England manager demands break with the past

LONDON: England fly to Russia next week unencumbered by the usual great expectations, with manager Gareth Southgate promising a complete break from previous tournaments when they seldom lived up to their billing.

“We are nothing to do with the past,” said Southgate in one of his final round of media interviews before they head to their camp in the village of Repino, which is approximately 30 miles from St. Petersburg.

“The past can inform us and help us but shouldn’t shape us. We have got to be our own team. This is a diverse team with different sets of skills. They have got a chance to make their own history.”

In plumping for an inexperienced squad whose average age is 26, Southgate has made a powerful statement of intent and observers have been impressed by the open approach he has encouraged the squad to what lies ahead.

Whereas two years ago former keeper Joe Hart memorably refused to reveal who won the team darts competition at Euro 2016, Fabian Delph has been happy to talk about the team-building exercises which Southgate has implemented, with Raheem Sterling apparently starring at table tennis and Delph himself prospering at pool.

Hart has not even made the squad this time, the experience of his 75 caps ditched in favour of likely No. 1, Everton’s Jordan Pickford, who has three, with Stoke’s Jack Butland (8) and Burnley’s Nick Pope (1) as back up. To put that into perspective, England’s three Group G opponents have nine keepers with 334 caps between them.