Harry Maguire and John Stones add to Gareth Southgate's headaches despite stirring England comeback

Nothing is straight-forward for manager Gareth Southgate at the moment, as shown by the fact two of the all-Yorkshire back three that have served him so well managed to give him whopping headaches.

If an apparent twang of John Stones' hamstring was unwelcome, so were mistakes by Harry Maguire which led to Germany's first two goals.

At least Luke Shaw, Mason Mount and of course Harry Kane were there to paper over those cracks before Kai Havertz stopped England ended a morale-draining Nations League campaign with a win.

Sheffielder Maguire's past brilliance has built up plenty of loyalty points but he has used up quite a few this month.

He conceded the penalty Ilkay Gundogan opened the scoring from, then lost the ball midway into Germany's half, only for the visitors to break and Havertz to curl a wonderful finish from his part of the pitch.

Maguire looked rusty, as well he might, and unless something changed dramatically at Manchester United, it is hard to see that changing before Qatar.

His club-mate Shaw is in the same rocky boat, but one of only two living Englishman to have scored in a major international final – the other laid a wreath for Queen Elizabeth II before kick-off – forced the ball over the line for England's first goal from open play in the competitive-ish competition.

Shaw's intervention completely changed the match and the mood in the last time the Three Lions will be together before Southgate picks his provisional squad on October 19.

Often in the last match before a major tournament, managers try to name the side which will kick it off and despite the unusual gap this time, Southgate's 3-4-2-1 looked pretty close to the side which might face Iran on November 21 so he will be hoping Stones recovers from his injury in time to make the trip.

Sheffielder Kyle Walker was a more than adequate substitute, but it is another headache the under-pressure manager could have done without.

For nearly half an hour the match between two out-of-form sides and the atmosphere were decidedly humdrum, video assistant referee Pol van Boekel even appearing to drift off when Raheem Sterling pulled Jonas Hofmann's shirt in the penalty area.

Fortunately he woke up in time to tell Danny Makkelie he might want to take another look at penalty-area fouls from both sides which were right in front of his eyes, yet he somehow invisible to him.

If Stones and Maguires were causing Southgate unnecessary stress, so was second-choice goalkeeper Nick Pope. He slipped as he was closed down in the tenth minute, allowing Gundogan a shot over. He wriggled out of the trouble a Stones backpass put him under as Hofmann bore down but saved the worst until last, spilling an 88th-minute shot to allow Havertz an equalising tap-in.

As shown when Shaw brilliantly picked out Sterling, getting the Chelsea in behind seemed England's best tactic, or it would have been if he did not keep shooting at the goalkeeper, as he did again when Kane released him in the 44th minute.

Much was made in some quarters of the booing of Maguire's name when it was read out pre-match but it was nowhere near the scale of the opprobrium he was put under in his last Wembley game, against Ivory Coast in March. Midway through the first half the England band began singing his name, but it would not be the night he needed.

First he hacked at former England youth international Jamal Musiala right in front of Makelie. The referee told Musiala to get up but when van Boekel whispered in his shell-like, the result was a 53rd-minute penalty Gundogan converted.

When he was caught in possession and out of position 68 minutes later, Maguire must have wanted Wembley to swallow him up.

Just as things were starting to look particulalry miserable, three goals in 12 minutes transformed the mood.

When Mason Mount followed up Shaw's goal by sweeping home after fellow substitute Bukayo Saka's run, Wembley celebrated like it really mattered. It did.

Not because of the result or the Nations League table, but because the graph of England's mood has been on a downward spiral since the end of last season.

So when Kane was able to hammer a penalty into the roof of the net after Nico Sclotterback stamped into a tackle on Jude Bellingham, it was ecstatic.

Pope burst that bubble when he served up the gimme Havertz was not going to refuse for an 88th-minute equaliser. A happy ending would have been too much to ask.

England: Pope; Stones (Walker 37), Dier, Maguire; James, Rice, Bellingham (J Henderson 90), Shaw; Sterling (Mount 65), Foden (Saka 65); Kane. Unused substitutes: Trippier, Ramsdale, Coady, Guehi, Toney, Chilwell, D Henderson, Abraham.

Germany: ter Stegen; Kehrer, Sule, Schlotterbeck, Raum; Kimmich, Gundogan; Hofmann (Werner 46), Musiala (Muller 74), Sane; Havertz (Bella-Kotchap 90). Unused substitutes: Baumann, Ginter, Arnold, Gnabry, Trapp, Henrichs, Gosens.

Referee: D Makkelie (Netherlands).