SOUTHGATE GETTING ‘GOLDEN’ INSIGHT
England manager seeks inputs from Scholes and Co to help current players fulfil their potential
LONDON while Lampard achieved great longevity but probably has his best tournament at Euro 2004.
Southgate will consider speaking to the likes of Steven Gerrard, David Beckham and Rio Ferdinand in a bid to understand why players can perform so well at club level but were part of an England team which stalled at the quarter final stage of major tournaments.
“This is one of the great challenges,” said Southgate. “I was talking to Paul Scholes briefly the other day and trying to pick his brains. We were staying at the same hotel, I was at Cobham for a Premier League event and he was at Wentworth playing in the golf. Some of the lads who have just finished playing — Frank, Paul, one or two others — I really want to get a feel about what they think about England.
“Paul, by his own admission, didn’t quite play the same way for England as he did with his club. There’s something around feeling comfortable with the environment. Paul mentioned that at United he knew when and where people were going to make the runs. He knew the type of service he was going to get and which passes to make.
“That’s part of the challenge with the international team. So if Harry Kane is playing with Dele Alli for example there are natural connections around that. I think Harry is a player who thrives on having people close to him as well in supporting positions. A combination of some of those things.
“I think the clearer we are as a team on positional roles and responsibilities the more that helps all of the players to fulfil their potential.
“Frank, I haven’t spoken to directly but I’ve been reading comments and heard what he’s said. It’s important to get a feel of what those guys felt. They were a team that won so much in terms of their club career on the biggest of stages and didn’t quite get where they wanted to with England.
“That said, should quarter finals be underestimated now? I’ve read Frank talking about playing in a way that was expected of them, rather than the way that got the best from him.
“I have to think about the environment I create for the players to allow them to be as good as they can be, and tactical system that would allow that to happen as well, but it is probably the mind-set and environment as much as anything. These are lads I played with and respect hugely so I’d like more insight into what they were thinking.”
Southgate, who has a tight coaching team at present, with Steve Holland now full time assistant, having given up his role with Chelsea, and Martyn Margetson as goalkeeping coach, also has the flexibility to bring in some of those players, such as Gerrard, Lampard and Ferdinand, who are taking courses to qualify as coaches, to join up with the squad at times to take sessions and speak to the current generation.
“There are opportunities to do that,” said Southgate. “The balance of that is right. Some of the lads played with this team, so is it too recent? We have always got to be thinking about passing on the stories of playing and what it meant and the pride in playing for England.
“There’s messages around that, what they feel was good or might have been better. Some of that is good for the players to hear, some is good for the younger players and some is good for the coaches.
“I want the flexibility to bring the right people in for different areas of work or discussions. Steve starts full time now which is fantastic because I was always mindful of his commitments with the club.
“Now he is fully focused on what we’re doing here. Everything else I’ve wanted to leave open because I’m not certain at what point what sort of input we want. In different moments on the journey you need different messages and different inputs.
“I’d like to speak to all of the players from that generation. You get chance meetings with people and as a coach you’re always wanting to dig into their minds on what were their thoughts about those sorts of things.
“I said before the last camp, we can’t leave any stone unturned over what can we put in place, what we need to put in place, in terms of what’s happened in the past.” Daily Mail