Battling Butland out to KO his No1 challenger
REPORTS THE GLOVES are on. There may be nothing underhand about the contest for the England goalkeeper’s shirt, but it is still very much a prize fight.
Instead of a belt, a World Cup cap is at stake, and going into tomorrow night’s match against Italy, Jack Butland is fearless.
The last time Butland faced the Azzurri, he was making his international debut as a 19-year-old after just 24 senior appearances in League Two with Cheltenham.
“Youngest keeper to play for England and all of that, first cap, an incredible moment and I envisaged playing a lot more between then and now,” he said.
“Injuries happen, that was massive setback for me. I’ve dealt with bigger things than the odd performance, dealt with a hell of a long time out of the game from an injury which shouldn’t have kept me out for that long.
“I’ve had to deal with fears of not playing again. I’m a bigger man for it and I will be better for it in the future.
“I would have liked to have played more but injuries are part and parcel of football and you’ve got to shoulder it, got to take it on and get on with it.”
During the 13 months from March 2016 that Butland was out after picking up an ankle injury against Germany, he was forced to watch as Jordan Pickford, a year his junior, emerged.
However, Butland feels he can stop the Everton goalkeeper from turning him into England’s youngest has-been at just 25 years old.
And he will do his utmost right from the weigh-in.
“It’s a good thing, isn’t it? Having competition,” said Butland brazenly. “I enjoy it. You see the way we’re all competing against each other.
“Jordan played really well against Holland on Thursday and it’s motivation for us all. It’s a good environment to work and train in and we’re all pushing each other.”
The 6ft 5ins former school rugby player has never been short of confidence. Even within the chaotic bunfight of a mixed-zone grilling a to, by eager journalists keen to pop the next question, Butland is in total control. “I hadn’t actually finished speaking but I’ll take your question anyway,” the Stoke City keeper reprimanded one football correspondent midway through the melee. Butland’s untimely injury just as Joe Hart’s international pedigree was on the wane allowed Pickford to rise to the forefront of manager Gareth Southgate’s mind. He may have flapped a couple of times against Holland on Friday but Pickford showed composure in the No1 shirt.
Breaking up the Dutch play 35 yards from goal in the 59th minute, instead of booting to touch he took the ball wide to play a neat reverse pass back inside. Four touches later, Jesse Lingard scored the only goal of the game.
The notion is that Pickford’s supposedly better distribution skills would make him a better fit. But Butland said: “I also feel my distribution is really good. Jordan mentally and keep the fans behind us and stay in that positive mind-frame.
“I think the fans at Wembley, or wherever we go, are behind us. They turned out in their numbers again in Amsterdam and we want to win for them, for ourselves and for every England fan.”
Stones insisted of the new style of play: “This is the right way. I’m probably biased in that respect, but everyone’s on board with it.”
England are on a run of five consecutive clean sheets, having experimented with Kyle Walker in a back three against Holland on Thursday. just plays in a team where perhaps he is allowed to express that a little bit more.” Fighting talk. Butland continued: “I certainly feel I’m more capable of doing it. I used to be a striker until I was about 13 years old – I wasn’t bad, scored a few goals.”
Certainly, Butland is not afraid of comparison to Pickford.
“Well, that’s up to the gaffer,” is the stock answer you expect when you ask a player to judge himself against a rival. Butland, though, went through the tale of the tape But Joe Gomez has returned to Liverpool for treatment on the ankle injury he suffered inside 10 minutes of the game in Amsterdam, while further up the field Jack Wilshere has already been sent back to Arsenal after damaging his knee in training.
Even regular football with Arsenal from now until the end of the season may not be enough for the injury-plagued 26-year-old Wilshere to book a place on the plane to Russia.
Three Lions boss Southgate is increasingly sticking with the names he has worked with.
Stones, for instance, has not started a Premier League match for Manchester City for like a prizefighter pay-per-view sales.
“I like to feel I’m mature, consistent as a keeper and I pride myself on my shot-stopping and the presence that I have,” he suggested, with a metaphoric sideways glance at his rival.
“I don’t like to single out individual parts of my game because I want to improve on all aspects and that’s what I hope to bring to the team, and that leadership and maturity.”
But forget the pantomime of boxing-style scuffles between the protagonists leaping over desks to get at each other. Butland insists that intense though the rivalry is for that goalkeeper’s shirt in Russia this summer, it is a friendly, constructive one.
“It’s a great group and we back each other,” Butland said. “Ultimately that’s how you become a winning team. It’s not by being a bad egg, that doesn’t work for anyone.
“We push each other really well and ultimately you get performances and improvement out of that.”
May the best man win, in other words – although clearly Butland feels that means him. two months but said: “I’ve had the players’ backing and the manager’s backing.
“It’s one of those things where the team’s winning games and playing well, and you can’t get back in just like that.
“I’ve got to keep working hard and that’s what I’ve been doing, still learning while I’m on the sidelines. That’s a massive thing.
“You can’t switch off and then, when your chance comes, you’re ready to take it.” drumming up