What Jude Bellingham MUST learn if he is help to solve this chaotic England puzzle, writes IAN LADYMAN
- Jude Bellingham struggled to impose himself in England's 1-1 draw with Denmark
England's players and indeed their manager made a point before this game of stressing how they had been blocking out the negative noise after their opening win over Serbia.
None of them are blind, though, and as the whistle blew on this shambles in Frankfurt they looked up to see an England end that was emptying fast.
Up on the giant cube screen that hangs above the pitch here, the table from Group B showed England at the top of it with a game to go. But you can't fool football supporters.
Those who shelled out and scrambled through the German transport chaos to be here will know exactly what they saw and that was the most inept, disjointed, chaotic England tournament performance since Roy Hodgson's team succumbed to Iceland in Nice in 2016.
England didn't lose this game and as strange as it sounds they remain favourites to progress as the winners of the group. Slovenia, their opponents in Cologne next Tuesday, are ranked at 57 in the world, just beneath Iraq and Saudi Arabia. That is the good news. The bad news is the rest of it.
Jude Bellingham must learn that he's no use if he tries to win games for England on his own
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Gareth Southgate's team were dismal here and it is hard to fathom how a team packed full of winners and European stars has now played twice against reasonably modest opposition at this tournament and failed to control either game for more than the opening 30 minutes of the match against Serbia.
Even a lucky goal couldn't help them or settle them here. The truth is that England were already struggling before Harry Kane scored it.
Kane once again spent most of the night playing his football somewhere between the edge of his own penalty area and the near extremity of the centre circle. It was pitiful to watch him toil. He remains a symptom of this England jumble, though, rather than a cause. He should not be dropped.
England's back four, meanwhile, resorted to lumping the ball long up the pitch. The late Graham Taylor would have liked that but this is not the way this England team are supposed to play their football.
In the 49th minute John Stones played a cross field pass straight out of play. A minute or so from the end, Kyle Walker did likewise. These two are among the most decorated players in the modern English game.
Serial winners with Manchester City and treble winners just a year or so ago. Yet here they were, struck down by an English strain of fecklessness that seems to have spread through this camp like a virus almost as soon as they lost that friendly against Iceland at Wembley a fortnight ago.
We told ourselves that result didn't matter. We said it would be alright on the night. When we look back at that defeat now, though, we see all the problems that are threatening to embarrass England as soon as they run into serious opposition out here.
Bellingham was reduced to pauper status by Denmark's hustling midfield in Frankfurt
The 20-year-old was not the worst of the English bunch against Denmark. Not by a long chalk
No control. No confidence. No structure. A midfield with more holes in it than a German railway timetable. And all of this underpinned and indeed undermined by a Southgate selection policy that has not so much not worked but appears to have helped send his team tumbling towards the abyss once the knockout stages begin.
Be certain of one thing. The serious nations at this tournament – teams such as France, Germany and Spain – will be watching England on TV at their tournament base camps and recognising how easy they are to play against, how easy they are to unsettle when they are in possession, how desperately skittish and out of body their football has suddenly become.
And what of England's new saviour? What of Jude Bellingham? Imperious for half an hour against Serbia in Gelsenkirchen, the darling of Real Madrid was reduced to pauper status by Denmark's hustling midfield.
He was not the worst of the English bunch. Not by a long chalk. The pass he delivered to send Ollie Watkins in with 20 minutes to go could have won England the game. The 20-year-old has star quality and he will surely deliver on these stages for England for years to come.
The stats show how Bellingham's influence has waned after a good showing against Serbia
Equally, Bellingham needs to understand that he is no use to his country if he tries to win these games all on his own. He carries the No 10 on his back and that affords him licence to roam.
But even he must exist and play within a structure. In trying to solve every puzzle by himself, Bellingham only succeeds in creating new ones. Southgate nodded gently to this issue in his pre-match remarks but it seems as though Bellingham may need the message underlining.
It would appear also that we witnessed here the end of the Trent Alexander-Arnold experiment. It is certainly to be hoped so. It has failed twice now and if it is persisted with it will be left in pieces by the first good team England play, even if it hasn't been already.
Somehow England didn't lose. But they didn't have to for all their frailties to be exposed to a watching continent that continues to look sceptically at a footballing nation they believe to be shot through with arrogance.
That is not an accusation that can truthfully be made at these players. Southgate has assembled an honest and largely humble group that are currently being undermined by their football rather than their attitude.
In trying to solve every puzzle by himself, Bellingham only succeeds in creating new ones
Nevertheless Southgate now has four days to find a cure to the delirium that characterised this effort beneath the closed roof of the Waldstadion.
Composure must be the first missing element to locate. Once he has re-established some semblance of calm to his team's football Southgate may have half a chance.
In truth, though, dignity and respectability currently appear to be the ceiling of England's ambition. It really is that far back from here. Southgate is due to oversee his 100th England game at the quarter-final stage. Right now the smart money would be on 99 and out.
