For all the minor chords around this current run of close-season internationals, the feeling of something drained and dry at the end of a grueling year, there was a light, playful quality to this 1-1 draw in Munich.
This was a light-hearted game that meant nothing, ending well, but still spouting its own subplots in the form of Harry and Jack, two England players who are currently auditioning for their own parts in England’s plan of attack.
Germany in Munich is always going to be a fist-pumping alpha dog game, and the Allianz Arena was a lovely sight at kick-off, an eggshell sky peeking through the oval space portal on the roof of this huge donut abandoned alien on the outskirts of Munich. These breaks from England can also work as a tonic, something restorative. For Harry Maguire in particular, this camp in England has been portrayed by some as a kind of retreat, a reunion camp. The noises will fade. The lights will guide you home. And I, Gareth, will try to fix you.
It was a great night in other ways for Jack Grealish, another player in need of some love, who came on in the final 20 minutes with England trailing and changed the game enough. And they were poor here on patches, seeming at times like a team that has gotten a bit stagnant.
Gareth Southgate opted for a back four here, the classic 4-2-3-1 from the early 2000s that he has somewhat overlooked as he plays with the details of his defensive formations. He seemed to exhaust some of England’s ease in possession, not helped by the speed and fury of Germany’s early pressing. The back five played 30 long passes in the first half. He didn’t feel like the future.
England were down 1-0, and deservedly so, when Grealish came in to play wide to the left and instantly lifted their spirits. It’s easy to forget this side of him as he gives himself over to the Pep version of him, learning to become a systems player, missing Jack’s edges, Jack’s corners, chasing so diligently, like a Labrador trying to be good.
It’s easy to forget the playful, expressive presence it has, with a sense of something locked in there, some attack power we haven’t yet seen to its full extent. Maybe I can still find it. And Grealish played like a duke here, all verve, running with his head held high and producing his best 20 minutes for England, even more so when he arrived just when his manager really needed him. It was Grealish who helped make England level. Harry Kane reached out to receive the pass from him, but he wasn’t going to receive the ball. Cleverly, he allowed Nico Schlotterbeck to foul him. And Kane was always going to score the penalty kick.
At the other end of the field there was another kind of reckoning. This was a difficult game for Maguire, at a time when he is essentially playing for his place in this team, playing a version of how England have established themselves for the last five years.
Maguire did good things. He is a good close defender. He blocks shots and intercepts crosses. He won more headers than anyone else on the field. But sometimes he just got lost. After 22 minutes something terrible happened. Isolated against Kai Havertz under a long straight ball, he tried to wrestle and catch instead of turn and run, and he just fell, fouling himself, fouling Havertz, stopped playing anything that looked like football.
There was also a slip for Hofmann’s goal. It feels hard to criticize mistakes that have been forced by clever movement, and this is what happened here, when Havertz pulled Maguire out of the center of defence, following the Chelsea man as he fell deep. It was a classic one-two. Hofmann dropped into the space Maguire had just vacated and waited, locked, loaded, and ready to go. Havertz passed the ball to Joshua Kimmich, who made the perfect snap pass. And suddenly there it was, the free white jersey in front of the goal, Maguire, whose space was, really, spinning like a fully loaded coal schooner battling an estuary tide.
And Maguire will continue to be a problem, or at least a structural problem. Southgate’s loyalty is based on the fact that he has played well in the past. But his lack of speed means the back three become England’s safe space, it means the defensive line is deep and not too high, which opens up England’s midfield to the kind of skilful, intelligent movement that Germany showed on occasions here.
A draw was felt right at the end. Ilkay Gündogan had commanded midfield throughout the match, a footballer so cerebral you almost expect to look down and notice he’s playing in a lab coat. But there were clues here, nudges for Southgate. England have looked a little too mature at times recently. That Grealish cameo was, if nothing else, a reminder of their best selves.
Reference-www.theguardian.com