Our 3️⃣ points as England breeze past Ukraine | OneFootball

England collected a second straight win in Euro 2024 qualifying with a comfortable victory over Ukraine on Sunday.

Here are our main takeaways from the action at Wembley.

Bukayo Saka is a gem

This young Gunner has continued to prove why he should be considered as one of this generation’s rising superstars.

The 21-year-old strutted his stuff once again against Ukraine, providing an assist and a superb goal in just three minutes.

It does not seem to matter if it is in the red of Arsenal, or the white of England, Saka’s name on the scoresheet is becoming an inevitable sight.

While it looked for all the world that Raheem Sterling had nailed down the right-wing spot for Gareth Southgate’s England squad, Saka has made the most of his opportunity during this international break as Sterling missed out through injury.

With Jude Bellingham also all but cementing his place in the squad in recent months, England’s young generation is looking brighter and brighter!

Consistency is key

For any great international side, consistency and longevity are the hallmarks to sustained success.

It appears Southgate has bought into that theory as well, as he continues to stick with the same spine of his team, regardless of form in club football.

The defensive trio of Kyle Walker, John Stones, and Harry Maguire have proven to be the bedrock of the squad. If they aren’t on, the rest of the team isn’t on.

Further up the pitch, Harry Kane remains as undroppable as ever. With the sprinkled in stardust of the likes of Saka, Jack Grealish, Phil Foden, Southgate should have very few selection conundrums heading into Euro 2024.

Despite receiving criticism in the past for some of his personnel decisions, you can’t fault Southgate for sticking with his guns.

Some new blood did freshen things up against Ukraine though, with Ivan Toney and James Maddison making their first and second caps respectively.

Mudryk still finding his feet

While England were good enough to get the win on the night, Ukraine’s stars did not help the cause by failing to turn up.

Mykhailo Mudryk was quickly hailed as one of Europe’s top upcoming stars when he signed foe Chelsea in January. And while the early signs showed a star in the making, Mudryk has failed to remain on the trajectory.

Against England, Ukraine had their chances on the break, but failed to capitalise – and Mudryk was one of the main culprits in front of goal.

He has registered just one assist since joining Chelsea, and it appears his poor form has carried over to the international side of things.

Ukraine have shown flashes of competing with the big boys in European football, but if they are to break into the next tier of footballing nations, they will need to able to rely on their stars to do the heavy lifting.

Does Mudryk have what it takes?