Sometimes sitting through an England performance you get the feeling that this is a film you’ve seen before. You know how the plot unfolds and fear a familiar end.

At times, it seemed England’s opening Euro 2024 game was echoing their previous match in the competition, when they lost to Italy in the Euro 2020 final.

England took an early lead, this time Jude Bellingham after 13 minutes against Serbia as opposed to Luke Shaw after two minutes at Wembley, but then dropped so deep they were almost in Dortmund. A familiar lament, England really needed changes made quicker in the second half. 

The positives first: Marc Guehi, Bellingham and Declan Rice all impressed; England top Group C, are set fair for the knockout stage; and Shaw will work on his fitness and return at some point to give more balance to the left. But there was a concern. 

England fans get agitated about how long Gareth Southgate takes to make his substitutions, especially as he has such strength in depth, particularly in the front six, to call on. Serbia had seized control after the break, with manager Dragan Stojkovic making one change, then two more after the hour-mark and England were under sustained threat. They slipped into their default mode of defending deep and even Harry Kane was way back in England’s half at times.

Whether it’s a psychological frailty, a tactical weakness, or simply the opposition raising their game, it urgently required remedial action by Southgate. 

It took until 69 minutes until Southgate acted. Too long? Probably. Trent Alexander-Arnold was struggling to impose himself on midfield which was far too open. Phil Foden was ineffectual on the left. Bellingham, who covered so much ground, was not as forceful as in the first half. Kane was largely stifled by Serbian centre-backs. Bukayo Saka, a firefly in the first half, was fading. Only Rice maintained his level, and England were indebted to the Arsenal midfielder for shielding the defence. Guehi, composed and determined, stood up to the Serbian challenge, while goalkeeper Jordan Pickford tipped over a Dusan Vlahovic shot. 

England were manning the barricades but they needed reinforcements. They also needed to set Serbia a challenge, make them look over their shoulders. They definitely needed to keep the ball better. Good players lost some of their technical prowess under pressure. Anxiety crept in. It is an issue that predates Southgate and highlighted by Sven-Goran Eriksson’s frequent mantra of 'first half good, second half not so good'. It hints at an underlying psychological flaw.

This time, Southgate did turn to his bench with sufficient effect. We can quibble over timing, wonder whether he’d prevaricated but he made the right move. He sent Conor Gallagher on to replace Alexander-Arnold, making England’s midfield marginally more compact. Southgate replaced the excellent but tiring Saka with Jarrod Bowen with 14 minutes left and the West Ham wide man brought some energy and an outlet down the right.

Bellingham, comfortably the man of the match, was running out of steam so it made sense for Southgate to withdraw him for Kobbie Mainoo. So, one like-for-like change, and two conservative. It was enough to see England over the line.

4

4

4

Southgate was asked about it afterwards. “We had control of the game, but we expended a lot of energy in the first half,” he said. “We also didn’t keep the ball so well in the second half, we had less control.”

Bellingham put up a more defiant response. He was asked whether England’s first-half display highlighted a deserved place amongst the favourites but their second-half frailties underlined the work they still have to do to justify such status.

He disagreed with the thrust of the question, deeming it slightly negative and preferring to accentuate the positive. “The first half shows why we can score goals against any team and the second half shows why we can keep clean sheet against any team.

“Commonly with our team there’s always a negative theme around our games, and sometimes rightly so, but in this case you take the positives from the fact that, OK, maybe we had to hold on at times and suffer a little bit, but we kept a clean sheet and when you keep a clean sheet all you have to do is score one goal to win.”

He was every deliberately defending his teammates, which was admirable, and England had held on, but mainly thanks to Guehi and Pickford.

Southgate responded more quickly to the turning tide than before but he could have been making changes around the hour. Better sides than Serbia lurk on the road to Berlin, and England need either to start taking their chances or making their changes more decisively otherwise an old film will be repeated.