A late goal or two can hide a litany of sins.
Manchester United supporters certainly know that better than most.
When Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer struck to leave Bayern Munich stunned and defeated at the Camp Nou, the wildest of celebrations were certainly not inhibited by the fact that, until stoppage time, Sir Alex Ferguson’s side had served up one of their worst performances of the entire 1998/99 treble-winning campaign.
But, still, the nature of England’s dismal display against Slovakia – before Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane struck in the dying seconds of normal time and the first few months of extra time – will take some forgetting.
It was a performance which summed up all the worst things about this Gareth Southgate side.
Barely a shred of invention, unpredictability or intensity. Slovakia looked comfortable until Jude Bellingham channeled his inner Wayne Rooney – or should that be Alejandro Garnacho? – to fire an overhead kick into the net with 95 minutes on the clock.
Harry Kane then converted from close range in stoppage time. A comeback which, while far from convincing in it’s execution, ensures that not only will England have a quarter-final clash with Switzerland to look forward to, the nation can postpone the usual bi-annual, post-tournament autopsy for another week at least.
Manchester United’s Kobbie Mainoo shines yet again
There was, furthermore, one gleaming positive in the shape of Kobbie Mainoo.
Say what you want about Southgate, the England boss does deserve at least some credit for shifting his midfield set-up and introducing Mainoo for his first ever competitive start, the Man United teenager rewarded for his fine second-half display against Slovenia a few days earlier.
It was a man amongst boys. Only, this time, the man was a boy himself, the 19-year-old Mainoo seeming to play an entire different sport to his far more experienced countrymen and outshining an already paid-up member of his fanclub in Declan Rice.
“Kobbie Mainoo is embarrassing his team mates,” former England striker Stan Collymore wrote on X with the Three Lions 1-0 down at half-time thanks to Ivan Schranz’s third of the Euros.
England edge past Slovakia to reach quarter-finals
Then again, it should not come as a surprise to see Mainoo standing out a mile in an otherwise rag-tag team performance. That is what he did time and time again for Man United throughout the 2023/24 campaign after all.
Perhaps the biggest compliment that can be paid to the oft-masterful Mainoo is that even Roy Keane threatened to break into a smile when discussing the man who may yet become the lynchpin of Man United and England’s midfield for the next decade.
“You see the stuff he is doing… I played in that position, but he’s doing stuff that probably took me ten years to learn,” the legendary former United skipper said on ITV Sport.
“He’s obviously had a great foundation at Man United and he’s getting into good habits. But we’ve seen in these big games (he can perform). And when you’re playing for Man United, every game is a big game for Man United.
“So he’ll cope with all that.”
It is easy to forget – especially with Mainoo swaggering around the pitch like a man who has played at this level for a decade – that this was only the teenager’s sixth England cap.
And, by the way, only his third start.
“He used the ball really well. He’s looked really comfortable in an England shirt,” Southgate told ITV after England narrowly avoided a defeat in line with that Iceland debacle of 2016.
“He has played some huge games for his club and looks comfortable in our environment.”