PRAGMATIC SOUTHGATE HOPES THREE AT THE BACK WILL HELP MASK THE FLAWS IN HIS FRAGILE TEAM

a Man does indeed need to know his limitations and this, listening to England’s manager, appears to be the premise on which a plan for next summer’s World Cup has been formulated. Gareth southgate says he will advance with a system much as we saw in Vilnius, with three centre backs and two wing backs. at least that will provide this fragile, ordinary England side with some extra defensive security and a platform which might give those ahead of them the confidence to play with less fear and a bit more ambition. in a qualifying group comprising limited opposition, the weaknesses were rarely exposed. England conceded only three goals, two of them against what Gordon strachan claims to be a genetically deficient scotland. But the former centre half now guiding the England team sees flaws that could be all too easily exposed against the better teams in russia. asked if he is committed to 3-4-3 after experimenting with the system on a plastic pitch in Lithuania — without a great deal of success, it has to be said — southgate was emphatic. ‘yes,’ he said. ‘in terms of the way we want to play from the back, i think it is a better option. at the moment we turn the ball over too much and when we do we split into two centre backs, wide open. We were still open with three. ‘But i think it gives us good stability and it gives us easier solutions for our midfield players as well. Then in front there is a possibility to switch; maybe get two strikers in certain games. We felt we had to keep the system as we had used it before (with a back four), because there was such a quick turnaround of games. ‘But i think three at the back is what we ought to do.’ now southgate has time and some games against far superior opposition to put his plan into action properly, with next month’s friendlies against Germany and Brazil and an encounter with the Dutch in March providing valuable tests. One can see what southgate is thinking. His midfield is lacking in quality and the

defenders available to him do not have the stature of their recent predecessors. So the primary objective would appear to be defensive solidity in the hope that a striker with the potency of Harry Kane can get the goals that propel England forward in the competition. It is unlikely to win many popularity contests but perhaps Southgate does need a more pragmatic approach, given how poor England were at the last two tournaments. ‘We have to have some consistency in our formation and some consistency in what we are asking the players to do,’ he said. ‘But the thing we don’t know is who we get through the door in November and March, with all the club games they’ve got. ‘We have to focus on a system and really try to hone it, work on it, improve it. That might mean we have to leave some good players out. But we have to start to make those decisions over the next couple of camps.’ This, insisted Southgate, is not something he has arrived at suddenly. It is a strategy he came up with over the summer in response to the obvious frailties in the squad. ‘Without going over old ground, we were on the back of such a disappointing European exit and we had to qualify,’ he said. ‘But I was very clear when we sat down in the summer, Steve Holland and myself, we did a very strong assessment of the squad and we knew that in November we wanted to look at three at the back and certain personnel we wanted to put into that. It turned out we were able to start that process now rather than in November. ‘You have such little time to work with the players that the more clarity they have under pressure, they will know what to fall back on. In the qualifying games, we felt 4-2-3-1 was better. We felt we wanted wide players who were able to exploit the width and try to break down the packed defences. ‘But we recognised along this journey what we are capable of in certain areas of the pitch. We have got some young players who are able to use the ball, including all three centre backs who played against Lithuania,’ he said. ‘Jones is another one. Cahill is playing at Chelsea in a back three. We have to invest our time in those guys.’