Dan Childs: Frustrated Foden is playing for his place

England fans are used to being put through the emotional wringer and there were some anxious moments to endure for the big crowd who watched the Three Lions' 1-0 success over Serbia on Sunday.

It was a mixed England offering with plenty of snippets for the glass-half-full and glass-half-empty brigade, but the markets took a fairly sober view and Gareth Southgate's men are still considered to be among the leading contenders to get their hands on the trophy.

When it comes to the negative aspects, Phil Foden's ordinary and erratic performance sits right at the top.

Foden was rightly applauded for his outstanding contribution towards Manchester City's title success having completed by far the best season of his career.

He was statistically superb, delivering 19 Premier League goals and eight assists, and played some of his best football in the final day 3-1 triumph at home to West Ham when the pressure was at its greatest.

It was widely expected that Foden would also be integral to England's Euro 2024 plans but he had a poor game in the warm up clash against Iceland and was little better against Serbia, despite seemingly having plenty of freedom to veer away from his starting position on the left side.

Before the tournament the question surrounding Foden was about where best to play him.

Now there is a growing debate about whether he should even get into England's best line-up because there are numerous attractive back-up options, among them Cole Palmer, Anthony Gordon and Eberechi Eze who would all hope to have played better if given the opportunity.

A less talked about player after Sunday's success was Harry Kane, yet his performance was far from the standards expected.

Kane could point to the lack of quality service and the fact that he so nearly scored from the one decent cross – from substitute Jarrod Bowen – which found him in Serbia's penalty area.

The issue with Kane's performance is that he was quiet when England were on top and little better as the game progressed when he was sorely needed to win some of his aerial duels and relieve the pressure.

Kane's hold-up play and ability to find space are usually so much better but he was a peripheral figure against Serbia and was perhaps lucky to stay on the pitch.

England had a couple of physical, mobile centre-forwards on the bench in  Ivan Toney and Ollie Watkins, and they may have to think about using them unless their captain can raise his game.

While two of England's big players were underwhelming, Jude Bellingham showed his quality.

His header was technically superb and full of bravery from a player who seems to go into every challenge without any thought for his own wellbeing.

Bellingham seemed to be involved in the majority of England's best moments and he showed a tactical maturity out of possession by invariably filling in where his team needed him most.

The other big positives for England were at the back.

Centre-backs Marc Guehi and John Stones were playing together for only the fourth time but they defended manfully and had to because there was plenty of pressure to absorb and a number of dangerous crosses to be dealt with.

So overall, where does the result and performance leave England? Are they destined to fall short as soon as they face a heavyweight opponent or does this team have something extra?

I would be reluctant at this point to commit to either camp although Bellingham's brilliance allows me to cling on to to the hope of perhaps enjoying a truly memorable summer.

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