Fans were unanimous in their observations after watching James Maddison’s performance during England’s match against Ukraine.
On Saturday evening, England visited the Stadion Wroclaw to take on Ukraine, aiming to maintain their flawless record in the Euro 2024 qualifying round.
However, they fell behind when Arsenal’s Oleksandr Zinchenko found the net in the 26th minute. Kyle Walker then scored his first-ever goal for England in the 41st minute, but the Three Lions were held to a frustrating 1-1 draw.
Tottenham Hotspur man Maddison, who has been outstanding during the 23/24 Premier League season, started for England but failed to have an impact.
Fans were quick to react to his performance on social media.
One said: “Maddison was awful got picked off to easy.”
Another tweeted: “Maddison had an awful game. His first touch was so bad. 3 times we were in and his touch prevented us from a likely goal.”
A third fan added: “Surely that’s James Maddison done for a bit now. Was awful.”
Someone else wrote: “James Maddison, been very good at Spurs but awful for England tonight, missed his chance to really Southgate.”
Whilst a fifth commented: “Maddison seems to be awful every time he plays for England.”
Speaking after the match, Southgate admitted his side didn’t quite click.
He said: “The reality is we’re not going to win every game by fours and sevens as we’ve done in this qualifying campaign.
“That was a really good test, away from home, in a very passionate atmosphere. We had quite a few changes forced from the last game. Sometimes, especially with attacking play, it doesn’t quite click.”
Southgate added: “We tried to refresh things to give them a different sort of problem but today our forward play, bar the goal and probably Bukayo’s effort that hit the bar, wasn’t at the level that it has been in our previous games.”
England will now face Scotland in a friendly match on Tuesday night.