Thomas Tuchel located the ignition point for his England tenure, when all of the grumbling that had followed him to Belgrade seemed to float away.
The head coach needed a result to allow his team to take control of this World Cup qualifying group – and a performance, too, after the flatness of much of what had gone before.
Tuchel got both. From the first whistle his players were a class apart, Serbia left to look dishevelled, their problems everywhere. It is a troubling moment for the country, anti‑government protests gaining in intensity and there were chants here against the ruling party.
The head coach, Dragan Stojkovic, is under heavy fire and there was more heat for him. What for him after this?
Serbia offered next to nothing, they finished with 10 men after Nikola Milenkovic’s last-man hack on Harry Kane in the 72nd minute and the truth was that the scoreline could have been heavier.
England’s game management cut through the sideshows; what a pleasure it was for the travelling fans to see only smoothness, zero worry lines.
The stars were Morgan Rogers and Noni Madueke, the former providing the moment of the match with his assist for the latter to make it 2-0. Rogers, whom Tuchel had preferred to Eberechi Eze in the No 10 role, brought the X factor.
Kane scored first with his 74th international goal, while the central defenders Ezri Konsa and Marc Guéhi both got their first at this level. Both were excellent, especially Guéhi. His one-on-one defending was taken from the door-bolted-shut school. There was even time for Marcus Rashford, on as a late substitute, to add a fifth from the penalty spot.
threatened to turn nasty in the stands, a fight breaking out in a Serbia area and the riot police moving in to restore order. To repeat: a lot going on.
Milenkovic had to go for his lunge at Kane and in the closing stages Tuchel got Djed Spence on for his debut, Guéhi converted from a Rice free-kick as the Serbia defence switched off, and Rashford scored after Strahinja Erakovic had upended another substitute, Ollie Watkins.
Tuchel has talked a good deal about wanting to transfer the positive things he sees on the training pitch into matches.