SMILES BETTER
Once again England face a brave new start but will Southgate be another Stuart Lancaster or an Eddie Jones?
NEW-regime syndrome should be a recognised psychological phenomenon. Everything is better, more refreshing and innovative under new management. It always is. Just don’t mention Iceland.
From the ignominy of Roy Hodgson’s exit from Euro 2016 to the shambolic nature of Sam Allardyce’s self-induced departure from the job, England have long since been desperate to turn the page from last year.
So 2017 promises better under Gareth Southgate, the problem being that it is only five months since we were last asked to embrace a new regime and invited to believe that change could come.
England’s footballers met with England rugby union coach Eddie Jones on Friday in training and his talk on sustained success seemed to hit a nerve. Ryan Bertrand spoke reverently of the points he had taken from Jones’s address. Those footballers would do well to listen and learn. From the nadir of the 2015 World Cup under Stuart Lan- caster, Jones has changed the mindset of his players, as their 18-match world record winning run before last weekend’s defeat by Ireland demonstrated.
Comparisons can be overdone, however. Jones probably has more players close to being world class in his squad than Southgate. And he is a more battle-hardened coach, 57 years old. Southgate is something of a novice by comparison at 46.
Still, there is a shift in emphasis. Or, at least, the players seem to believe there has been. And Southgate is not a man who believes in the innate superiority of English football culture, though nor was Hodgson. It was pointed out yesterday, though, that the players are comfortable calling him Gareth rather than ‘boss’ or ‘gaffer’.
‘As long as they keep it clean, I don’t care what they call me,’ said Southgate. ‘I think it’s outdated. Some people might see “boss” as a sign of respect, but you can call someone “boss” with zero respect. And you can call someone by their name with more respect. It’s a slightly archaic thing we have in our game: “Boss”. We do it because we do it. But why do we do it? For me it’s no issue at all.’
Southgate is attempting to build on work which was started by Hodgson and his assistants Ray Lewington and Gary Neville in insisting the players take responsibility. It failed spectacularly against Iceland. We must now see if it can be rebooted under Southgate.
‘I don’t think it’s about power,’ said Southgate of his collaborative approach. ‘We prepare a team, but the most difficult thing to do is go out there and play. You have to make decisions on the field. We might talk through set-plays, and then the opposition might do something different so the team have to adapt in an instant.
‘Our job is to help the players improve and see how they could do things differently, not kill them. Mistakes will happen in games of football. I made bloody millions of them. It’s about what you learn from them.
‘Unless you’re given responsibility as a player, and you feel that, you won’t necessarily feel accountable for that responsibility. These players are more than capable of making those decisions and playing against the very best teams in the world and being successful.
‘ But Ryan Bertrand made his Champions League debut in the final. It doesn’t get much bigger than that. That’s why I don’t hesitate in putting in players who are not playing in the top three or four clubs in the league.’
Bertrand, for one, has bought into it: ‘We’re creating a new culture, an open culture that is focused on being the best we can be. That comes down to working hard. How to sustain it? You just have to work harder. We want to achieve things for the country. We all have the ability, so there’s no reason not to. We’re more than focused on England and creating a great culture.
‘In the end, it’s the players who lead. The players who need to be looking after one another, making sure the expectations are constantly met. You have to breathe that culture and it has to be 24-7. You can’t have off days. That was the main philosophy which enabled the rugby team to achieve. Gareth has tried to give us a direction, plans and ambitions behind closed doors, that we want to achieve.’
It all sounds great. Yesterday in training under Steve Holland there was an upbeat and appropriately raucous atmosphere. They look like a team who like each other. They talk like a team determined to engage with the issues which have afflicted England. But the test of all this will be in Russia in 2018, not today against Lithuania.
And the presence of English rugby coaches at training also recalled the previous partnership between Lancaster and Hodgson. They both talked similarly good games. Lancaster changed the superficial culture of the team to widespread acclaim. Hodgson adopted similar language.
Much good it did them when Chris Robshaw kicked for touch rather than took the penalty against Wales in the defining game of the 2015 World Cup, where the home nation couldn’t even get through the group stages. Or when Wayne Rooney failed to get tight on his man against Iceland at the long throw that precipitated the equaliser and ultimately a humiliating exit.
Southgate now is charged with putting it right. The question is whether he is a Stuart Lancaster or an Eddie Jones. The next 15 months will go a long way to deciding that.