Southampton: Watch Danny Ings net brilliant bicycle kick for England
By Marc Walker
Southampton striker Danny Ings netted a brilliant bicycle kick goal on his first international start as England comfortably beat Wales 3-0 on Thursday evening.
A much-changed side was chosen by Three Lions boss Gareth Southgate and gave a number of players an opportunity to impress.
Ings was making just his third senior appearance for his country after two previous introductions as a substitute and got the moment he needed in front of goal after 63 minutes.
A corner was floated to the back post by Leeds man Kalvin Phillips and Tyrone Mings won his header strongly to knock the ball back across goal.
Ings was positioned on the six-yard line and adjusted his body perfectly to flip himself upwards and connect well for the most spectacular goal of the evening.
In many ways, the goal showed exactly what Ings has been doing for Saints for the past year and what he can bring England if given the chance.
Some strikers just have an instinct that helps them to be in the right place at the right time to score and Ings seemingly has this if we were to look back on all of his goals from the last 14 months.
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To show this fully, the 28-year-old needs to be operating in central areas close to the opposition’s goal. Sadly though, he did not get to play in his preferred position for much of his first international start.
Ings and Jack Grealish were paired as a creative duo behind main striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin and this did not seem to make sense at all.
Putting Ings up-front alongside Calvert-Lewin would have seen two of the most in-form strikers playing together and potentially creating even more chances for themselves and their teammates.
Grealish could have then played as the main creative force and roamed freely behind the strikers – benefitting him because of the amount of the ball he would then be getting in central areas of the pitch.
However, it seems Calvert-Lewin playing as a lone striker with Everton and Grealish starting many of Aston Villa’s from the left-wing influenced Gareth Southgate and caused him to shoehorn Ings in elsewhere.
Thankfully Ings did get around 30 minutes as the lone striker himself and scored his goal just five minutes after this adjustment.