REVELATION REVOLUTION EVOLUTION
After just two and a half years, Gareth is already into his THIRD phase of his rebuilding
GARETH SOUTHGATE prefers to talk about evolution rather than revolution.
But Southgate begins the Euro 2020 qualifying campaign with a thirdgeneration England team of his two-and-a-half-year reign.
Incredibly, Southgate has used 56 players in 31 games in charge and called up 71 players during that time.
From inheriting the likes of Joe Hart, Theo Walcott and Wayne Rooney in 2016, to the back three of last summer’s World Cup, England start out on the road to their “home tournament” with another new-look line-up.
Jadon Sancho is set for his first competitive start at just 18, Ben Chilwell has forced his way in at left-back, while Callum Hudson-odoi has been drafted into the squad before even starting a Premier League game for Chelsea.
It is already a new generation and a fresh start even from the World Cup last summer and, bearing in mind England’s big successes at youth level, it is perhaps understandable why Southgate is prepared to change the team so quickly.
The England boss said: “The team is in a different place, different people are available.
“When I’ve looked back over the two years [and seen] who has scored important goals or made important contributions at different times, the squad has had to evolve.
“Part of that has been looking at bringing younger players in, but part of that has been that we’ve always had four, five or six players missing, and you just have to adapt and adjust. So, yes, there will be people who haven’t played as often for us, but all of them are ready to play.
“There’s real competition for places. They know every time they come together there’s a standard we expect and they’ve shown it in everything they’ve done this week, from their application in the gym to their application on the training pitch.
“[Ben] Chilwell, [Marcus] Rashford establishing himself a bit more as a starter, [Harry] Winks coming in. So, in essence, we’ve lost injured players again this time. We wouldn’t necessarily have made all the calls we’ve made this time but for those injuries.
“Again, it’s a reminder to us that, until you give these people an opportunity, you don’t know what they can do. It’s great because the squad feels bigger now and, although we have lost a lot of players, we have found two more that will be able to fit in, no problem.
“In terms of talent, it’s hugely exciting, and there are others that we all know about, watching [Morgan] Gibbswhite with the Under-19s yesterday at St. George’s, and [Phil] Foden so, you can reel off any number of names that I think can give this squad more depth and more quality.”
England start against the Czech Republic with potentially just six remaining players from the first choice World Cup XI.
Jordan Pickford, Kyle Walker, Harry Maguire, Jordan Henderson, Dele Alli, Raheem Sterling and Harry Kane have survived, despite this squad being ravaged by injury.
The turnover of players underlines his determination to be successful.
This is supposed to be England’s tournament in Euro 2020, with the final stages played at Wembley, and this has long been seen by the FA as when the team comes of age.
Southgate added: “I think that, regardless of where the tournament is played, we want to be consistently reaching the latter stages of the competitions and we just have to keep improving.”