Gareth’s Pep talk
GARETH SOUTHGATE has been picking Pep Guardiola’s brain as he bids for England World Cup glory. The Three Lions boss revealed the Manchester City chief (below) had been happy to reveal the secrets of his success at the Premier League runaway leaders. On the eve of England’s friendly against Italy at Wembley, Southgate revealed he’d had a one-on-one ‘Pep talk’ this season. In the build-up to the World Cup in Russia, Southgate has been urging his men to play a passing game like City, even obsessing about having a keeper comfortable on the ball – just like Guardiola. Confirming he had spent time with the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss, Southgate said: “It’s one of the real highlights of being in the role – that you are not a threat to anybody so you can pick their brains and they might share a
little more openly, certainly more than they might with each other.
“Pep has proved what he can do with a team, especially the big teams.
“Some coaches can have an affect at different levels, and with the biggest teams, he’s managed to take them on and play in a different way and give the players that belief and detail in how they play.
“As a coach with the national team you do have a chance to study things, watch teams play, see how our players play within those systems and why they are succeeding.
“And then see how we might fit all those pieces together, of the different teams and different teams, into a way of playing that might suit us.
“Which is what we have tried to do, put people in positions where we think they can succeed.
“All of the coaches at all of the clubs are really open. They like to talk about the players.”