Kane unable

Serbia 0 - 1 England

So England delivered (the tedium and fan violence that the competition had been so sorely missing until this point)

After a promising start and clattering header from Bellingham, England slowly but surely retreated into their Southgate-clad shell, eventually scraping the win. Pundits busily drawing comparisons with the great teams that build their way into tournaments. This could theoretically happen of course, we have the players to make it so, but the power of one man to make substitutions could severely affect that likelihood.

In a game where both Kane and Foden needed urgently hooking, and where pace and directness up front were yielding results, our great zippered leader chose instead to hook Saka and Bellingham (our only two threats) and augment midfield-dwelling Kane with multiple other midfielders.

A tough watch. I could do another paragraph about playing a fading right back as a left back (a fortnight after having 26 choices available) but I just can't.