I felt that whilst still frustrating in parts, last night was a great improvement on Thursday.
Winks in CM is definately forward thinking and looks to progress the team up the pitch at every possibility. Short, long his passing is impressive. His concentration let him down a few times when he was caught dwelling on the ball but on the whole i thought it was a good debut.
I think the formation yesterday was set up for a better style of football. The centre backs were all compentent on the ball (be interesting to see them against Germany and Brazil next month) but with three, they have the opportunity and in those three (and possibly Phil Jones) the ability to bring the ball out of defence. If we had Danny Rose at LWB yesterday i think it would have been a whole different ball game. Cresswell was a bit too conservative (instruction or limitation) but Rose would no doubt have been flying down the left wing all night. Trippier did ok at RWB but think Walker is a better wing back.
Henderson is an interesting topic. I dont really think he fits with what Southgate is trying to acheive. He tends to slow the ball down a lot and moves the ball sideways rather than forward. He doesnt seem to have range or the ability to play a killer through ball. If we play with wingbacks, his job is made harder as the play is often in front of him but he doesnt look to pass forward, so he turns and goes back to the defenders. Winks in contrast, gets the ball and faces towards goal looking for a positive ball.
Up front i think Rashford is a really exciting prospect - hope we dont put too much weight on his shoulders. Kane can hopefully continue his form throughout the season and into next summer. Alli looks to be lacking form to me, nothing is coming off for him. He is trying too much and just gets frustrated when it doesnt come off. He has been largely ineffective in the last two games for me.
When Sturridge came on, like Henderson it showed the lack of urgency in his play. Often taking too many touches, making too many twists and turns to eventually play a ball he could of first time. We need to be getting in behind defenses and that needs pace - not just individually but as a collective. A few cogs in the wheel at a different pace and the whole machine slows down.
Squad wise i think we really lack depth. Lallana to come back in could help, but the likes of AOC and Sterling for me are not quite good enough.
Left me wondering on Thursday whether English players are just "alright", mediocre, do a job in the PL but need the foreign players to create the spark. Maybe with the exception of Spurs, too often our players are just the workmen in the PL, doing the dirty work for the more talented players to take advantage of it. If we fill our international team with 11 workhorses we are never going to have the talent to excite or break teams down at will. On the same breath, maybe the foreign imports and prohibiting the creation of English "spark".