England defeated Finland 3-1 at Helsinki’s Olympic Stadium to go some way towards weathering the storm of last Thursday’s shocking defeat at the hands of Greece.
Jack Grealish gave the Three Lions the lead on 18 minutes after combining wonderfully with Angel Gomes, before Trent Alexander-Arnold’s second half freekick gave England breathing room.
Declan Rice put the game to bed in the final ten minutes, but there was still enough time for Arttu Hoskonen to reduce the deficit with a consolation goal.
As ever, though, this was an English performance with more than a little room for improvement – and if Finland had remembered their shooting boots, things could’ve gone very differently.
As it happened
It’s a strange time for the English national team. After finishing runners-up at a second consecutive European Championship, they’re without a permanent manager and playing Nations League games in its second division following relegation which, yes, still sounds odd for international football.
After losing to Greece in last Thursday’s Wembley horror show, a win against Finland felt like a necessity. That’s true of the Nations League itself – England cannot be automatically promoted unless they win all their remaining games – but also in terms of mood. Gareth Southgate might well have been the most polarising manager the country has ever had, and Lee Carsley, with his future in doubt, went into this game with a point still to prove.
It’s the same situation as it has been for donkeys’ years; England need to win, but they also need to win well, such is the reality of the poisoned chalice that is managing the English national team. Against Finland, they were just okay.
There were pros and cons. The more conventional formation meant more control of the ball; they had 69% of it. Harry Kane, no longer exactly a conventional number nine albeit, offered more of a focal point than the bizarre front-two of Jude Bellingham and Phil Foden did against Greece. Then, of course, they went on to win this game, which is always going to fit into the pros category.
Embed from Getty ImagesOn the other hand, control of the ball did not equal control of the game. This was particularly true in the first half, as England were let off the hook on a number of occasions; Topi Keskinen squandered the first opportunity of the game, and Fredrik Jensen smashed a golden chance in the 38th minute over the bar.
There was even a moment right at the end of the first half where striker Benjamin Källman had enough time and space to receive the ball on the half turn, spin past both John Stones and Trent Alexander-Arnold, and drive an effort goalwards that would’ve caused far more alarm had the offside flag not been raised.
It was same old same old for England; maintain the ball, do little productive with it, and then hope the other team doesn’t get chances at the other end.
Alas, it was England who took the lead in the 18th minute. It was the game’s first moment of real quality, with Angel Gomes flicking a tremendous, disguised ball in behind the Finnish defence which ran perfectly into the path of Jack Grealish. The Manchester City man timed his run to perfection, giving him enough time to take a touch, set himself, and slot the ball into the bottom right corner of Lukas Hradecky’s net.
This was his fourth goal for his country – and his second under Carsley. The verdict of his short tenure as head coach is yet to be reached, but perhaps no one has benefited from it more than the two players combining for this game’s opening goal.
Embed from Getty ImagesEngland’s haphazard approach almost undid them in the second half, too. Alexander-Arnold and Cole Palmer were both denied by Hradecky in the first few minutes of the second half, both efforts rather hopeful, and neither as big a chance as the one Finland squandered in the 56th minute.
Jere Uronen had acres of space down the left where Kyle Walker should’ve been, allowing him to play a golden ball into the area where Jensen was positioned perfectly to finish in an almost empty net – but he inexplicably blasted his effort over the bar.
England were still in front, but they probably shouldn’t have been. If that doesn’t sum up the last half-decade of this team, nothing does.
Okay, maybe that’s harsh. Even in poorer performances, the squad still has quality. One man who has that in abundance is Alexander-Arnold. When England got themselves a freekick in the 74th minute, there was one man standing over it, one thing in his mind. With one swing of the right boot, the Liverpool man curved his shot with swerve and venom right into the top left corner. Hradecky had no chance.
Embed from Getty ImagesThen England made it three, and the performance that led up to it no longer mattered. Ollie Watkins, brought on for Kane, carried the ball down the lefthand side, much as Uronen did earlier in the half, found a man in the middle, much as Uronen did, but unlike Jensen, this man in the middle was able to poke the ball home. It was Declan Rice, notching his fifth goal in an England shirt, smile beaming from ear to ear, the game well and truly out of Finland’s reach.
That didn’t stop the hosts trying, though. Finland had a corner very late on, and Leo Walta’s delivery curved ever so invitingly towards the near post. If anyone had been marking Arttu Hoskonen then he’d have had no chance, but they weren’t, so the big centre half nodded a header uncontested past a helpless Dean Henderson. The result was already all but decided at this point, so it was a goal that served more as a source of Finnish pride than anything else. But 3-0 would’ve flattered England. In truth, 3-1 probably still did.
So, England won again, though once more they weren’t that great. But if you can get away with that, then why not? Especially in the Nations League, which even players have admitted they have a hard time caring about in this era of more games than is sensible.
It’s the last time England will play for a month, and there are still questions to be answered: will Carsley stay on? Will this result be a catalyst to escape the second tier of the Nations League? Will England ever play a game of football that justifies its result? All of that can be put to the side for now. A win is a win; we might as well enjoy it without all the caveats.
The lineups
FIN: Hradecky; Uronen, Ivanov, Hoskonen, Alho; Peltola, Schüller, Kamara; Keskinen, Källman, Jensen
ENG: Henderson; Alexander-Arnold, Stones, Guéhi, Walker; Rice, Gomes, Bellingham; Grealish, Kane, Palmer
