England go from woeful to something far worse | OneFootball

After the misery of Andorra 0 England 1, Thomas Tuchel changed everything(*) for England 1 Senegal 3.

Ten changes to the starting eleven but in reality, all that changed, was things got so much worse in so many ways compared to that depressing single goal in that World Cup group qualifier.

Thomas Tuchel changed ‘everything'(*) in his startling line up, apart from of course, Harry Kane.

After Senegal dominated at the start, England then hit them on the break and when Mendy couldn’t hold Anthony Gordon’s shot, Kane was there for the tap in and the Three Lions were ahead.

If anybody thought that this would lead to a reassuringly dominant England performance to silence the doubters, think again.

Senegal bounced back and were still the better and more dangerous looking team, no surprise when they equalised five minutes before the break.

Kyle Walker was rubbish last night at the City Ground and his lazy unprofessional defending gifted Sarr the goal, as the England defender failed to do even the basics of tracking his man.

Anthony Gordon saw little of the ball but had come close to adding England’s second, his effort going just past the post when a combination of a despairing lunge from the defender doing just enough as the Newcastle player connected with his heel rather than a decent connection and a goal.

When it comes to England in general, when did they introduce the rule that Harry Kane has to start every single match? Surely a friendly such as this is an occasion when you try someone/something else?

Having a centre-forward who can’t/won’t even run around is just ridiculous. No doubt lazy people will point to the tap ins he scored against both Andorra and Senegal and claim he is doing his job as a striker. However, this kind of attitude and short-sightedness leads us to where we are, England with zero chance at the World Cup (if they get there…) as they continue to do the same thing with the same results, winning against generally poor opposition no matter how pedestrian England are in games, until they meet somebody decent.

Southgate and England totally fluked it to the final of the last Euros when they were so dismal, Senegal are no mugs but they aren’t brilliant, they only managed a draw against the Republic of Ireland the other day.

Anyway, the second and killer Senegal goal actually came just after Harry Kane had been subbed! The England captain, Anthony Gordon and Conor Gallagher all replaced just before the hour mark, with Rogers, Gibbs-White and Jones coming on.

This goal was a bad as the equaliser, as the over-hyped Lewis-Skelly caught hopelessly out of position as a hopeful long ball somehow saw Diarra allowed to run onto it under zero pressure from just inside the England half and then beat Henderson to give Senegal a deserved lead.

It was no more than they deserved and then when in added time England couldn’t even manage to put a free-kick into the penalty area, Senegal broke again and when Jones was caught in possession, England outnumbered at the back and Sabaly made it 3-1.

It used to be Spurs that were the club team where even if you only played occasionally for them, if you were English you got in the national squad. That club now appears to be Chelsea. So many of their players are so overrated and Colwill and Chalobah in the centre of defence sum that up.

Dan Burn must have been an interested spectator on the bench as England were so poor at the back. I know this was a friendly and that the Andorra match was a World Cup group qualifier but I think Thomas Tuchel got it totally wrong with the Newcastle United defender. Against Andorra you were never going to need any defenders and with the England crossing so woeful at set-pieces, Burn’s threat was non-existent on those. So it would have been helpful if the Newcastle defender had played against Senegal in a match where some defending needed to be done and all the back four found lacking.

As I said earlier, England have no chance of doing anything if they keep the immovable Harry Kane up front. The likes of Kyle Walker and Jordan Henderson are selections that should have stayed in the past, players such as Jones and Gallagher will never be good enough, whilst Thomas Tuchel needs to rethink his obsession with players from his former club Chelsea.

In September, England have two World Cup group qualifiers and after hopefully struggling through to a win against Andorra again, the Three Lions then play Serbia away. Southgate’s England were very lucky to win against Serbia in the last Euros and if Mitro (scored a hat-trick last night against Andorra) and his teammates beat England, then Tuchel’s team will be really up against it to even qualify for next year’s World Cup finals. Only the winners of each European qualifying group automatically qualify and if finishing second in the group, England would have to survive a play-off process to get there.

Not a penny of my money would go on them doing so, based on what we are seeing at the moment.

Final score: England 1 Senegal 3

England team v Senegal:

Henderson, Walker, Chalobah, Colwill, Lewis-Skelly (Toney 88), Rice (Bellingham 71), Gallagher (Jones 59), Saka (Madueke 71), Eze, Gordon (Gibbs-White 59), Kane (Rogers 59)

Subs:

Pickford, James, Konsa, Henderson, Burn, Alexander-Arnold, Palmer, Trafford

This is the June 2025 international schedule for Newcastle United players:

Thursday 5 June

Ecuador 0 Brazil 0

Bruno Guimaraes was one of Brazil’s better players in this dour World Cup group qualifier, Ancelotti’s first game in charge. In the Goal ratings only Marquinhos (8/10) getting a higher rating than Bruno Guimaraes (7/10). A match of minimal chances at either end and when Vinicius Junior set up the best opportunity of the game for Casemiro, it was a feeble effort from the Man U player. A win would have seen Brazil pretty much sure of qualifying but a point means a little more work to do to make sure.

Friday 6 June

Norway 3 Italy 0

Sandro Tonali and his teammates had a night to forget in this World Cup group qualifier. Three goals down by the break, the home side cruised to this big victory. Only the group winners automatically qualify and Italy already under pressure, as Norway have nine points from the first three of the eight group games they each have to play.

Saturday 7 June

Andorra 0 England 1

A woeful match as England struggled to a 1-0 win in this World Cup group qualifier against woeful opposition, Harty Kane scoring from a few yards out. Dan Burn played the whole game and had minimal defending to do, Andorra with no shots on target and not a single corner, the Newcastle defender with the most passes of any player on the pitch and when giving it to midfielders and attacking players, very rarely they were willing to take any attacking responsibility and just gave the ball back to Burn, sideways and backwards. Anthony Gordon came on in the 81st minute and looked sharp, willing to run at the opposition.

Greece 4 Slovakia 1

A tale of two Newcastle United goalkeepers and neither of them happy after this match. Martin Dubravka playing the full match and conceding four goals despite the Greek players only having three efforts on target, all three of those ending in goals plus an own goal in added time. Whilst Odysseas Vlachodimos watched this friendly from the bench. He had been the established number one for Greece when arriving at Newcastle United last summer but has paid the price for not playing any first team football at club level, no longer number one for his national side.

Monday 9 June

Italy 2 Moldova 0

A much needed victory for Sandro Tonali and his international teammates in this World Cup group qualifier. A goal either side of half-time proving enough in a very open match. The Newcastle midfielder played the full match and was one of Italy’s best performers, Raspadori pipping him for the man of the match accolade.

Tuesday 10 June

England 1 Senegal 3

A shot from Anthony Gordon was parried by the keeper and Kane scored with the rebound after only seven minutes. However, Senegal had started the better team and were far more dangerous throughout the game. The visitors deservedly equalising thanks to terrible defending by Walker, then Lewis-Skelly badly out of position on the second, the whole defence opening up for the third in added time. Dan Burn watching on from the bench as this defensive shambles unfolded. Though the truth is the problems for England start from the very top of the pitch, as Harry Kane won’t/can’t even run around, the whole team then unbalanced and in truth, so many over-hyped players who simply aren’t good enough.