BOSS BANKS ON A NEW ENGLAND
Southgate challenges stars to justify huge transfer fees as he switches to back three
ENGLAND will go back to the future tonight in Lithuania. It is 11 years ago, almost to the day, that they have started with a back three in a qualifying game.
Though Gareth Southgate has toyed with the idea, playing with it earlier in the friendly against Germany last March and reverting to the system last Thursday late on against Slovenia, it is not since Steve McClaren took the plunge in a European Championship qualifier against Croatia in October 2006 that England have tried a triumvirate of defenders from the start.
It didn’t end well: there was a Gary Neville own goal, a 2-0 defeat and recriminations all around as Slaven Bilic’s Croatia team laid the foundations of a campaign which would deny England qualification, end McClaren’s reign and usher in this current era of calamitous failure. Unsurprisingly, they never tried it again.
But it was an option that served England well between 1996 and 1998.
The famous 0-0 draw in Italy, which earned qualification for 1998 World Cup, the 20th anniversary of which is this week, was a performance of maturity and tactical awareness rarely seen before or since from an England team.
There were many heroes that night in Rome but one man stood out in defence: Southgate.
Thursday has possibly accelerated a change which Southgate and his assistant Steve Holland contemplated last summer as they sat to plan these qualification games in a restaurant in Kielce, Poland.
Ostensibly there to watch the Under-21 team, they took the opportunity for a working lunch to discuss the England senior team’s problem.
Four-four-two might have won the World Cup in 1966 but it had done precious little for England since; nor has the 4-2-3-1 formation into which it has evolved.
The game against Slovenia laid bare the issue England have faced for some time.
They struggle to break down teams that sit deep.
That was true against Russia, Slovakia and Iceland at Euro 2016 and has been evident in qualifying against Slovenia, Slovakia (again) and Malta.
A change of formation helped Hoddle’s England and Southgate as a player. Now — as manager — he is hoping for something similar.
‘We can connect the ball better,’ he said ‘It gives us more stability in transition. I think the passing angles [are better].
‘We’ve played our best possession football when we’ve played that way in the games up to now.
‘In qualification we wanted an extra attacking player on the field, but I’m not certain we’ve created more chances by doing that.
‘So this is a good opportunity to do that.’
Southgate knows the size of the task. Today will mark a year since he took over the job, in bizarre circumstances, from Sam Allardyce.
Today he will makes changes. Jack Butland will play and have an overdue chance to displace Joe Hart, and Michael Keane may get the nod in a back three.
Dele Alli returns from suspension and there could be a debut at some stage for Harry Winks. Southgate insists they will be a core of his first XI but last night in training he lined up with Butland, Alex OxladeChamberlain, Harry Maguire, John Stones, Keane, Aaron Cresswell, Winks, Eric Dier, Daniel Sturridge, Harry Kane and Ali.
Southgate has managed 11 games; none has been enthralling and few convincing. A convincing home win against Scotland got him the job; they were good for 89 minutes in friendly against Spain; and their ability to score late goals to get themselves out of trouble (against Slovakia away under Allardyce, Scotland away and Slovenia last week) marks out a streak of resilience. But pretty they are not.
All these players come with big reputations and most come with matching transfers fees of £50million or more so you might expect more.
But Southgate has been keen to prick the particular bubble as he prepares this squad for the sterner test of Russia.
‘Are they big players until they win?’ he said. ‘We’re talking about big players because of transfer fees or because they are playing in the Champions League.
‘But when we are in semi-finals, finals and winning trophies then I think we’re big players. Until that point, for me, we have it all to prove. I am the same as coach so I don’t disassociate myself from that.
‘But we can’t consider ourselves big players. Big players are Gerard Pique, Sergio Ramos, Sergio Busquets, Toni Kroos, Sami Khedira and Manuel Neuer. I could go on. That’s what big players are. We create a bubble in our country around the [Premier] League because of the money, because of the profile of it. [But] we have it to prove. No problem. And these guys are hungry to prove it.’
Gary Cahill does fit the big player criteria with his trophy count and Ryan Bertrand also won the Champions League with Chelsea. But Southgate’s point is broadly correct.
And among the squad there seems to be an acceptance that support and trust will have to be earned and that the process after ten years of abject failure culminating in the Iceland performance, will take time.
Judging by the paper aeroplane throwing contest which supplanted the football for most of the Wembley crowd on Thursday night, there is not an enormous supply of enthusiasm for this team.
‘Fans are hard to please sometimes, but we’ll do our best,’ said Dier. ‘It doesn’t really bother me what they do. We had one objective [on Thursday] which was to win the game and qualify for the World Cup, and we did that.
‘I don’t think we can do much more than that. There is still a lot to improve on and I don’t think anyone is going to say to the contrary. Luckily we have a lot of time to do that.
‘The Euros in France wasn’t a very good experience and as a team we have a lot to prove to ourselves, to everyone. And we have a lot of people to prove wrong as well.
‘We are trying our best to do well and you can’t say anyone is not giving their best. As a Spurs player, that’s what I dream of, winning the Premier League and then with England that is the dream as well, to win something with England.
‘I want to go to the World Cup and try to win every game there. If I am lucky enough to go, that will be my mentality and hopefully the team as well.’
Dier is right to dream but wrong if he thinks doing their best will be enough. Of course it is all they can do and the standard to which they have to aspire.
But the unpalatable truth may be that collectively, with Southgate leading, they simply aren’t good enough to get out of a World Cup group.
The next chapter in England’s long and often depressing story is about to be told. They can hope that the latest generation can change the narrative arc to bring it to a brighter conclusion.