of five teams to join the hosts in Pot 1. although their superior goal difference means that is now almost assured.

They have 19 points from seven games with Italy, who beat North Macedonia, and Ukraine on 13.

“I think sometimes when players play so many matches they almost self-regulate,” Southgate said. You know there’s a certain level you have to reach to beat Italy, and you know you don’t need to reach that level to win today’s match.

“Even though you would think that everyone would be at the same level all the time, that is not the reality of football. I have played these matches myself and subconsciously you do just enough to win. I think that’s kind of where we were tonight.”

Southgate will rightly say the hard work had already been done with impressive home and away wins against European champions Italy allowing his side to top the group.

He could also point out that Jude Bellingham is unavailable for their final qualifying matches due to injury.

But there is no denying that his players should have found it much easier to hold off a plucky Malta side who had no points and just two goals in the group.

With several of their first-choice players on the bench, England were lukewarm in a first half in which Malta had more attempts at goal, looked more energetic and could consider themselves rather unfortunate to be behind.

From the start the hosts were sloppy and a loose pass from Conor Gallagher gave Maltese Teddy Teuma a chance in the first minute which he shot wide.

England took the lead in the eighth minute thanks to a slice of fortune as Phil Foden’s cutback shot past the covering Pepe and into the net despite a valiant effort from Maltese goalkeeper Henry Bonello to prevent him from enter.

Harry Maguire’s terrible pass shortly after gave Malta another chance, but Paul Mbong fired home.

Kane was then booked for diving despite contact from Bonello after pushing the ball past the keeper – with referee Luis Godinho ruling that Kane had deliberately dragged his leg to buy a penalty.

Bonello was not bothered again by a pedestrian England before half-time as the home crowd began to entertain themselves by flying paper planes onto the Wembley turf.

Gallagher and Fikayo Tomori were both replaced at half-time by the arrivals of Bukayo Saka and Kyle Walker, but things hardly improved with Marcus Rashford’s collision with teammate Trent Alexander-Arnold summing up a display disjointed.

The biggest cheer of the match greeted the arrival of Chelsea youngster Cole Palmer on the bench for his first cap, replacing Rashford, with Rice replacing the ineffective Jordan Henderson.

Kane secured victory with a simple finish, but it was a desperately flat performance from England who will learn a lot more about themselves with friendlies against Belgium and Brazil next year in the build-up to the final .

“We wouldn’t get through this in March and the players would just have a different level of motivation,” Southgate added.

Connor O’Halloran of ESPN and Reuters contributed to this report.