Mason Mount drought sees England competition heat up for starting role at World Cup

Of England’s line-up in Munich on Tuesday night, only one player had not started the 2-0 win over Germany at Wembley during last summer’s European Championship. Mason Mount was still self-isolating at the time, as a close contact of Scotland’s Covid-positive Billy Gilmour, and would likely have played if not. He was selected in the quarters, semis and final once out of quarantine, and all of the World Cup qualifiers against half-decent opposition that he was available for in the autumn.

Mount is clearly a key cog in Gareth Southgate’s set-up, capable of playing in central midfield, as a No 10 or wide in a three-man attack. He has plenty of avenues into the starting line-up which is just as well, as the avenues to goal have dried up. Mount has not scored in his last 12 England appearances, registering just one assist in that time too. Of all those to regularly feature last summer, he perhaps had the most disappointing tournament on an individual level, even when accounting for the Gilmour incident.

It would be unfair to single out Mount, though. He may be suffering a drought, but he is far from the only one who could do with upping his numbers. If this is the most talented group of English players in a generation as many claim, much of that talent is concentrated in the attack. Many of the contenders for a place alongside Harry Kane and Raheem Sterling up front are only at the start of their international careers, but even so, a glance down their records in an England shirt to date paints a rather underwhelming picture.

Mount’s four goals in his 29 caps is ever so slightly better than that of Phil Foden, who has two in 15 appearances, both against Iceland 18 months ago. Jack Grealish changed the game in Munich but has just one international goal in 22 games and English football’s first £100m player has never really been a player of huge output at club level anyway. Bukayo Saka’s four in 16 caps is the best of the lot, though still short of the standard set by the two main pillars of Southgate’s frontline.

Kane has scored 45 goals under his management. Sterling has scored 17. Together, they are responsible for almost 40 per cent of all England’s goals since Southgate took charge. “What is clear is that in terms of goals, we are heavily reliant on Raheem and Harry,” the England manager has said. “We do need those attacking players in particular to step forward and start to give us threats from other areas.” Only one other player in this squad has more than five international goals to his name. You may be surprised to learn it is Harry Maguire.

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Southgate clearly wants more goals and assists from that band of young, emerging attacking players but, when it comes to selecting his starting line-up to face Iran in Doha in November, that will not be the only criterion. It was put to him at St George’s Park yesterday that Grealish made the greatest impact of any England player after being introduced at the Allianz Arena, a point that he did not dispute. “I'm guessing the suggestion is we shouldn't have played Mount,” he countered. “But without the job Mount did on Kimmich the other night we don't get a result in the game.

“Mount’s contribution was crucial to us getting the result and Jack's contribution was crucial to us getting a result,” Southgate added. “There’ll be moments where that could be Bukayo or Raheem or Foden, who we haven’t had available.” Foden’s lack of output can be explained by repeated absences and Southgate hinted that he could miss these two Molineux games, despite having recovered from Covid. “With Phil we’ve had so many stop-start scenarios. He’s been really unfortunate with injuries and missing camps and now he will miss this time. That's been frustrating not to be able to get him into the group.”

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The others should get their chance to impress against Italy or Hungary on Tuesday. Kane is expected to be rested tonight, while Sterling may also have his minutes managed despite not starting in Budapest last weekend. The scheduling of these four games in quick succession after a long, gruelling season and concerns over “player welfare” has persuaded Southgate to rotate heavily for this first of these home games, a repeat of last summer’s final and a rare chance for those on the fringes to come up against quality opposition.

“It is a good game for some of the others to come into. It is a top level game and I think it is a good sign to trust the players going into these games,” the England manager said. “I think if we only give players certain types of matches then you don’t find out enough about them and they don’t find out the tactical challenges. For us it is always a balance of knowing we have to win matches while finding out about players and giving them good experience.”

There will be opportunities elsewhere on the pitch too. James Ward-Prowse will start in midfield against arguably the best side that he has faced in his international career to date. Fikayo Tomori and Marc Guehi have sat on the sidelines so far but need minutes in order to bolster their increasingly strong claims for a place on the plane to Qatar. Southgate knows all that he needs to know about Jordan Pickford, which opens the door to one of Nick Pope or Aaron Ramsdale, whose opportunities have otherwise been limited.

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But it is in that attack where, with just four competitive games to go before the World Cup, there is a hint of an opening or two into the first-choice line-up. Mount’s versatility and diligent work out of possession gives him the edge. Saka has impressed internally from day one during his brief international career. Grealish has come a long way in the past 18 months. Foden can count himself unlucky not to have had a greater impact. All four have an excellent chance of starting the first game in Qatar, but a few more goals and assists in Wolverhampton over the next few days would help each of their causes.