Jude Bellingham delivers for Dream Team Euros gaffers but Harry Kane and Phil Foden owners face stick-or-twist dilemma
ENGLAND got their Euro 2024 campaign underway with a win over Serbia in Gelsenkirchen but question marks remain after an unconvincing second half.
The Three Lions played well enough for the first half an hour with Jude Bellingham (£6m), the jewel in the crown, scoring what proved to be the winner with an emphatic header.
The 20-year-old superstar delivered 13 points for the 42.1% of Dream Team Euros managers currently backing him – the joint-fifth highest haul of the tournament at the time of writing.
Bellingham supplemented his goal with three bonus points, a tackle point, and two appearance points, justifying his status as the most-popular midfielder in Dream Team Euros.
He was also among the most-selected captains in Matchday 1, meaning a sizeable chunk of gaffers banked 26 points via England’s match-winner on Sunday night.
However, the other popular attacking selections among Gareth Southgate’s squad came up short.
Harry Kane (£7.5m) touched the ball just twice in the first half and ultimately provided just four points – an underwhelming return for the game’s most-popular player right now.
The prolific striker forced a sharp save from Predrag Rajkovic (£2m) and helped England kill the game by winning a succession of free-kicks but his relative lack of involvement was a cause for concern.
Kane is the joint-most expensive asset in the game at £7.5m and so Dream Team Euros bosses will hold him to high standards.
The same is true of Phil Foden (£6.5m).
The FWA Footballer of the Year once again looked relatively ineffectual on the left flank and he returned just three points when all was said and done.
The 24-year-old finished Dream Team’s latest season game as the outright top points scorer and his talent is undoubted but the question of where he fits into Southgate’s system is even more of a talking point after Sunday’s performance.
Compared to Germany and Spain, England’s win was uninspiring and it may be that gaffers feel compelled to switch up their strategy before Matchday 2.
In more positive news, the Three Lions did register a clean sheet, just the second in the first seven fixtures of the tournament.
This ensured healthy returns for Jordan Pickford (£4m) and all the defenders, including makeshift midfielder Trent Alexander-Arnold (£5m) and bargain option Marc Guehi (£3m).
England players are hugely popular in Dream Team Euros with seven assets featuring in more than 10% of teams at present.
Overreacting to one game can be a mistake but, in the same breath, Dream Team Euros consists of just seven Matchdays and so the sooner gaffers gauge which teams are the genuine contenders this summer, the better.
England face Denmark in Matchday 2 – Christian Eriksen (£3m) and company only mustered a draw with Slovenia on Sunday.
Stick or twist?