Gareth gamble he still has Pays off... and Jack up sleeve
ANDROS TOWNSEND Starsport’s expert eye on England
WHEN a manager pulls off the kind of gamble Gareth Southgate succeeded with, it only increases the confidence in the dressing room.
He’s clearly a loyal England manager, so while it would have been a shock to us to see Raheem Sterling in the side ahead of Jack Grealish at Wembley, it wouldn’t have been a shock to the players.
Even Kieran Trippier at left-back. They’d have been working on that line-up for the previous three or four days. So maybe one or two players might have been privately unsure, for example, about Trippier’s positioning when you have two top left-backs.
But when it comes off, it gives the players even more confidence than they’d already had in you.
I’d still expect Harry Maguire to come back into the side once he’s fit.
He’s been such an important figure for Manchester United and England with his presence at the back and his reading of the game. I’d also expect to see Grealish ease his way into the side eventually, first as a substitute as the games wear on and then as a starter.
But I would say that, based on that performance, Southgate would be happy to continue with the side we saw beat Croatia thanks to Sterling’s winner.
The players respect him because he understands them. He played in Euro ’96 and so he knows how tough it is to play the first game of a major tournament in front of your home crowd.
Factor in the fans returning, the first crowd game at Wembley since 2019, our first major tournament on home soil in 25 years, then all the controversy around the taking a knee – and the lads really rose to the occasion.
They weren’t perfect. There were quite a few times when we were sloppy, either in possession, with our passing or in defence.
A better side than Croatia would have capitalised on that big time and when you consider we could face either France, Germany or Portugal if we top the group, that doesn’t bear thinking about.
On the flip side, though, there is more to come from Harry Kane. We couldn’t get him into the game.
But, as we go further into the tournament, that will improve.
It has to because when you have one of the best strikers in the world, you have to find a way to get him involved.
All in all, though, I was happy with that as a first game. The fans around me were too.
The three points are all that matter. We can work on the performance.