Anthony Gordon ignored yet again by Gareth Southgate as England struggle to a 1-1 draw

Newcastle United's Anthony Gordon was forced to watch on from the bench again as England struggled to create anything down their left-hand side for the second game in a row.

Okay, so yes this is a Newcastle United site, so that's why I've invoked the name of Anthony Gordon here, but honestly, this is just going to be a mega rant about Gareth Southgate's stubbornness and lack of a Plan B.

I'm sure that by the end of this piece, I'll have whittled my fingers and hands down to bloody stumps the way I am angrily hammering away on the keyboard right now.

Even taking the Newcastle goggles off for a second, how can Southgate watch that performance this evening and not put Anthony Gordon on the pitch?

Getty Images

Why is Conor Gallagher his go-to first substitute with so many other better players on the bench?

For reasons known only to himself, Southgate stuck with the exact same set-up that limped to a 1-0 win over Serbia on Sunday despite the performance being anything but convincing.

Then to add insult to injury, when it was clear that things weren't going to plan, he made the exact same substitution that he made on Sunday that had minimal effect - Trent Alexander-Arnold off and Conor Gallagher on.

Yes, the pitch was horrendous and the roof being over the stadium caused a hot box, but both sides had to play on the same grass so they can't use that as an excuse. The entire team was lethargic and the passing was woeful by everyone on the pitch.

You don't need a UEFA Coaching badge to see what was wrong

Phil Foden was lost yet again, Jordan Pickford did more forward pressing than Harry Kane, and Kyle Walker got an assist but that's all he did. Granted Kane got a goal, but Ollie Watkins did more in the first five minutes on the pitch than Kane had done in two games.

So many pundits called it before this game about Foden moving into the middle and playing Gordon on the left and dropping Trent Alexander-Arnold, everyone but Southgate could see what needed to be done.

Changes have to be made ahead of the third game on Tuesday night. Whether or not that means Gordon should be given a shot (he absolutely should) isn't the point. There just has to be something new.

Kyle Walker tried to claim at full time in an interview with the BBC that Southgate has told them that he wants them to play free-flowing attacking football. One of them is lying!

We've got to give credit to Alan Shearer for not swearing on co-commentary duty because you could tell it was bubbling up watching that mess.