No England player is safe under Gareth the gambler

ASINGLE England player remains from Gareth Southgate’s first match in charge. Even more surprising, less then half the starting line-up from the opening game of the 2018 World Cup can expect to be picked tonight in Prague.

This is about more than just evolution. This is about bravery: Southgate’s bravery.

He is choosing to work without the traditional alliances and loyalties common to international management. He offers no more to his players than the chance to be picked if they stay in form.

This is truly radical. Much has been made of Southgate’s teambuilding qualities, yet here is a colder regime than Fabio Capello ever envisaged.

International football traditionally demands greater constancy than the club game, where players rationalise the challenges of sustained form and fitness — in one week, out the next.

Darren Fletcher says he grew used to being axed from the Manchester United side by Sir Alex Ferguson and instructed to prepare for a specific fixture several weeks ahead.

By contrast, there will be a nucleus of international footballers who expect to play, certainly in competitive games. They have limited opportunities, long periods between matches and the faith of the manager is important.

Kevin Keegan thought, as England captain, that Sir Bobby Robson should have told him he was being dropped from the squad in 1982. Equally, Brian Clough always argued he would never have treated England players as capriciously as he did the squads at Nottingham Forest or Derby. He knew a gentler approach was needed if they were to turn up and perform to their best.

Jordan Henderson is Southgate’s sole survivor from Malta three years ago. That Henderson, Jordan Pickford, Harry Kane, Raheem Sterling and Harry Maguire are the only members of the team who opened up against Tunisia likely to start against the Czech Republic reveals Southgate to be a manager who brooks no compromise.

Last time he jettisoned Marcus Rashford for Jadon Sancho and was rewarded with another impressive win. Yet what did Rashford make of it? Southgate’s refusal to be worried by the demands of ego, from young or old, does him enormous credit. Yet it is also a gamble. He may need friends one day. His strategies suggest he is utterly unconcerned about having any.

Good for him. It is probably why he is so popular with England’s fanbase. For years, they have wanted a team who were picked on the harshest reading of current form. They want the old guard out, the new blood in. They don’t want to hear that Jesse Lingard has rarely let England down, if he is playing poorly for Manchester United. Neither, by the looks of it, does Southgate.

From the moment he dropped Wayne Rooney, he has treated players the same regardless of reputation, history or even personal sacrifice. Kyle Walker moved from right back to a more central

defensive role for the World Cup and previous managers might have thought he warranted some indulgence. Southgate dropped him without warning for this campaign. Lingard could have put England into the UEFA Nations League final were it not for the precision of VAR. It counted for nothing when Southgate named his most recent squad.

Terry Venables, a huge influence on Southgate’s managerial style, felt differently.

‘I want to make the England squad as hard to get out of as it was to get into,’ he announced early in his tenure. He wanted to inspire loyalty from a group who had considered his predecessor, Graham Taylor, too fickle.

Similarly, Jermaine Jenas had a very good game deputising for David Beckham in Azerbaijan in 2004 and Sven Goran Eriksson picked him for every gathering thereafter. He started just two matches, both friendlies, but was named in 20 consecutive squads. That is what a decent 90 minutes does traditionally for a player at international level.

Southgate, however, is a man apart. Either he thinks he has a deep talent pool — which, given the limited choice of English players in the Premier League, is unlikely — or he is deploying the boldest strategy, one that may well leave players feeling unloved or unappreciated.

And yes, playing for England is an honour, not a right. Yet it is also another demand in a crowded season. Expectations are always high, the pressure intense.

James Milner, who retired from international football, will never now be told he let his country down. But it is a taunt that could follow Kane from ground to ground if he misses a penalty in a vital game, or turns in poor performances during a disappointing tournament for England. It is why Venables sought to build a club mentality, a tight-knit group who knew their manager had faith.

There are other ways to achieve this, of course. At first, England’s players despised Capello’s austere regime. After a 4-1 win in Croatia in his second World Cup qualifier, however, the mood soon changed.

And while Southgate is taking his team deep into tournaments and progressing breezily — England are through to the European Championship finals at a canter if victorious tonight — he can afford to work without a safety net.

It means one thing, though: he has to keep winning.