A few takeaways after watching West Ham captain Jarrod Bowen improve England’s attacking performance against Japan yesterday. Of course, England improved in the second half following a failed tactical experiment by Thomas Tuchel in the first 45 minutes.
Bowen looked close to his best, full of direct running, cutting edge, and as likely to supply a goal as he was to provide an assist for one of his Three Lions teammates. It was a stark contrast to his recent performances for West Ham, where the main difference between international and club displays is the sheer amount of defending the winger is asked to do. Don’t get me wrong, Jarrod is still providing for West Ham, but is spending so much time chaperoning Wan Bissaka that he’s too frequently at the wrong end of the pitch.
Bowen’s role under Nuno limiting attacking threat
Bowen is an absolute master at starting on the right wing, then finding space in a central striking position, and he displayed that quality to good effect at Wembley last night. Unfortunately, this is not something we are seeing regularly for West Ham at the moment due to the cover he is being asked to provide by manager Nuno Espírito Santo.
Now, I am fully aware there is a major difference between England playing at Wembley and West Ham parking the bus to ensure safety. But surely there has to be a way to get Bowen more involved at the top end of the pitch for the Hammers.
The ultimate benefit could be survival, and Bowen might just find himself on that World Cup plane bound for the USA.
What game was you watching last night I thought Bowen was poor and he will be lucky if he goes to USA
As much as I admire Jarrod Bowen and all he has done for West Ham since he joined, I must beg to differ on his performance for England versus Japan. I thought few England players impressed, and although Jarrod moved around a bit he was not very effective. He lost the ball quite often and still seems to be lacking the confidence he used to have for taking on defenders. Now he mostly lays the ball off to another player as soon as receiving it.
It was very disappointing to watch England, albeit a second string England, lose at home to Japan for the very first time. In fact England lost to an Asian team for the very first time. Admittedly, Japan are a rising force in the world game but they outplayed England from the start. If England come up against them in June/July then they will need their very best players to overcome them.