FOR the last couple of months there had been suggestions circulating that England might be better off without Jude Bellingham.
Thomas Tuchel’s side had secured World Cup qualification without their Real Madrid Galactico – and with Morgan Rogers shining as the No 10.
The theory didn’t sound too outlandish. Tuchel had floated the idea that Bellingham could intimidate his own team-mates.
Yet any idea that England might be better without their best player gets thrown out of the window as soon as you actually watch Bellingham play.
Tuchel had made the ballsy call to stick with Rogers in his starting line-up but the Aston Villa man achieved little for 65 minutes before his boyhood friend and fellow West Midlander arrived to replace him.
Within a few minutes, Bellingham was turning defenders inside out, drifting past midfielders as if they weren’t there and generally looking a cut above anyone else in the England squad.
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Chris Eubank Jr. vs Conor Benn 2: Betting preview, predictions and latest odds
Then Bellingham fed Phil Foden with a classy pass before the Manchester City man assisted Eberechi Eze for a quality late second goal – after the same trio had combined for the Arsenal man to strike the crossbar just minutes earlier.
Bellingham operated behind Foden, who’d taken a ‘false nine’ role in place of Harry Kane, during his cameo.
It was a worthwhile and successful experiment – and perhaps a viable Plan B for the World Cup in the eventuality of England’s captain and all-time record scorer suffering an injury.
Bukayo Saka’s excellent first-half volley had sent England on their way to maintaining 100 per cent record. They have seven wins and seven clean sheets with just Sunday’s visit to Albania to come and they are yet to concede a goal.
Chris Eubank Jr vs Conor Benn 2 – all the info
TIME for round two of this generation’s family feud!
Chris Eubank Jr and Conor Benn go punch-for-punch once again as both rivals look to make their fathers proud.
The blockbuster rematch takes place at the 62,000-seater Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday, November 15.
Eubank Jr narrowly outpointed his bitter foe after 12 brutal rounds in April to secure the bragging rights in what was certainly a Fight of the Year contender.
And the two British superstars will dance once more as Eubank Jr aims to do the double while Benn seeks revenge after suffering a first career loss.
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As with most of this campaign, the opposition was so limited that it was difficult to make too many conclusions as regards next summer’s tournament – but Tuchel will have been satisfied by another decent night’s work .
Rogers had been the star of the show in England’s 5-0 thumping of the Serbs in September – the night when Tuchel’s reign ignited after a slow start.
There was a debut for Nico O’Reilly – who could turn out to be the long-term answer to England’s left-back problem despite having only recently been converted from midfield by Pep Guardiola.
With the match a dead rubber for the Three Lions, Wembley wasn’t full – and there were only a few dozen Serbians in the away end as the nation’s FA refused to distribute tickets, having paid so many Uefa fines for racism and hooliganism.
And in the piddling rain, it started off as a touch watch, paper planes descending from the stands inside the first 25 minutes.
Tuchel has stated that it was up to his players to break the ice and eventually they did manage to get his rather low-key party off the ground.
Elliot Anderson, England’s revelation of the autumn, was bossing the midfield, robust in the tackle and visionary in his passing.
Saka fired high and wide after a cute switch of play from Harry Kane and Rashford was narrowly off-target after a neat pass from Declan Rice.
And on 28 minutes, the breakthrough arrived – a Rice free-kick was punched away by Predrag Rajkovic, O’Reilly’s shot was blocked and the ball looped up for Saka to net with a sweet cushioned volley.
Rashford was in the thick of it, nutmegging his full-back, then charging clear of the Serb defence only to misplace a pass for an unmarked Rice.
O’Reilly, also industrious down the left, had a shot deflected onto the post before Kane and Rogers both sent headers narrowly wide.
But there felt like an urgency to get this match over and done with. The stadium PA announcer even announced the half-time score 15 seconds before the whistle having been hoodwinked by a phantom peeping from the crowd.
The first half had been every bit as one-sided as that pasting in Belgrade – although Rogers, the man under the microscope, had been largely anonymous.
Early in the second half, the England band were playing their not-very-good Phil Foden song from the Euros – and the Manchester City man was getting stripped off for action along with Bellingham.
Suddenly, though, Serbia almost levelled. Dusan Vlahovic won an aerial duel against John Stones, releasing Filip Kostic who dashed down the left and squared back for Vlahovic to back-heel his effort narrowly wide.
Tuchel then made his quadruple substitution, also introducing Eberechi Eze in place of Rashford and Jordan Henderson for Rice.
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Bellingham was soon turning his man and feeding Foden. In fact he produced more world-class touches in the space of five minutes than the rest of the team had managed between them.
Then came those two link-ups with Foden and Eze – and the certainty that England will always be better off with Bellingham in the team.
England ratings vs Serbia
ENGLAND maintained their 100 per cent qualifying record with the 2-0 win against Serbia at Wembley.
Jude Bellingham returned to the squad but had to make do with an impressive cameo from the bench.
But with just a few games left until the World Cup, who edged closer to a place in Thomas Tuchel’s final squad – and who still has work to do?
Find out here how SunSport’s Dan King rated every England player right here.
Read the full article here
