THE MAN WHO TOOK AWAY THE FEAR OF PLAYING FOR ENGLAND
Daring Southgate’s mantra has been making of a dynamic team
GARETH Southgate seems to remain a danger to himself. Asked late on Monday night why he was sporting a dressing on his left thumb, an England manager who managed to dislocate his shoulder while out running during the World Cup revealed that he had injured himself slicing bread earlier that day.
It is, however, the only time he puts a foot — or in this case a digit — wrong. The stunning 3-2 victory in Seville provided further vindication for the changes he has implemented since taking charge of the national team.
Southgate acknowledged the significance of conquering a side of Spain’s stature, the importance even for young players already buoyed by the progress they made in Russia in the summer.
‘I think it’s a great reference point for them,’ he said. ‘ The players progressed through a lot of barriers in the summer: first knockout win in a decade, first penalty shootout win.
‘The next barriers were... OK, we’ve got to start knocking these top teams down.
‘We’ve had an unprecedented run of fixtures really. Of our last 10 matches, seven have been against top-10 nations and our last six games have all been huge, highquality opponents.
‘I think some of the performances, or 45 minute spells within some of those, have been very good. But we haven’t pieced together enough to win other than the game with Switzerland, which was a bit of a different situation.’
For Southgate, however, it is about more than ticking boxes, more than breaking down the barriers that had become such a psychological burden for England.
‘I’m so pleased with the two performances this week, in that we’ve played firstly on a difficult surface with some confidence (in Croatia),’ the manager (below) said. ‘ And tonight against top opposition in quite a hostile environment.
‘We played with real courage right from the goalkeeper through the team and had the courage to take the ball. We weren’t perfect. We conceded possession at times. But they were brave enough to keep doing it.
‘To play out of that press that Spain put on you, the first couple of passes are so key. Once you get out of that you’ve the chance to hurt them and our front three were exceptional.’
He praised his players for their bravery, and rightly so, but what about the courage he too has displayed? What about the decision to select a goalkeeper of Jordan Pickford’s international inexperience for the World Cup?
What about the bold selection of Harry Winks for this Nations League encounter? The young Tottenham midfielder was matched only by Kieran Trippier for the number of passes for England — 35 in all — but proved significantly more accurate.
‘Well, we’re asking the players to be fearless and if we’re asking them to be like that, you’ve got to embody that as a leader,’ he said.
‘But also I wouldn’t pick them if I didn’t think they could play. We’re not asking them to do something that’s beyond them.
‘But you’ve got to give them the belief as well to go and do it, and I think collectively that belief is starting to come.
‘We’ve won matches like this in the past, but maybe not played quite in the same style as the team did tonight. There are young ones coming through who will see that and see what we’re trying to do.’
Clearly they are well prepared. A victory like this, against a side coached by a Champions League winner, does not happen by accident. ‘ They know the threat that the opposition will pose and they know the areas we can exploit,’ he said in terms of the way his team are prepared. ‘ But then they have to go and do it. It’s huge credit to some very young players, the likes of Ben Chilwell and Harry Winks especially, to go and play with the confidence they did.’
For Southgate such ‘ positive experiences’ are precious when it comes to the impact they can have on a squad psychologically.
It can ‘ change perceptions’, reinforce belief.
‘I am particularly pleased for the front three because they have rightly been questioned over some aspects of their game,’ said Southgate. ‘Their hold-up play was excellent, their movement was terrific, their decision-making in general was very good and the quality of the goals was top.’
So where does this victory rank — as good as that 5-1 demolition of Germany in 2001? Southgate was also sitting on the bench in Munich that day, so he is well qualified to judge.
‘ The problem with that is Germany went on to the World Cup final and we did not get that far, did we?’ he said, even if England were eliminated by the same Brazil side that then crushed Germany in the final.
‘I get the reference and it is difficult for the players to fully understand what they have done because Spain have had such a run without losing and had real momentum with the new coach.
‘But we won’t get carried away because we weren’t perfect tonight. We conceded two really poor goals so there are areas in which we could get better.’
That said, the positives far outweighed the negatives. ‘If your goalkeeper can’t (play out from the back), you can’t play that way; simple,’ he said. ‘And if you don’t have the players with that technique, you can’t play that way.
‘They have caused huge problems to some very good players and they have shown courage with their mentality.
‘A couple of players in their team have got more caps between them than our entire squad.’
The experience England do possess, though, was put to good use. Southgate shared a nice story about Raheem Sterling and how he has responded to the recruitment of Jadon Sancho.
‘After the game the other night Raheem went straight over to Jadon in the dressing room and congratulated him on his first cap,’ said Southgate.
‘It would be very easy for him to say, “actually he’s competition for me and I’m going to just put him to one side”. But in training yesterday he was passing on advice to him and that sort of embodies the spirit of the group.
‘For the young ones who come in it’s a really comfortable environment. The other players make them feel so welcome, which is crucial if we’re going to have any success.’
‘We’re asking players to be fearless and if we’re asking them, you’ve got to embody that as a leader’ — Gareth Southgate