Top six points on Gareth Southgate’s World Cup agenda

Ross Gibson

Manager Gareth Southgate has several key elements to manage in the lead-up to – and during – England’s World Cup campaign in Russia. Here are five of the most key points…

 

He doesn’t want to treat his players like children, insisting on strict curfews and discipline more appropriate for children than adults:

“Before Euro 96, I had three days in Magaluf with Aston Villa, so it would be a bit hypocritical to discuss what the correct preparation was. They need a switch off and I don’t see an issue with it. Most have gone away with their partners and they have young kids anyway. But those that don’t, they are physically in good shape, they need a mental switch off,” says Southgate.

“It can’t just be 24-hours a day football. Obviously there is some trust in that which has to be respected, but I think they know where that sits. You are creating an adult environment.

His team have to get beyond the group stage and then fix their focus on advancing further

“We have to think about what is possible and how far we can go. We have been competitive against four big countries in the last few months, but we haven’t beaten them all and we did not get to a quarter-final in the last tournament,” recalls Southgate.

“There is improvement we have to make, but I don’t want to inhibit things. The team isn’t far away from being close to peaking, but they haven’t had those experiences at major tournaments yet.”

Jetlag and other travel fatigue might catch up with the players

Southgate chose the northern town of Repino, which might make their Group G Belgium, Tunisia and Panama somewhat trickier.

He has chosen the squad and will soon need it to gel well

“I believe this is an England squad we can feel excited about. I have a mix of youth and experience and I feel the balance of the squad is good, in terms of its character and in terms of its positional balance,” insists Southgate.

“We have a lot of energy and athleticism in the team, but players that are equally comfortable in possession of the ball. The style of play we’ve been looking to develop has been over months, not just the last few weeks. The team are improving – we want to continue that momentum in our friendlies and into the World Cup.”

How he will get Dele Alli into the starting XI, if at all

“I have a problem because I have Marcus Rashford, Jesse Lingard, Raheem Sterling, Harry Kane, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Jamie Vardy, so there is a huge choice. There is no reason Alli will not come and he can make a huge impact there. He has the ability and I am looking forward to seeing him over the next few weeks,” adds Southgate.

“We want competition for places, but there was no ulterior motive to leaving him out. We wanted to look at Raheem again but Dele is still an important player for us. He is in the mix.”

The inter-club rivalry among squad members will require astute management

“Most have grown up playing together in the junior teams and, at the moment, I don’t think we have that intense rivalry between two clubs that has existed in the past. At meal times, they all sit with each other from different clubs. There’s one or two who are closer than others; you rarely see Jesse and Marcus without them holding hands,” says Southgate.

“They get on and that’s a start point, but at times I think they get on too well. The next stage, as a team, is they get on that well that they start to pull each other, raise standards of how we train, get hold of each other on the pitch. Just getting on isn’t enough. We’ve got to go deeper than that.”