England ease past Montenegro – but thumping win does not disguise this squad’s biggest flaw

England cruised past Montenegro in a 7-0 win on Thursday night. But their performance still pointed towards the one big issue Gareth Southgate must solve before Euro 2020

As Gareth Southgate reflected on a second successive qualification, there was one thing he seemed particularly proud of.

It was, to put it bluntly, the brutality of England’s campaign. With 33 goals in seven games so far, it’s just under five a game. They have battered sides.

“It’s been a group we expected to win but we’ve totally taken teams apart. Matches in the past have been problematic for England where teams have defended deep in numbers and been stubborn but because of our speed, movement, speed of ball circulation, we’ve carved those teams apart.”

Some of that, however, is a consequence of how the England squad itself can be cut up. If there’s one thing that Southgate has in abundance right now, it is mobile and fast forwards. England are so healthy in that regard, and it similarly feels a consequence of coaching structures in the same way Spain for a time produced so many passing midfielders.

There are as many as nine immediate options, depending on your definition, and certainly at least seven. Raheem Sterling could drop out, and there still wasn’t an opening just yet for Callum Hudson-Odoi.

It is a major strength, but also points to one slight weakness. England are completely overstocked in some positions but undermanned in others. Compare the number of options there, for example, with those in central defence. It still feels like it’s going to be a while until Southgate knows his best pairing. And even in a game as easy as the 7-0 over Montenegro, it was telling the manager was still lamenting “a couple of chances we conceded that just shouldn’t happen.

“So that’s still part of our game that we’ve got to improve upon.”

That isn’t completely down to the backline, mind.

Central midfield is between the two, and that’s as regards personnel rather than, well, literally in terms of position.

The options are not as strong as those going forward in the sense there aren’t as many certain starters, but they are far better and much more varied than at centre-half, and the issue is really one of finding the right configuration.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain did again emphasise why Southgate would have had him as a certain starter in the World Cup before his injury, and why he might be reclaiming that status. That’s still just one piece. Southgate will have to decide on what’s around him. Declan Rice seems to have fallen in preference, but the manager remains a big fan of Ross Barkley when others might see him discarded.

Then again, he’s also a big fan of the options. Hence there’s still some debate over full-back despite Trent Alexander-Arnold and Ben Chilwell again showing why they should be the primary pairing.

Gareth Southgate has some decisions to make (Getty)

“Well, it’s the same with every position in that we’ve got to prepare a number of different players in every position, because you just don’t know who’ll be available come the finals and who will be in the best form and physically in the best condition,” Southgate said.

“So, we knew we had a team tonight right the way through who would be really comfortable with the ball. Speed, athleticism, two high midfield players who can score goals as well and they did that in the first half and they’d killed the game within 25 minutes really.”

For the next few months, however, the battle for many positions is going to remain live.