England deliver the excitement fans have been demanding as they thrash Serbia 5-0 | OneFootball

Noni Madueke, Ezri Konsa and Marc Guehi scored their first England goals to help Thomas Tuchel’s side to a 5-0 win over Serbia.

The Three Lions made it five wins from five in their World Cup qualifying campaign, seeing off Serbia with ease in what was anticipated to be a tough encounter.

Harry Kane opened the scoring with a trademark headed finish from Declan Rice’s corner.

Then came Madueke’s moment. The Arsenal man was England’s standout player in the 2-0 win over Andorra, in what was ultimately an underwhelming display from Tuchel’s team, and continued to prove his doubters wrong against Serbia.

The winger burst through on goal after Morgan Rogers had intelligently nudged Elliott Anderson’s pass beyond the back-line, with Madueke showing outstanding acceleration before dinking the ball over Djordje Petrovic in the Serbia goal.

Madueke has certainly had his fair share of doubters, but while it is still early days in the season, he is so far proving them wrong. He looked Arsenal’s most dangerous player in the defeat to Liverpool and has continued that run of form into these latest international fixtures.

He was criticised at former club Chelsea for a lack of consistency and going backwards too often, but his move to north London looks to have breathed a new lease of life into his game, helping both club and country to better deal with the absence of Bukayo Saka through injury.

The main criticism of Tuchel’s England has been a lack of goals and excitement against teams they have been expected to beat heavily. While they had got the job done with ease heading into this clash, they had not done it with much style.

But this was exactly what Three Lions supporters had been demanding. Ezri Konsa added a third, tapping in from close range, before his central defensive partner Marc Guehi turned in a free-kick from close range to make it four.

A somewhat harsh red card for Nikola Milenkovic for bringing down Kane when he was deemed to be the last man further opened things up for England, and Marcus Rashford added a fifth from the penalty spot after Ollie Watkins had been fouled in the box.

England deserved their five goals and could really have had more. They were much more positive than in previous games, playing the ball forward and over the top of the defence far more often, and getting the ball into the box on more occasions.

It is the nature of managing a big nation that even when you win, it is sometimes not deemed enough, but this result and performance should not go unrecognised. Serbia were poor on the night, but had not conceded a goal in their first three qualifying games, and the fact England won with style against a decent opponent is a timely boost for Tuchel and his side.