‘GARETH HAS TO BE A MIRACLE WORKER’

KEVIN KEEGAN has told Sportsmail that England manager Gareth Southgate needs a ‘miracle’ to turn the national team into a world force. Former England boss Keegan said the side is an ‘orchestra with no conductor’ because it lacks a truly top-quality creative player. He said good English players are sitting out games every week and watching foreign players getting more game time in the Premier League. ‘None of these players are playing major roles at any of the major clubs in England,’ Keegan declared. ‘And so the miracle Gareth Southgate has got to work is to get those who are sat on benches watching players, and expect them to play against those who are playing every week and who have got leadership roles. I’m not saying we haven’t got any world-class players but we are thin on the ground with them. ‘Gareth has got the same problem that England have had for a long time, since Paul Gascoigne really. Where’s your Eden Hazard? Where’s your David Silva, your Kevin De Bruyne, your Mo Salah? Where is he in your English clubs? You look around and there’s nobody. There’s an orchestra but there’s no conductor. ‘It’s not impossible to become a world-class team but anyone with a modicum of common sense, they look at the Premier League and say, “You give me the three best players at Chelsea, Arsenal and others” and they are not English. Even at Spurs, who is the best player? Christian Eriksen.’ Expecting Southgate to move England on after reaching the World Cup semi-final in Russia is a ‘big ask’ Keegan concluded. In his new autobiography, My Life in Football, Keegan relates how there was such a dearth of England players when he was manager in 1999 and 2000 that he would take his seat at some Premier League games and think, ‘What am I even doing here?’ He writes: ‘I would still go because everyone expected the England manager to attend those games and, yes, sometimes there were little things I could pick up. ‘Yet there were occasions when it felt like a complete waste of time. I was going to games for appearances’ sake.’ Keegan, 67, said he thought former England Under 21 boss Southgate’s advantage was that ‘he has worked with all the young players so he knows exactly what they are and how good they are and where they can go’. He never benefited from that when he was at the helm.