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Either way England were probably going to make history. Win and they had defeated Italy away for the first time since 1961. Lose and they suffered the embarrassment of relegation for the first time ever; for the first time since they first played an international 150 years ago.
And so it was embarrassment and angst and soul-searching and inquisition as they slid to a desperately poor, damningly poor performance just as they needed to restore confidence and belief in what is their penultimate match before the World Cup. They have only Germany left to play at Wembley on Monday before heading to Qatar.
For Gareth Southgate there is now real and certainly justified scrutiny. The spotlight will shine fiercely on the England manager and rightly so. He had talked about the need to right the wrongs of four competitive games without a win in the Nations League and instead extended that sequence to five. Just at exactly the wrong time it is looking like a trend. It is no blip and it was a tough, tough watch.
At the final whistle he walked head bowed and deep in thought to shake hands with Italy coach Roberto Mancini who, after the final of Euro 2020, had again bested him. England deservedly drop to Group B, the second tier of this newish competition, no longer regarded as one of the top nations, and did not even get a goal. Yet again.
It is now 450 minutes since they scored in open play – the longest spell in 22 years – and they could not find a way through against Italy’s three centre-halves (aged 35, 34 and 31 respectively). Alarmingly they just do not even look like scoring. There is such a creative deficit.
To put that in context England are one of only two countries yet to score a non-penalty goal in the Nations League. The other is that footballing giant San Marino. Having set standards, having broken down barriers and reached milestones Southgate is starting to stack up some grim statistics. Such as also being the only England manager relegated while in charge of a club – Middlesbrough in 2008-09 – and now a country.
What could go wrong did go wrong. From back to front it was poor, unconvincing, disjointed, dysfunctional. Nick Pope pulled off a couple of saves but look chronically nervous; the back-three was unpicked and abandoned after Italy’s goal. The midfield did not function despite the efforts of Jude Bellingham; Bukayo Saka was an uncomfortable and unsure wing-back; up front Phil Foden started brightly before fading while Harry Kane and Raheem Sterling failed to combine and just struggled.
On half-time Pope hoofed a goal-kick high up-field, Kane flicked it on and the ball ran straight through to Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma. Is that what England were reduced to? Long-ball? It was regressive and damaging and Southgate also spoke about being ruthless but did not show that edge. He knows the demands will grow that, maybe, his time as England manager is drawing to a close and that he is losing a battle to fight against the allegation that he is too cautious and conservative.
And this against an Italy side who failed to qualify for the World Cup, for a second successive cycle, a team missing key players, one that could only half fill this iconic stadium and yet they completely outplayed England. They twice struck the goal-frame, they had other chances and had a shape and purpose that their opponents glaringly lacked.
The only crumb of comfort? Having gone into the last World Cup in 2018 in which they reached the semi-finals with low expectations England have certainly, and clearly inadvertently, done so again. Maybe they can use it as fuel to fire them? They need to get angrier.
Italy looked it. They ripped into England in the opening minutes with Gianluca Scamacca, the imposing West Ham striker, easily evading Harry Maguire to reach a cross from the excellent wing-back Federico Dimarco with his header just about turned behind by Pope as the ball hit the post.
That was far from good by Maguire, retained by Southgate and in need of repaying that faith with a performance far more sure-footed than the way he had started. And continued.
England offered little. The first-half? Forget it. The second-half? Marginally better before Italy scored and Southgate made changes and the impetus came as much from panic as anything tactical.
The goal summed up England’s malaise. It summed up their sloppiness and disorganisation with the lively Giacomo Raspadori bringing down a long, flighted pass from Leonardo Bonucci and with Kyle Walker hesitant and standing off he shifted the ball onto his right-foot and quickly struck a powerful shot across Pope and into the net.
On came Jack Grealish and Luke Shaw – and it certainly looked like the substitutions were too late – with a switch of formation. The closest England came was when Donnarumma smartly beat out two crisp drives from Kane in rapid succession. But, in truth, that was it.
Instead it was Italy who should have scored more. Firstly when substitute and former Southampton forward Manolo Gabbiadini ran clear only to be denied by Pope and then when Dimarco’s low cross cum shot struck the post.
And that was it. England were ragged, drowning and, for the second game in a row, booed off. They have to rescue this situation while Southgate’s protestations that the display was a step in the right direction just sounded like denial.
Match details
Italy Donnarumma, Di Lorenzo, Bonucci, Acerbi, Toloi, Cristante, Jorginho (Emerson, 89), Dimarco (Frattesi, 89), Raspadori (Gabbiadini, 81), Scamacca (Gnonto, 63), Barella (Pobega, 63).
Subs Meret, Vicario, Luiz Felipe,Zerbin, Grifo, Esposito, Bastoni. Booked Bonucci, Di Lorenzo.
England Pope, James, Dier, Maguire, Walker (Shaw, 72), Bellingham, Rice, Sterling, Foden, Saka (Grealish, 72), Kane.
Subs Ramsdale, D Henderson, Trippier, Coady, Ward-Prowse, Tomori, Mount, Bowen, Alexander-Arnold, Abraham. Booked Grealish.
Referee Jesús Gil Manzano (Spain).