I CAN’T PICK STARS WHO DON’T PLAY
GARETH WARNS PLAYERS THEY MUST GET IN CLUB FIRST TEAMS
THE question of how to accommodate Harry Ka n e , Raheem Sterling and Marcus Rashford in the same England side is not one that seems to be troubling Gareth Southgate.
Late on Tuesday night in Leicester, the England manager said he welcomed the prospect of having all three available, suggesting it was simply a case of tweaking his team to find room for a young Manchester United striker who so impressed against Spain and Switzerland.
‘If we had everybody available for the games I would be delighted,’ he said. ‘ We can alter a little bit. We can certainly adapt.’
Of more concern to Southgate is how much football Rashford will get between now and next month’s Nations League matches with Croatia and Spain. Indeed, how much a number of his players will perform when they seem to be on the periphery of their club sides.
Rashford is probably not the best example, even if he has made only one start for Manchester United this season. He remains an integral part of the United squad and, according to Southgate after seeing Rashford score the winner against the Swiss, is a forward Jose Mourinho greatly admires.
For other players, however, the situation is more worrying, so much so that Southgate conceded that it could reach the point by next month where he has to seriously consider dropping players unable to command regular first-team football at their clubs.
‘If we are in a similar situation next month … three weeks into the season is one thing, but seven weeks into the season and they have not played is even more complicated,’ he said.
When it was put to Southgate that players like Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Danny Welbeck and Fabi an De lph lacked sharpness against Switzerland because they have played so little football this season, he did not disagree.
‘Over the next few weeks, what we are hoping is that we have given them some minutes, they go back to their club better prepared for when they get their opportunity. It gives them a better chance of staying in the team,’ he said. ‘They are going to have the League Cup, hopefully European football, so more opportunity. Hopefully some of the squads will get rotated.
‘Marcus has got huge competition for places at his club so you can understand that. It’s not actually my business to interfere with club managers. They have a difficult job to do and they have big squads with huge competition.
‘But Jose thinks the world of Marcus. He’s a huge admirer of him. But Marcus has still played a lot of football, although maybe not the continuous starts. I’m really pleased for him that he leaves here full of confidence.’ For others, the situation is less encouraging. LoftusCheek is a serious talent but thus far the 22-year-old has made only two appearances as a substitute at Chelsea this season.
‘The landscape is what it is,’ said Southgate. ‘I understand the difficulties that club managers have. They have to try and win matches. They have to rotate their squads.
‘I was at Manchester City versus Huddersfield and you think, “Well, OK, it is a game where Phil Foden will play”. But actually if I am Pep I have other players, senior players, who I have to get up to speed because they haven’t had many minutes. He had left Riyad Mahrez out of the team so he needed to get him on because he is still adapting to the way of playing. So Phil came on at the end. But it is a difficult landscape for us.
‘I have to focus on the players we have, developing their spirit. Hopefully a few go back with a few minutes and when they get their opportunity with their club they will be more up to speed.’
Foden has played only eight minutes this season and for that reason Southgate continues to exclude him. But the stance he employed when he became England manager, when he stressed to his players that he would not consider those not playing regular first-team football, is being put to the test more than ever.
In Leicester, Southgate sounded like a man keen to stick to his principles, and keen to apply the same approach if some players continue to get limited exposure to the Premier League.
As he said, relaxing the policy after only three weeks of the season is one thing, seven weeks on the sidelines something entirely different. He also acknowledged that Jack Butland playing in the Championship with Stoke could also start to pose a problem. He looked less than assured against the Swiss and Southgate made the point that in English football’s second tier ‘the quality of crossing and the quality of finishing isn’t the same as in the Premier League’.
‘The players understand it is difficult to pick players if we are seven, eight weeks into the season and they are not playing,’ he said. ‘ But I think they will this month. With the League Cup, Europa League or Champions League coming, even the biggest clubs will start to rotate a bit more.
‘So I am hopeful next month we have a slightly different situation, because the problem we are faced with is whether we pick lesser players who are up to speed or we pick what we believe are the best players and accept that, for some of the younger ones in particular, they might have not had as much game time. We are going to have to assess that each time.’