Gareth Southgate made his way around the majority of the England players before eventually finding Marc Guehi. Maybe it was just a trick of the light that the England manager appeared to linger a little longer with the centre back but, anyhow, there was much to congratulate him on his first tournament start.
An evening that ended up being far nervier and edgier than England would have wanted as they lost their way, and control, to allow Serbia to slowly creep into the game, Guehi’s calm and commanding performance at the heart of defence was one of the major positives that Southgate could take.
As well as starting their Euro 2024 group-stage with a 1-0 victory, Southgate also received a resounding response to a question that had been present ever since Harry Maguire was ruled out of the tournament with a calf injury.
There had always been the feeling that Guehi had the ability to step into Maguire’s shoes and partner John Stones in defence at this tournament, but here was the evidence in Gelsenkirchen — a tangible takeaway and a problem position filled.
Aged 23, Guehi was making just the 10th start and 12th appearance for his country. He was the only member of England’s starting lineup to not have previously featured in a major tournament. Yet, the manner in which the Crystal Palace player dealt with such an occasion — and opportunity — was full of conviction.
During the 90 minutes, which saw England change from being the dominant side into a more unsure and tired outfit, Guehi remained relatively consistent. He won every tackle, every duel on the ground, as well as most of those in the air, and completed almost every pass.
It should be remembered that Guehi missed three months of Premier League action due to injury and only returned on the final day of the season. He was far from convincing in England’s warm-up game against Bosnia-Herzegovina, appearing some way from his best, though when it counted he looked at home.
In the first half, in particular, Guehi was among England’s stand-out players. He progressed the ball through tight lines with clever passes into Jude Bellingham. England’s control in the opening half-hour had a lot to do with the centre-back’s assured play.
He also defended on the front foot. As England’s display became more ragged in the second half, Southgate’s new centre-back partnership was put under the test but managed to hold on for a clean sheet.
In Aleksandar Mitrovic and Dusan Vlahovic, Serbia had a physical strike-force but they met their match in Guehi, and Stones, which bodes well given Denmark’s Rasmus Hojlund and Benjamin Sesko of Slovenia are also to come in Group C.
“I saw the player that plays every week for his club,” Southgate said. “Positionally sound and calm. Tonight was an even bigger test because, stature-wise, he’s not one of the biggest centre-backs going to be a lot of aerial balls in the box.
“He dealt with that really well. He transferred what he does with his club onto the biggest stage. He showed what a good player he is.”
England losing control will concern Southgate
So Southgate can rest assured that in Guehi and Stones he has two centre backs that he can depend upon for the rest of the tournament. Elsewhere, questions did arise.
Possibly the most concerning was why England lost their way to such an extent despite Bellingham’s 13th-minute goal, which should have represented the foundations on which a comfortable win was built.
Southgate’s decision to start Trent Alexander-Arnold in midfield neither failed nor worked as well as had been signposted. The fluidity to England’s attacking formation caused Serbia problems initially but then seemed to start bringing about its own issues for Southgate’s men.
Probably the most notable was Harry Kane seemingly been told to stay up front and not drop deep as has been his wont recently. Whether that was to provide Phil Foden with space to run into from the left flank or Bellingham more room to operate, it did not really work.
Kane was selfless — registering just two touches in the first half — but nowhere near his influential best. A late header that was tipped over was the best chance of his rather anonymous evening.
Getting the most out of a collection of such talented attackers remains Southgate’s most pressing task, closely followed by understanding why his team tired so much as the game wore on. However, in Guehi’s assured showing, at least he got the answer to one of his dilemmas.
