Craig Bellamy’s Wales never looked like doimg anything in the ninety five minutes we saw this evening at Wembley against England. They were quite simply shocking overall in this game. At times it was men against boys with players going missing throughout the fixture. The only saving grace were the subs made in the second half who showed some determination and commitment.
Wales started apprehensively and due to their sleepiness in defence with eight defenders in the area Morgan Rogers was unmarked to slot the ball home to make it 1-0. It was shocking defending, schoolboy almost and not the start any Wales follower wanted. It seemed that Bellamy thought that his side could get into the game at a canter and match England player for player. Even though he said that wasn’t in his mind before the game.
After eight minutes Da Silva showed his complete lack of understanding as to his situation by hauling down an England player in the area by clearly pulling his shirt. It went unpunished. That was a penalty. On ten minutes more comedy defending by Wales as a ball was won and put into a packed six yard line. Neco Williams (below) added to the script by allowing Rogers to bag number two.
Wales hadn’t worried the English defence and they were two down.
Saka (below) was an annoyance on the Wales left and his composure and awareness was head and shoulders above what Wales could offer. Two moments of absolutely amateurish defending had made this fixture a huge mountain to climb. England in the first fifteen minutes were more intense in their movement and passing, quicker in thought and by far the more committed in all areas of the pitch. Everything was looking far too easy for England with Wales unable to compete, especially man to man in the strength department.
On nineteen minutes Saka displayed all of his magnificent skills base out on the visitors left. David Brooks was a spectator as Saka hit the ball with his left foot. It sailed into the net. It was unstoppable and Karl Darlow in the Wales goal had no chance. Brooks needed to get closer, he didn’t, and once again a lack of alertness in the Wales defence was highlighted. Evidence of Wales lack of quality and competence was there for all to see when England had the ball. The team in red were not interested in pressing, Moore running up to players sideways with no intention of challenging. The whereabouts of Liam Cullen will possibly be known after he is reported missing in North London at some point. If Harry Wilson had a game plan then whatever it was he had either forgotten or didn’t think it necessary.
This was about an abject a performance we had seen since the darkest of dark days under Rob Page. On twenty nine minutes we saw exactly what these players were made of. A decent opportunity played forwards but Kieffer Moore ended up in a walking paced effort that validated these players complete lack of interest in this game. That’s the only excuse they had as none of these could say they wanted to win or even compete in this game.
On thirty two minutes the ball was in the England penalty area for seventeen seconds.
Mention has to be made of the sell out crowd, they were so quiet you could hear a mouses early morning teardrop fall onto a crispy lettuce leaf in the Cotswolds. Is it down to the lack of interest in these meaningless games or are the British public now so comfortable in their ‘white middle class’ lives this was just seen as a must see, go to sleep kind of game. We saw some fantastic walking about with the ball on forty two minutes, which after thirteen passes Harry Wilson blasted his shot ten feet over the bar. That was Wales only ‘effort’ until a minute later when after some promising movement in and around the England penalty area the ball ended up with Karl Darlow in the Wales goal.
With two minutes of stoppage time signalled England came alive again and earned a corner out on the Wales right hand side. That was defended and we slowly moved towards the referee trumpeting the end of a half of football that under Bellamy was unacceptable and totally unprofessional. It was not only that it was embarrassing.
The second half started pretty much as the first did. Wales unable to gain any possession and England looking by far the better and more composed side. Their forward passes were precise and penetrating, and when Wales played a similar ball through to Brennan Johnson he was ill equipped to turn it into anything other than an England free kick. On fifty minutes the effort of Cullen on the ball resulted into another opportunity for England. They spawned the chance, but yes, Liam was on the pitch. ‘Calling all cars’. Whoever found him it wasn’t Ethan Ampadu whose whereabouts couldn’t have been found via the latest technical device used by Mi6 down by the River Thames. From that error Rogers hit the bar, he was in so much space it should be passed as an offence against football. That was ruled offside, subs were needed.
On fifty five minutes a loud cheer from the Wales support as Brooks volleyed an effort at Pickford, anywhere else and it would have been a goal. Pickford somehow saved it and Moore headed the ball over the bar. It was a shot on target, it was the best we had seen this evening, so at last some hope of …
Something.
That fired up the home side as Wales despite looking closer to the ball to gain possession were half hearted in their efforts or simply not good enough. England were just quicker and harder in the tackle. They pressed and searched for a fourth goal. On sixty three minutes we saw four Wales changes. Chris Mepham, Ronan Kpakio, Josh Sheehan and Jordan James were on for Ben Davies, Ethan Ampadu, Harry Wilson and Neco Williams, none of whom had contributed anyhting to their country this evening. On sixty eight minutes England also made four subs as reflected in our team graphs below.
Lewis Koumas and Mark Harris came on for Moore and Johnson and we saw a completely different more intense Wales side. They were quicker more competitive and in front of an ever dwindling crowd (rushing to the car parks) had opportunities. Harris will be disappointed as he headed just wide within seconds of coming on. Jordan James was quick and wanted the ball, his strength and commitment more than we had seen all night from his peers. Joe Rodon was back at the heart of things and looked awake and more alert when needed. It was almost as if Bellamy had put extra hot chilli’s in their half time cup a soup and they were now tingling the extremities of his players rear funnels. The ball was finding players who were in the same side, movement was happening and rapidly. Wales no longer looked like a bit part Sunday morning team of Anthony Gordon lookalikes.
It was at least hopeful.
By the eighty eighth minute the sell out crowd were more in the ascendancy outside the stadium. Red seats outnumbering the crowd as the eight thousand travelling Wales followers (well they all travelled, even those from North London) sang and celebrated their own hwyl and in part a lack of a real good hiding on the pitch. Bellamy was smiling at the end, he did make clear his thoughts on these two international sides well before today. He was right of course but now we look to Monday against Belgium in Cardiff. It’s a must win for some, but any issues or performances then that we witnessed tonight, and Wales will be fighting it out for a place with other underdogs for that 2026 World Cup trip to the USA.
A victory of course will mean this game will count for nothing.
⚽️ England: 1 Jordan Pickford (Everton), 2 Ezri Konsa (Aston Villa), 4 Declan Rice (Arsenal), 5 John Stones (Manchester City), 6 Marc Guéhi (Crystal Palace), 7 Bukayo Saka (Arsenal), 14 Djed Spence (Tottenham Hotspur), 15 Morgan Rogers (Aston Villa), 17 Anthony Gordon (Newcastle United), 19 Ollie Watkins (Aston Villa), 21 Elliot Anderson (Nottingham Forest)
Substitutes: 11 Marcus Rashford (Barcelona on loan from Manchester United) for Watkins 46’, 18 Ruben Loftus Cheek (AC Milan) for Rice 69’, 8 Jordan Henderson (Brentford) for Anderson 69’, 16 Morgan Gibbs-White (Nottingham Forest) for Rogers 70’, 20 Jarrod Bowen (West Ham United) for Saka 70’), 3 Myles Lewis Skelly (Arsenal) for Stones 80’
Subs not used: 13 Dean Henderson (Crystal Palace), 22 James Trafford (Manchester City, 9 Harry Kane (Bayern Munich), 10 Eberechi Eze (Arsenal), 12 Dan Burn (Newcastle United), 23 Jarell Quansah (Bayer Leverkusen), 24 Nico O’Reilly (Manchester City)
Head Coach: Thomas Tuchel
Goals: Morgan Rogers 3’, Ollie Watkins 11’, Bukayo Saka 20’
⚽️ Wales: Karl Darlow 5 Neco Williams 5 Ben Davies 5 Ethan Amapdu 4 Joe Rodon 6 David Brooks 5 Harry Wilson 4 Liam Cullen 3 Brennan Johnson 4 Kieffer Moore 5 Jay Dasilva 5
Substitutes: 17 Jordan James for Wilson 64’, 2 Chris Mepham for Davies 64’, 22 Joshua Sheehan for Ampadu 64’, 24 Ronan Kpakio for Williams 64, 9 Lewis Koumas for Johnson 76’, 18 Mark Harris for Moore 76’
Subs not used: 12 Tom King, 21 Adam Davies, 14 Rubin Colwill, 14 Ben Cabango, 19 Sorba Thomas, 20 Isaak Davies, 23 Nathan Broadhead, 25 Dylan Lawlor, 26 Joel Colwill
Head Coach: Craig Bellamy