Things England must do to have a prayer in Qatar
1. KNOW THE STARTING XI
EnGLanD have one game left tonight before they begin their World Cup campaign against Iran and Gareth Southgate still doesn’t know his strongest starting XI. Most of the positions are still up for grabs.
England have been way too cautious recently and against Germany they need to play without fear. They aren’t going to sack Southgate — that would just be stupid on the eve of the World Cup and he’s got enough credit in the bank. Southgate is a ‘ horses for courses’ man and I doubt he’ll change his approach, so now more than ever he needs full faith in his style and clarity with his system.
Tonight isn’t all about the result, even though a win would calm the nerves. It’s about being dominant, assured and composed and bringing back confidence. right now there’s not a person in the country who thinks England can win the World Cup.
2. LIFT THE CONFIDENCE
FrIDay night was a tough watch. at times, I found myself wanting to switch over to Channel 5. We all know those players can play and we’ve seen them perform time and again but they desperately need a performance in England colours.
Bar a few moments once Italy went ahead, there was a real lack of belief in their play. apart from Phil Foden,
jude Bellingham and Harry Kane, none of them were really showing for the ball. It all felt a bit passive.
The stat of one goal in their last five games is hugely worrying. Tonight they’ve got to go out there with a ‘f*** it, it can’t get any worse’ mindset. Because at the moment, it’s hard to watch. With Foden, Bellingham and raheem Sterling and the quality they have, all it takes is a moment to unlock that confidence.
3. CREATE MORE OPPORTUNITIES
onE of the glaring things across these nations League games is the lack of chances England have created. james Maddison must come into contention — Gareth would be foolish to ignore him.
Bar Harry Kane, no English player has more goals and assists since the start of last season. His creativity is what England could do with. The other interesting one is Ivan Toney. you select him for the squad but don’t even put him on the bench the other night, which I thought was a bit strange. Surely it couldn’t have got worse than it was already?
It was the ideal scenario to bring him on after his terrific start to the season and you’d hope he gets at least a rehearsal tonight. Toney has to play a part against Germany otherwise what’s the point in calling him up?
4. MAKE A CALL ON MAGUIRE
IT’S clearly not ideal. Southgate needs to make his mind up if he hasn’t already because I doubt Maguire gets back into Erik ten Hag’s side between now and november. Eric Dier’s had a good start to the season and he was impressive at the San Siro. john Stones should be back tonight and Fikayo Tomori is playing well for aC Milan.
Maguire’s done well for England in the past but at this moment in time, Southgate’s got to do what’s right for him and the team going into the World Cup. I suspect that if Maguire doesn’t get back into the Manchester United side, it won’t be a surprise to see him on the bench in Qatar.
Southgate must make that decision sooner rather than later. It’s an interesting one because there’s no reason for Ten Hag to throw Maguire in if it’s going to affect the balance in his side.
5. FIND FORM…AND FAST
IT’S not ideal at the moment. Too many of Southgate’s preferred players are out of form and not playing regularly for their clubs. Both Maguire and Luke Shaw are struggling for game time at United and so are Chelsea’s Ben Chilwell and Mason Mount.
It would be a disaster not to progress from a group which England have a strong chance of topping so it’s important England hit the ground running. If the players find form at the right time, England may fly but a performance tonight will settle people down. Then again, we said that before Italy and that made things worse. Maybe it will all click in time. Let’s hope so.
6. SORT THE WING-BACKS
yoU can’t keep chopping and changing. Southgate needs to forget playing Saka as a left wing-back and be fair to him. When they played Germany in the Euros, Saka was a right forward. It’s a really big ask for Saka to play in a completely different position to where he plays for his club and arsenal are flying down that right flank.
That’s not a criticism of Saka — I don’t think it was fair on him or good for England. The issue Southgate has is that Shaw isn’t playing enough so maybe he will go for Kieran Trippier as left wing-back. I can’t see him shifting to a back four. on the other side, reece james hasn’t exactly torn up any trees this season but neither has Trent alexander-arnold.