Gary Cahill from Chelsea once again proved his worthiness to join England’s squad after scoring a powerful header into Nigeria’s post after only 7 minutes. Later, England continued the game with a complete domination after their caption, Harry Kane, ripped the opponent’s net and scored another goal for England. So far, Kane has scored 8 goals in his last 7 matches under Southgate.
Alex Iwobi from Arsenal gave Nigeria’s fans hope when he delivered a crisp finish to England’s post, but it wasn’t enough to grant them victory. It was Raheem Sterling from the other side who secured victory for Southgate and his players.
Man of the game: Sterling
As we received match analysis from W88, England needs more than just a chance to win the World Cup trophy in Russia and Sterling has proved that he can do the job. He became the central figure in England’s last match against Nigeria. If he continues to play this way, it is not impossible for him to become a key player in Southgate’s strategy to win the cup at Russia. He has been playing so well and in harmony with Kane, but as it is still not the World Cup yet, Sterling has to work out his way to prove his value to Southgate.
Options for the Manager
As the World Cup is getting closer, Southgate will have to evaluate his team’s performance. After their last match against Nigeria, they still have time to prepare, including a match against Costa Rica this Thursday. Nigeria might have been a good exercise for England, but it will prove nothing if they couldn’t beat Costa Rica.
All these friendly and preparation matches should give him enough data to improve his team performance. There are plenty sources of information Southgate can use, including match statistic and Nextbet. He should consider removing some players from their current position if they can’t prove their worthiness. Dele Alli, for example, so far has not delivered his best performance. If he continues like this, Southgate should consider to replace him with a better player, perhaps Jesse Lingard from Manchester United. Both are good players, but the manager has to pick one of them. Both of them are good in their own ways, but Southgate can’t use them at the same time.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek is also a good player. He can prove to be useful as a substitute player. Maybe Southgate should consider him for a better place, perhaps in the midfield. However, as Jordan Henderson may also have the same quality, Southgate is really having some interesting choices here
