Holland 0 England 1: Jesse Lingard bags first England goal to lift Southgate's young side
The Three Lions dominated against an extremely average Dutch team. But until the Manchester United star struck in the 59th minute, Gareth Southgate’s side struggled to capitalise on all their possession and Holland’s obvious shocking lack of confidence.
Having failed to quality for the World Cup - they also missed out on Euro 2016 - Ronald Koeman’s team looked an appallingly poor imitation of the previous sides who had brought such pride to the orange shirt.
Before Lingard struck Engand were just doing a passing imitation of a good side. Possession was plentiful for the Three Lions against a country once renowned for a brilliant ability to hold onto the ball.
But frustratingly when it came to the crunch, Southgate’s men were found wanting as they began their build-up to their opening World Cup game, against Tunisia in 87 days. When the good passes did come, they were in none-dangerous areas.
And when opportunities arose to create a chance the final ball was found wanting. The Dutch game has sunk even lower than England’s with the orange shirts not going to Russia.
So this, in theory, was an opportunity for England was gain some momentum prior to their trip East.
Southgate sprung a surprise with his selection, playing Kyle Walker as one of his three centre backs and leaving out Eric Dier and Dele Alli, surely certain starters at the World Cup.
It was almost certainly with one eye on the friendly against Italy at Wembley on Tuesday. There were two excellent crossfield balls from skipper Jordan Henderson to Danny Rose in the first four minutes.
Then Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain had a firm drive on target after a neat exchange with Raheem Sterling. There was a blow though when Joe Gomez had to come off in the ninth minute through injury with Harry Maguire replacing him.
Jordan Pickford’s first test was to get down low to gather a long-range shot from defender Matthijs de Ligt, which he did with little fuss.
Henderson sent a skimming header, from a Kieran Trippier free-kick just wide of the far post in the 32nd minute.
Holland’s big targetman Bas Dost couldn’t leap high enough when he was left unmarked to get a proper headed contact from a Memphis Depay corner seven minutes later.
Depay ought to have done better just before the break after Maguire gifted possession to Quincy Promes.
Promes picked out the ex-Manchester United player in a huge amount of space, but he could only manage a tame shot at Pickford. England’s failure to find that killer ball was illustrated again in the 50th minute.
Sterling picked out Rose perfectly on the overlaps but his clipped ball into the box was behind Rashford, who had found a decent position to have a chance of scoring. There were groans galore from the travelling support.
Next it was boos, when both keeper Jeroen Zoet and defender De Ligt looked to bring down the darting-in Rashford in the box and ref Jesus Gil Manzano refused a penalty. But at last England did make something count.
Oxlade-Chamberlain drove at the Dutch defence and found Lingard, who again picked out a Rose overlap.
Although the Tottenham player did find an orange shirt, it struck Stefan de Vrij’s heel and and went straight to Lingard who drove a right-foot cross from the edge of the area, which Zoet, diving to his right, could only push into the corner.
Jordan Pickford 6 – Underworked for long spells but alert when he had to be. Not afraid to dish out instructions.
Super cool with ball at his feet. Kyle Walker 6 – A surprise choice on the right of the three centre backs, still got forward when he could.
Good delivery from set pieces. John Stones 7 – Looks so at home at the heart of Southgate’s back three.
Dictated the tempo and made sure England played out from the back. Joe Gomez 4 – Twisted his ankle and had to come off.
A disappointing early end to his night for a player clearly in the shake-up for the final squad. Kieran Trippier 4 – Too passive and his crossing let him down at times.
Also the weak link positionally in an otherwise well-drilled defence. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain 6 – Always probing, trying to find an opening and was part of the move which brought the opening goal.
Jordan Henderson 7 – Quick to switch play and always the first option for his defenders. Went close with a first-half header.
Danny Rose 7 – Clattered early on but soon back in action. Looked sharp despite recent lack of game time for Tottenham. His cross made Lingard’s goal. Raheem Sterling 6 – His pace and movement caused their usual problems.
Involved in the opening goal. Jesse Lingard 7 – Opened the scoring after a sloppy start. Full of running all game and took his chance so well.
Marcus Rashford 5 – Wanted a second-half penalty but didn’t get one. Full of running but rarely threatened the Dutch keeper.
Subs: Harry Maguire (for Gomez, 10) 6 – Came striding out of defence when the time was right. Jamie Vardy (for Rashford, 68) 6 – Always looking to make a run.
Danny Welbeck (for Sterling 68) 6 – A rare chance at centre forward. Dele Alli (for Lingard 68) 6 – Played a deeper role than he’s used to. Ashley Young (for Rose 71).
Dier, Hart, Mawson, Tarkowski, Livermore, Young, L Cook, Butland, Pope, Lallana. Holland (3-4-3): Zoet 5; De Ligt 6, De Vrij 5, Van Dijk 6; Hateboer 5, Wijnaldum 5, Strootman 5, Van Aanholt 5; Promes 5 (Propper 66, 6), Dost 5 (Babel 66, 6), Memphis 6.
Subs: Til, Cilessen, Ake, van de Beek, de Roon, Berghuis, Weghorst, Vilhena, Fosu-Mensah, Kluivert Referee: Jesus Gil Manzano (ESP). .