Dele Alli’s loss was Ruben Loftus-Cheek’s gain as the Chelsea-owned midfielder took advantage of an injury to assume a place in England’s starting line-up.
Many fans had been clamouring for Loftus-Cheek, who spent an injury-hit but promising season on loan at Crystal Palace in 2017/18, ever since his man-of-the-match display in a friendly draw with Germany in November.
Was this a worthy encore? Here we analyse Loftus-Cheek’s performance.
KEY STATS
Goals – 0
Assists – 1
Shots – 1
Touches – 47
Passes – 33
Pass success – 87.9%
Interceptions – 2
30-SECOND REPORT
This was nominally a like-for-like switch for Alli alongside Jesse Lingard in midfield and just behind Harry Kane and Raheem Sterling in England’s 3-1-4-2 formation.
Head coach Gareth Southgate, however, had quite clearly told Loftus-Cheek to operate close to Kieran Trippier on the right, which helped stretch out a packed five-men defence and give Lingard and Sterling space to wreak havoc centrally.
The 22-year-old cut in on occasion and his left-footed shot early in the second half led to the bizarre deflection that saw Kane celebrate his hat-trick.
GOT RIGHT
Discipline – Loftus-Cheek was by no means the focal point of this performance but he manfully stuck to his task on the right-hand side, where he has played for Palace on occasion, and kept the pressure on the overawed Central Americans.
His presence took the attention off wing-back Trippier to his outside and the trickier duo of Sterling and Lingard. While it would have been nice to see him float inside more often, it made sense to attack a physical but cumbersome Panama’s weaknesses through the centre.
GOT WRONG
Protecting the ball – Loftus-Cheek shrugged off defenders with sheer strength a couple of times and set up an early chance, but he also ran out of room with a series of naïve dribbles.
He is a graceful runner, rather than nippy and agile with the ball at his feet. That doesn’t necessarily translate when a a team has packed a sea of men deep in their own territory.
SPORT360 VERDICT
This was Loftus-Cheek’s big chance to turf out Alli from the full-strength starting line-up, or at least have his name louder in the conversation.
It’s unfair to say that he failed the audition, but at international level his skill-set seems suited to operating from the centre with his languid style and playmaking abilities. He’s at his best when his eyes are up and team-mates are ahead of him rather than horizontal.
RATING – 6/10
