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Noni Madueke has a talent that cannot be measured in metrics

If there is a good time to have your best night in an England shirt then it is surely when the new manager really needs a victory, and so it was that Noni Madueke rose to the occasion in Belgrade.

He was not the only one. This was by far the best all-round performance of Thomas Tuchel’s fleeting England empire and as the game fell into place – the goals, the home-fan unrest, the red card that took Serbia down to 10 men – everyone had their part in it. But Tuchel, when he looks back with relief and no little gratitude, will want to remember how it all started. And it began, in no small part, with the running of Madueke on the right wing.

It is almost a year to the day since his senior debut for England when Madueke was thrust into a national team in some state of tumult. That will at least have felt familiar given the generally unpredictable nature of his then club, Chelsea. Madueke was first picked for England by Lee Carsley, having been one of the interim’s under-21 European champions from the summer of 2023. He made his debut against Finland in the Nations League. There was an early substitute’s appearance for the injured Bukayo Saka in the Greece debacle last October. Strange times. But gradually, Madueke has found his place.

This could have been a tough game. A long journey to face a hostile away support, doubly so if you happen to be a young black man. The Uefa sanctions that shut part of the Red Star Belgrade stadium on the night were levelled in part for racist chanting. But from the moment Madueke trotted over to take his place on the right wing and run at the Serbian wing-back Veljko Birmancevic, he looked like a man quite at home in the occasionally wild world of midweek international football.

Noni Madueke of England controls the ball whilst under pressure from Veljko Birmancevic of Serbia

Madueke tormented Veljko Birmancevic all night - Getty Images/Srdjan Stevanovic

Birmancevic chased Madueke back to the byline early on and, pleased with the job he had done in corralling the England winger, he turned to the home fans and exhorted them to make more noise. Yet come half-time Birmancevic was substituted. By the hour, most of the fans he had been waving his hands at had gone home. This was England’s night, and it was Madueke’s, too.

The rationale for his Chelsea sale just 53 days ago, if you are prepared to set aside the fact that this club just love trading footballers, was that the numbers never quite stacked up. Not enough assists, too few goals. Yet on the pitch, he feels like a big presence. There is a datapoint for that too and there are many other metrics by which the game is deconstructed and examined in which Madueke scores highly. On this night, it was easy to see it with the naked eye.

This is not a winger who tiptoes around a full-back. He drives them backwards and leaves them in his wake, so the rest of the team can move up. You could feel it in the stadium. From the start, England had a forward momentum and a lot of it was flowing from Madueke.

When he considered Madueke’s career afterwards, Tuchel did bring it back to the numbers. The player himself had five goal involvements – four assists and this latest goal in his nine caps so far – but Tuchel seemed to be making a wider point. “I am very happy he scored and was involved in the goals,” Tuchel said. “This is something he needs to add to his game – efficiency and being involved in goals. I am very happy today because he played with hunger and directness.”

Serbia were set up in a way England have become accustomed to facing against opposition of a lesser pedigree than this nation. A team sitting deep and trying to close down the space behind the defence. But whatever was planned by Dragan Stojkovic, the deeply unpopular manager of the national team, Serbia had not quite had all the adventure crushed out of them and that was where the spaces opened up.

Madueke’s goal was a fine sequence of touches and flourishes from some of the team’s younger ones. Madueke to Elliot Anderson and then a delicate brush of the ball from Morgan Rogers to direct it through the defensive line and into the stride of Madueke. He bore down on the Serbian goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic, a former Chelsea team-mate, and at the last moment, the centre-back Strahinja Pavlovic did think about an intervention. But Madueke cut across his recovery run and the defender did not even offer a block. The finish was perfect.

Madueke will face bigger obstacles than a Serbia team struggling to hold it together. Most notable will be whether he can find his way past Bukayo Saka, one of only a few undoubted stars in this England team who will surely start when fit. The obstacle of Saka repeats itself for Arsenal, although at Arsenal there are always enough games to go around. It is never quite the same for England when Madueke cannot be sure of a starting place next summer, with the team well on the path to qualification for the World Cup.

It also does feel like Madueke has not always delivered in the way that he has been asked. Tuchel praised his speed and his success in winning individual duels but he also pointed out on this occasion, Madueke had “stayed focused”. “I am most happy with the attitude,” he said. “The work he put in to receive the ball. We played a back four against a back five and he helped against the wing-backs.”

This is a tough England team to break into, although as ever with international football, there are always injuries. Things can change quickly. Saka will come back but others will drift out of contention and then Madueke will have to take his chance. He does at the very least have some credit now with Tuchel – a key role in the German’s best night so far as the England manager, and that will have to count for something.

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