Southgate shows his ruthless side with Walker call
ONE of the many impressive things about Gareth Southgate is that he can make even the most baffling decision sound entirely logical.
He would make a great salesman. Snow to the eskimos and all that.
He plays a decent game and talks an even better r one.
He speaks sense on all matters. If you had polled the nation n post- World Cup, , Southgate would have been a popular option as a potential Prime Minister.
The England team m has done well under er his stewardship and Southgate has done e even better.
It was, indeed, a fine achievement to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup but the fact is that England were beaten by the two very good teams they met in Russia – Belgium and Croatia. Post-World Cup, England have been good, although their progression stalled in the Nations League finals in Portugal.
Few excelled in the defeat against Holland and certainly not Kyle Walker, even though he was not the most culpable in the 3-1 defeat.
Sure, he h scored an own goal, but b that was in his atte attempt to lessen the im impact of a John St Stones error.
Walker was then l left out of the s starting line-up for t the third place p lay- of f against Sw Switzerland and has now been dropped from the t entire squad. M Making ki it pretty clear he now sees Trent Alexander-Arnold as his first- choice right- back, Southgate said Walker is a “senior player who will value the rest and recovery as much as anything else”. Walker is 29, in his prime and it would not surprise you if he was the fittest player at Manchester City.
Even though City have recruited a £60million full-back in Joao Cancelo, Pep Guardiola has faith in Walker.
In just over two seasons under Guardiola, Walker has made 105 appearances for City.
After an uncertain spell at the start of their opening game at West Ham, Walker has been in fine form.
That Southgate should prefer Alexander-Arnold is understandable.
He was the best player on the park in England’s last match and has been outstanding for Liverpool.
And Southgate has a preference for younger players, who have come through England’s development teams.
That is why Mason Mount was always going to get the nod. Alexander- Arnold is, indeed, the future, but Walker is no has-been. No wonder Guardiola was surprised
Walker was shelved by Southgate. Again, he skilfully justified the inclusion of Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Kieran Trippier and suggested there was no point having Walker along if he was not going to start.
Southgate said Walker understood the reasoning, but you can bet he was fairly crushed by the decision.
In a mildly amusing short video for the BBC this week, Walker responds to a question about whether he would prefer to win the Champions League or the World Cup.
The answer is glory with his country. Unequivocally.
He had a sight of it in the summer of last year, but that is as close as Walker is now going to get.
There might be a way back. Trippier has been recalled, don’t forget, and Southgate said, “We could be in a different space in four weeks’ time.” But this feels like the international end for Walker.
And, as well as he might explain it, that is a brutal call from a ruthless England manager.