England 1-0 Switzerland: 5 Talking Points

The England national team won their encounter against Switzerland at the King's Power Stadium via a single goal through Marcus Rashford. the hosts could have further made good use of the opportunities in front of them, but a lack of decisiveness in front of the goal hurt them in that aspect. Switzerland were impressive in patches, but they did lack the presence of someone creative, who could have unlocked England's backline.

Here, are the five major talking points and some tactical analysis from the game:

#5 Introduction of Danny Welbeck and a new dynamic frontline

Welbeck was quite energetic on the field

To fairly put it, Danny Welbeck has never been an undisputed starter for both club and country. He is erratic in possession, looks out of sorts at times while finishing and his impact is significantly reduced by top-quality defenders.

However, though Welbeck relatively lacks the finesse and quality of other players from the squad, he somewhat brings his own unique set of skills that should be appreciated too.

His ability to press the opponent and squeeze them for space means that he is a utility member of the squad who could be called up against certain opponents who require a different set of treatment.

Tactical versatility has never been England’s strength, as they have historically struggled whenever they are tipped to face teams who force them to deter from their original plan.

Harry Kane is one of the deadliest strikers in European football currently, but he does lack the dynamism and ability to run at defenders, something that Welbeck can do.

The former Manchester United player was trying to press the Swiss players right from the beginning, and we witnessed an English side that was willing to press the opponent whenever the Swiss tried to maintain the possession.

Welbeck initiated the press and hence credit’s there where it’s due.

#4 Switzerland play smart but fail to take advantage from England’s defensive mistakes

Switzerland reacted well to England’s change in approach, as they were ready to slower the tempo of the game and later try to alter it according to their benefits.

When they were robbed off the possession of England’s forward and midfield line, Switzerland decided to peg back and check the home side’s resilience to break their defensive structure.

They conceded the possession, looked to lob an occasional ball ahead but majorly tried to thwart England’s supply line from in and around the box. However, when they surged ahead, the visitors should have been more clinical when they were presented chances due to the English defence’s naivety at times.

Gareth Southgate made nine changes to the team that played against Spain and hence even custodian Jack Butland was provided a start.

The Stoke City goalkeeper looked awfully out of concentration as he provided the opposition with two strong chances, which Switzerland could not take maximum advantage of. His pass to James Tarkowski was somewhat ill-timed, and though the defender should have sorted himself too, both him and Butland are to blame for this mess up.

Similarly, except Harry Maguire and Kyle Walker to some extent, Tarkowski along with Butland nearly allowed Switzerland to take advantage of a couple of lapses in the first half.

#3 Kieran Trippier’s importance in this English setup is immense

Rashford and TAA took free kicks from promising positions

One of the major causes for England’s run to the semis of the recently concluded FIFA World Cup was their tendency to strike the opposition hard through set pieces.

They surely lacked a creative midfielder, but with some smart positioning and properly exquisite delivery, Southgate’s men managed to score goals regularly.

However, the primary reason for such brilliant delivery from set-pieces was the presence of Ashley Young and Kieran Trippier, both of whom are very detrimental from dead-ball scenarios. There was a part of the game where England won regular fouls all around the 18-year-box.

However, both Marcus Rashford and Trent Alexander Arnold were unable to score through these free-kicks and ended up wasting vital opportunities. Unless Southgate finds an appropriate creative presence, the team would look to capitalize the most on the chances created through set-pieces.

Trippier has shown immense technique and composure to regularly create chances from lateral or free kicks from in front of the box too.

Though Rashford and Alexander Arnold are talented dead-ball specialists themselves, Kieran Trippier needs to ensure that he regularly plays and opens up more opportunities for his teammates to notch goals through such instances.

Gradually, Rashford and Alexander Arnold would have to upgrade their set-piece delivery for the betterment of the team.

#2 Xherdan Shaqiri’s neutralized influence

In a compactly structured Swiss defensive and midfield lines, Xherdan Shaqiri was provided with the freedom to undertake the free role between the lines. He was essentially expected to be the creator-in-chief, whilst looking around for spaces and then exploiting the English defenders with his guile and trickery.

However, once the Englishmen figured out their opponent's major threats, England ensured that Shaqiri hardly had space and time to pick out the perceived passes.

He was closely followed by the likes of Fabian Delph, Ruben Loftus-Cheek an

d even Harry Maguire, as everyone looked to squeeze him out of space and thus make England’s biggest threat sort of irrelevant.

When Shaqiri dropped down in deeper areas in order to look to build the play with some quick one-twos before he charged up ahead, he was troubled by England’s tenacious and diligent midfielders.

As the Liverpool player looked to dribble past his opponents near the box, his shot was well-perceived and blocked initially and this his performances failed to have any notable impact upon the eventual outcome of the game. He took three shots, but none of them were on target.

Furthermore, he provided no key pass at all and was rather left listless throughout his stay on the pitch.

#1 Marcus Rashford needs to play more:

Ever since his sparkling debut for Manchester United in February 2016, Rashford has become a fan-favourite for both club and country. However, he had undergone frustrating times from both sides, as Rashford spent most of the time on the bench as opposed to playing on the field.

At United, he has been often regressed to substitute appearances, and hence we have seen that there has been no major improvement in his overall gameplay. However, in this set of friendly fixtures, Rashford took a big advantage of Raheem Sterling’s injury and delivered a telling speech at the ISB.

In the first match, he ran behind the defence to score through Luke Shaw’s delivery from the left flank, whereas, against Switzerland, he pounced upon Kyle Walker’s cross from the right wing.

The 20-year-old was sent off in United’s last match against Phil Bardsley, as the lad head-butted Bardsley and thus is banned for three consecutive games.

This has somewhat triggered the fire inside him as Rashford has displayed that would be keen to increase his overall sharpness in both the matches.

Though he missed a fair bit of chances, Rashford has shown that he would readily step up the platter and deliver good performances with the expected level of consistency to ensure that United instil more stability in their campaign.

Whereas for England, he has certainly acted upon and scored more goals from the presented chances than usual starter Raheem Sterling. Two goals from two matches could mean really exciting times for the young Mancunian going ahead in this campaign.

Edited by Kishan Prasad