The game went as expected with Southgate playing a 4-2-3-1 and the selection was as predicted, with Trippier, Guéhi, Stones and Walker at the back from left to right, Arnold and Rice at the back, and Foden on the left, Bellingham on the right and Saka on the right. Foden on the left, Bellingham in the center, Saka on the right, and Kane up front.
With a 3-4-2-1 on Serbia's side, the defense will shrink to five defenders on the wings with Kostic, Zivkovic (Živković (ivkovi?) Milinković to prevent the threat of England's flanks (Sergej Milinkovic) who will drop back relatively far and become more like a 3-4-1-1 or 3-5-2 formation. Serbia did not start with Tadic Cicic. (Tadic), but went up with striker Vlahovic to pair with Mitrovic (Mitrovi?), with Vlahovic slightly behind, making Mitrovic better suited up front as a pivot.
England had absolute possession of the ball at the start of the first half. Serbia hardly scored in the first six minutes. The Three Lions' offense was mainly concentrated on the right side. At one point, even Foden, who was standing on the left, came to cooperate. However, England had a ball, but did not create chances. Absolute contraction of Serbia's 532 or 541 defense. 13 minutes in, Walker directs the ball, Kostic gets Saca to cross underneath, Serbia's No. 2 Pavlovic defends practically instantly, but unfortunately the ball flies up the middle, right behind Bellingham, and England scores their first chance goal of the entire match.
However, after the goal, England slowly began to lose control of the pitch. The most dangerous situation in the first half came from a serious mistake by Arnold around the 19:30 mark. He failed to control the ball from his position in midfield. Mitrovic blasted the ball hard and it went slightly wide of the goal. If the ball had been correct, he probably would have scored.
In 24 minutes it was Arnold's intercepted counterattack, the ball was very nice to judge the opponent's intention of passing, Walker passed all the way, but Kane and Foden rushed to the center, there was no one to respond, England missed the opportunity to extend the lead, in the first half of extra time, Stones played himself, the ball bottom line to the opponent's corner, fortunately did not cause a crisis. In the second half, Vlahovic stopped for 52 minutes but couldn't find a teammate, one of the few scenarios in which Gersi turned and broke.After 55 minutes, Arnold finally had a chance to try a long range shot but hit it too correctly and it was easily pushed out by the keeper, which should have been the scenario that Southgate set up Arnold to want to see from that position.
Serbia then leaked a beautiful diagonal pass from Rice to get Arnaud on the ball, but unfortunately the cross was poorly handled by Bellingham with the ball in his hands and the ball broke free.
On 58 minutes it was Serbia's turn to counter-attack, replacing Kostic 25 Mladenovic (Mladenovi?) at the bottom, Mitrovic grabbed the ball but it was firstly confiscated by Pickford who beat him, and Mladenovic and Pavlovic came on consecutively in the second half to make Saca virtually invisible on that side of the pitch.
England were also very passive, the robberies weren't particularly aggressive or unified, it was usually one or two of Foden, Bellingham and others who fought aggressively but lacked integrity and didn't pose much of a threat to Serbia.
Gallagher came on for Arnaud on 69 minutes (Gallagher) as Southgate seemed to want to tighten up his defense and do his best to hold on to a one point lead, Saka was then replaced and Bowen, who played in the same position, came on shortly after, Bowen made a breakthrough at the bottom and found Kane. Kane's header was blocked by the keeper before the ball hit the crossbar. That was Kane's only chance and shot on goal in the entire match. 82nd minute it was Vlahovic's beautifully stopped shot from distance, but the attentive Pickford managed to keep it out to give England a 1-0 win over Serbia.
In terms of both field performance and statistics, England did not overpower their opponents in this match. In terms of possession, England had 89.9% to 10.1% of the ball in the 13 minutes before the first goal. England dominated, but the game ended at only 53% to 47%. After the goal, Serbia had a greater possession advantage.
Absolute chances 2:0, England capitalized on one of them, Serbia did not create an absolute chance. Goal expectancy is 0.52 for England and 0.18 for Serbia. another difference is that England have a higher win rate on the ground and in the air, 56% on the ground and 64% in the air.
