Southgate faces tough decisions as England keep an eye on Europe
Friendlies tend to offer an opportunity to investigate. For Gareth Southgate today, some of the experimentation is enforced by circumstances, but it will take on a greater significance. The meeting with the Republic of Ireland, itself a late addition to the calendar after New Zealand pulled out, is currently England’s last friendly in the diary.
There may well be others before Euro 2020, but difficult decisions lurk ahead. Southgate has a 28- man squad, which will have to be reduced to 23 next summer.
It is harder because those 28 do not include injured players like Trent Alexander-Arnold, Kalvin Phillips, James WardProwse, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Danny Ings, nor the more contentious omissions like James Maddison and Mason Greenwood.
Strength in depth is generally a blessing, but it can be a burden and when perhaps 40 players have a realistic case for selection, Southgate will have the unenviable task of conveying bad news to plenty.
It is a chance to make a decisive step forward for some fringe figures before the regulars are likelier to be parachuted back in for the Nations League.
Reece James, who contrived to make both a positive and a negative impression against Denmark last month, feels paradoxically guaranteed to start because of his indiscipline.
A red card after the final whistle gives him a Nations League suspension, after being England’s best player in the preceding 90 minutes, and his place in the squad was with today in mind. He suits Southgate’s switch to 3-4-3.
On the other flank, it feels as if the Arsenal teammates Ainsley Maitland- Niles and Bukayo Saka may be competing for the place in the squad as the back-up left wing-back. Maitland-Niles was the luckless man sacrificed after Harry Maguire’s first-half sending-off against Denmark; in a sense he deserves the extended outing of a full game.
His misfortune was camouflaged by the controversy of Jack Grealish’s status as an unused substitute.
The outstanding figure in England’s last friendly, a 3-0 win over Wales, has been a spectator since.
The Aston Villa captain is behind Raheem Sterling, Jadon Sancho, Marcus Rashford and Mason Mount, thus imperilling his position in a smaller squad. Southgate does not feel convinced.
Others have a chance to cement their place. Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Ings both opened their England accounts against Wales but the Everton centre- forward appeared the preferred candidate for the spot as Harry Kane’s deputy even before the Southampton striker was sidelined.
Conor Coady, a recent cap but a beneficiary of the change in shape and a rookie who has already worn the armband, is in favour, but that could leave Tyrone Mings and Michael Keane competing for one spot in a smaller squad. Nick Pope or Dean Henderson, meanwhile, could stake a case to displace the erratic Jordan Pickford in goal.
The recall of Phil Foden, exiled after his off-field antics in Iceland, highlights how England have a generation of young talent who are untried on this stage. But Southgate has cast experience aside before and the reprieved Foden has the chance to leapfrog his elders. So, too, does Jude Bellingham, the replacement for Ward-Prowse. The 17-yearold has excelled for Borussia Dortmund but would still represent a late bolter. But perceptions could change dramatically in 90 minutes.