Euro 2024: Five talking points from England's win over Serbia

• Three Lions can build on 1-0 win

• Foden, Kane and more talking points

• Use Betfair's Safer Gambling Tools at Euro 2024

Three points, clean sheet, job done

England started brilliantly against Serbia, went ahead through Jude Bellingham's 13th minute goal and were excellent until half-time. In the second-half, England became too concerned with protecting their 1-0 lead and allowed Serbia to attack them - a familiar pattern under Gareth Southgate that has in the past cost England. Here they hung on to win and 1-0 is a decent first result. England are 1/141.07 to top group C ahead of Serbia, Slovenia and Denmark who they play on Thursday.

England won their opening group game at Euro 2020 by the same scoreline against Croatia and got better as the tournament went on. They will have to do so if they are to justify their 7/24.50 favouritism in the outright winner market on the Betfair Sportsbook. Fans will be concerned that an England team that boasts such quality in attack sat back after the break. The game had the lowest shot count of any European Championships match since 1980.

Jude Bellingham stars on big stage again

At 20-years-old Jude Bellingham is the youngest European to play at three tournaments - Euro 2020, Qatar 2022, Euro 2024. He looks more like England's leader with every game and is 11/26.50 to win player of the tournament. He always wants the ball, he is an inspiration to his teammates and his run into the box for his goal was perfectly-timed. He looked fresh too even after a long season with Real Madrid which will have been a relief to Southgate.

Winning the Champions League, La Liga and the Spanish player of the year award appears to have got Bellingham fired up rather than draining him. If there is one question mark it might be about his discipline after he needlessly shoved an opponent in the first-half.

Guehi was comfortable in defence

Before England's campaign kicked-off there were concerns about the defence, with Harry Maguire missing and Marc Guehi stepping up to partner John Stones in the centre. Guehi was superb, coolly handling Serbia's physically-imposing forwards and repeatedly showing composure under pressure. Maguire simply wasn't missed, except perhaps in the opposition's penalty area. Bigger tests will come but this was an excellent start from Guehi and the entire back five should be buoyed by their clean sheet.

Left-side a concern as Foden struggles

While England's right-side was productive throughout the match, with Kyle Walker and Bukayo Saka combining effectively, and Jarrod Bowen impressing when he replaced the latter, the same could not be said of England's left-side. Kieran Trippier was adequate in defence as a left-back but when England advanced and the Newcastle man stepped up into the left-wing-back position, he struggled due to being a naturally right-footed player. Ahead of him, Phil Foden was a shadow of the player he has been for Manchester City this season. Southgate will hope his first-choice left-back Luke Shaw can get fit and stay fit.

Kane was anonymous at times

Harry Kane didn't look like a player who has scored 44 goals for Bayern Munich this season. The longer the game went on, the more the England captain dropped deep into England's midfield. In his co-commentary, Betfair ambassador Alan Shearer explained that England needed Kane to stay up top and provide a focal point for the attack. And yet Kane kept dropping back and was anonymous for periods.

None of this is to say that Kane necessarily had a bad game and he was unlucky to be denied by a superb save from Predrag Rajkovic in the second-half. He has started a tournament slowly in the past, before finding the net in crucial games later on, and may yet be a decent bet to win the tournament Golden Boot at 6/17.00. For what it's worth, Kane was excellent defensively against Serbia, but England will hope he can offer more up front against Denmark on Thursday.

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