Cole Palmer out in the cold? England player ratings from a drab 1-0 defeat to Japan | OneFootball

The good news is that we’ve collectively all moved on from using Sir Alex Ferguson’s disdainful tone when referring to Japan. Everyone now agrees – albeit in still quite patronising fashion even as they’re beating England – that Japan are Actually A Good Team.

There is much nodding and consensus that they could Surprise A Few People This Summer. Quite who those people are when everyone agrees they are Actually A Good Team is never made clear.

England were not a good team in a drab, joyless 1-0 Wembley defeat lacking in leadership, inspiration, penetration and concentration.

They conceded a bad goal and only very occasionally looked like getting one of their own.

Thomas Tuchel has done a lot right as England manager, but he’s also overseen the Three Lions’ first ever defeat to African opposition and now a first ever defeat to Asian opposition.

The result is disappointing, but not really the major problem from tonight and indeed this break in general. No, that’s the fact that the last international action before the summer arrives has passed without any of the remaining questions about England being answered convincingly, and some fresh questions emerging.

We like to joke that Harry Kane has scored zero proper goals for England, but for the XI who started this game it really isn’t that far off being true. At 32, he looks more important for England than ever. They’ve appeared entirely lost without him.

Really is hard to suggest with conviction that anyone involved over these two games has really strengthened their case. The best ratings will definitely be for this canny enough not to be playing. Here, though, are the ratings for those fools who did actually play.

JORDAN PICKFORD

Beaten for the first time in an England shirt since October 2024, but all the mistakes for Kaoru Mitoma’s goal happened in front of the Everton keeper who did what else was required of him with little fuss.

BEN WHITE

Dived in to one early tackle but a couple of good overlaps in the early stages where the timing of his runs stretched Japan’s defence in a first half where little else really did. A decent enough showing for a man now very much back in contention.

NICO O’REILLY

Some lovely triangles and squares being knocked together with your Mainoos and Fodens and the Cole Palmers of this world in the early exchanges. He is a lovely footballer to watch and is clearly the most progressive choice available at left-back. Beautiful cross that Foden couldn’t quite convert late in the first half a textbook example of his quality.

Yet early in the second half came the flipside, with Ritsu Doan getting beyond him all too easily before rather selfishly shooting at Pickford from a tight angle when a cutback would surely have made it 2-0. It wasn’t an isolated incident, and the joy for Japan down O’Reilly’s flank in the first 15 minutes of the second half before he made way for Lewis Hall will have given Tuchel pause.

On balance, in the years to come, when O’Reilly thinks back on memorable Wembley days from March 2026, this won’t be the first game in his thoughts.

MARC GUEHI

We’ve just about made peace with the idea that Guehi and Konsa is going to be the centre-back pairing that finally ends 60 years of hurt. They’re both absolutely fine but it just doesn’t quite stir the senses like previous England centre-backs have done.

EZRI KONSA

A sloppy early pass gave Japan an early chance and rather set the tone for England’s first-half performance all round. Broadly fine after that.

ELLIOT ANDERSON

The quiet, unfussy midfielder had a quiet, unfussy night in a game where beds were being conspicuously shat elsewhere. Absolutely nothing he – or anyone else – has done in this break offers a compelling challenge to the idea that he starts alongside Rice when The Serious Business begins this summer.

KOBBIE MAINOO

Too easily bypassed in the build-up to Japan’s opening goal when a tactical foul was surely the order of the day. Did make a clean tackle in a similar situation minutes later. If you’re going to make a mistake, then at least a) make it in a friendly and b) learn from it, we suppose.

MORGAN ROGERS

Pushed out to the right to accommodate the 10s (false nines? Nine-and-a-halves?) of Cole Palmer and Phil Foden and was something of a passenger during that disjointed first hour. More central in every way after the substitutions, and skied England’s clearest chance of the night late on. A certainty for the squad, contender for the starting XI, and very, very clearly much happier operating from a central rather than wide starting station.

COLE PALMER

Gave the ball away to  Mitoma and then, worse, failed to track back and follow the Brighton man’s forward run that ended with an unmarked finish into Pickford’s net. It probably isn’t ideal in a World Cup Audition to be at fault twice for the same goal.

Also slapped a free-kick from a decent position straight out for a goal-kick and, by the time he made way for Bowen just before the hour, it was possible to wonder if we’d just watched a very fine footballer play his way out of a World Cup squad.

ANTHONY GORDON

Had the beating of Ritsu Doan on England’s left and might think he should have done more with that as the evening wore on despite a couple of nice touches and flourishes. But the good news for Gordon is that he is probably not one of those for whom this break constituted an audition. He’s in, and none of this will matter either way in the end.

PHIL FODEN

Failed to get his head on a delicious back-post cross from O’Reilly. Fair to say Foden is not in the false nine to nod home from eight yards, but it is also kind of a big part of why actual nines exist. It’s very unfair to say ‘If that had been Kane…’ because ‘If that had been Kane’ also applies to all the other actual nines England have who are not Kane, but also… if that had been Kane. Or really even Solanke/Watkins/DCL.

Replaced on the hour by one of England’s non-Kane nines in Solanke, and it very much felt like the end of a failed experiment and very possibly the end of a World Cup road for Foden on a night when Tuchel had offered him an alternative way into the squad that the Man City man simply didn’t take.

SUBSTITUTES

LEWIS HALL (for O’Reilly, 59)

Impressive in both directions and his general air of busyness was a welcome change of pace on a soporific night. Not that the man he replaced was a conspicuous offender on that score, but Hall was livelier if less cultured.

TINO LIVRAMENTO (for White, 59)

Not as eye-catching going forward as White despite England being far more on the front foot in that closing half-hour as they fruitlessly chased an equaliser. Tidy enough, mind.

JARROD BOWEN (for Palmer, 59)

Got into a couple of decent positions. Didn’t really do an awful lot with them. This really has been a ropey interlull for those at the fringes. Really not sure we’ve had any truly compelling answers for any up-for-grabs spots.

DOMINIC SOLANKE (for Foden, 59)

Gave England a focal point at last but still did his best work creating for others with a neat backheel to create a half-chance and then a header back into the danger area from beyond the back post. That familiar refrain: didn’t really do enough with this opportunity.

The good news for Solanke and other Actual Strikers is that a definite takeaway from another disappointing night is that some kind of proper striker will have to be in the squad as back-up to Kane. But who that might be is no clearer than it was a week ago.

JAMES GARNER (for Mainoo, 71)

Tidy enough in what had by this point become a lacklustre attack v stoic defence training exercise.

MARCUS RASHFORD (for Gordon, 71)

Couple of nice moments but a distinct lack of inspiration as England huffed and puffed to no great effect in search of the equaliser.

DAN BURN (for Guehi, 83)

Thrown on for the last 10 minutes or so as England desperately tried to Arsenal their way to a shameful set-piece-based draw.

HARRY MAGUIRE (for Konsa, 83)

Thrown on for the last 10 minutes or so as England desperately tried to Arsenal their way to a shameful set-piece-based draw.