GARETH’S NEW ERA INSPIRED BY SVEN, GLENN AND EURO 96

EXPERIENCE and success in club management are not essential for somebody to thrive as an international coach.

Consider the revival of Germany under first Jurgen Klinsmann and then Joachim Loew.

What Klinsmann had was the knowledge, as a player, of what makes a successful international team and this is something Gareth Southgate has in his locker, too.

Only time will tell if Southgate can make a decent fist of his new job, but something he said in Dortmund on Wednesday night rang true.

“I know what the end needs to look like,” he said, and he does as a member of that Euro 96 team that Terry Venables guided to within a penalty shoot-out of the final. And it does not end there. Glenn Hoddle displayed considerable managerial promise prior to self-destruction, and Southgate can even draw on that period when Sven Goran Eriksson took a team threatening not to qualify for the 2002 World Cup to 5-1 conquerors of Germany in Munich.

“I was on the bench that day,” Southgate piped up this week in response to the suggestion his previous encounters with the Germans had only ever ended in misery and failure.

Listening to Southgate after watching his side deliver a most encouraging display in his first proper game in charge, it was clear he thinks his 57 caps give him added value.

“It can help, but it can only help if you are comfortable with leading, with understanding how people need to learn and if you are able to handle all the other parts that come with the role,” he said.

“If you have the other bits right, your playing career can help you. But if you can’t teach, coach and lead, those bits are irrelevant because you don’t have authority in the dressing room.”

Delivering a team for a match with only limited time to prepare is something Southgate will understand, and the background he provided on how he implemented changes to his formation was impressive.

Studying videos of Germany persuaded him to switch to 3-4-3 six weeks ago, and while he only told his players who was in the team on Wednesday afternoon, he says everyone would have been clear on tactics had they been chosen. “We prepare so everyone knows what they’re going to do,” he said.

“They would have had a sense of who was more likely to start because of the way we trained.

“That said, they knew on Monday afternoon with the couple of meetings we had, and low tempo run through that we did, that was the way we were going to play.

“We explained why, because it’s important the players have an understanding of the system and the reason for doing it.

“But most have played it at their clubs. And if they haven’t, they’ve played in positions they were suited to.” – Daily Mail