Gareth sticks to his Plan B

GARETH SOUTHGATE has got a bit of stick for England’s performance against Belgium. But it is not deserved.

To England fans who are moaning, saying it was boring, Gareth is basically trying to wargame what it would be like against Belgium in a World Cup semi-final. That is a wise thing to do.

He has created a successful Plan B. Sit in our own half, draw teams on, hit them on the counter. We have Rashford, Sterling,

Grealish, Sancho to do that. We have pace to burn. That is a good plan B.

What happens in a semi-final when Brazil are giving you the runaround? You draw the sting out of a team.

In the quarter-final or semis of a tournament you won’t be walloping teams.

Gareth (above) is looking at different players and systems. He is using the squad and trying things.

He has shown tactical flexibility, and says sometimes we won’t have the ball, let’s try doing this to see if we have the staff to absorb a team.

We won the game 2-1, a bit of luck, against one of the best teams in the world.

It was a good exercise. Maybe against Denmark he’ll try four attackers and have a good go.

I don’t think the Belgium game was boring. I think we saw how able we were to employ a Plan B when we were struggling.

Repeat that in a semi-final and no one would complain.