Five Things Gareth Southgate Needs To Address Before The World Cup

Five Things Gareth Southgate Needs To Address Before The World Cup
12:04, 09 Oct 2017

England reaching the World Cup should never be met with cries of ‘what’s the point?’, but it certainly feels that way after underwhelming 1-0 wins over Slovenia and Lithuania.

It’s coming up to a year since Gareth Southgate was given the job on a permanent basis; almost his first words upon doing so were that he had “inherited a mess”. He was not just alluding to the farcical departure of Sam Allardyce, though it arguably set the tone for the uncertainty that has followed the national team since.

When a fleet of paper aeroplanes and a pitch invader received bigger cheers from a Wembley crowd than Harry Kane’s winning goal, there are issues but let’s attempt to start with the positives. The Three Lions are off to Russia next year, and Marcus Rashford continues to shine beyond his years. Kyle Walker provided a brilliant ball into the box in stoppage time, Kane got on the end of it, and it eventually wriggled under Jan Oblak and across the line.

Just as Theresa May’s most loyal supporters might praise her for ‘soldering on’ in her speech despite a completely ridiculous performance, then so should England receive some credit for persevering until the very end.

Southgate has between now and June to ensure that at the very least, his side give a good account of themselves next summer.

Tedium should not be a talking point

No energy, not a lot of movement, and sloppy in possession. Not for 20 years have the Three Lions been mouth-watering to watch or inspirational, yet what was most disappointing about the latest lacklustre display was that it came as no surprise at all. It’s little wonder Wembley was a third empty. By all accounts, Southgate is not as the popular image of him would suggest, the sheepish face of mediocrity embodied, but he needs to instil that winning mentality and a culture where the players look like they’re enjoying themselves.

Henderson or Dier, not both

It was a cautious move to go with both Jordan Henderson and Eric Dier. On the one hand, the pair could provide a dominant centre-midfield partnership that is very difficult to get past. The reality, unfortunately, is there just isn’t enough forward play in that axis and their continued short balls out wide didn’t create much. Harry Winks was a welcome change in the dead rubber against Lithuania, or even dare we say, a player like Jack Wilshere could fulfil that role. If he recovers from a hamstring injury and has a decent second half of the season, it may even be worth dropping Ross Barkley deeper – as Mauricio Pochettino reportedly wants to do if he brings the Everton playmaker to Tottenham.

The captaincy

Here Southgate should adopt the same tactic as his players – when in doubt, give it to Kane. Even if it’s not entirely clear whether the Tottenham striker is ready to step up, he is one of the few guaranteed his place for the foreseeable future and the armband could be what he needs to take him to the next level as a leader. Flittering between the Spurs man and Henderson is doing neither player, nor the rest of the team, who look lost, any favours.

Raheem Sterling

When he plays like he can for Manchester City, the 22-year-old can be a huge asset. The manager can’t always be blamed for his players underperforming on international duty, but it’s now up to Southgate to get the best out of Sterling, especially in games when Dele Alli is unavailable.

Does Southgate know his best XI?

It wasn’t exactly a glory era, but Sven knew – give or take a couple of positions – what his best starting XI was. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was a surprise starter last night and it’s safe to say that was a mistake. It’s a real shame the winger, central midfielder, wing-back – whatever he’s supposed to be now – is lacking confidence as he was just starting to come into his own during his final full season at Arsenal. One area that Southgate should be decided on is his goalkeeper. Despite the clamour for Jack Butland from some fans, Joe Hart pulled off a fine double save and earned himself Man of the Match.

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