Andy Woodman, Gareth Southgate’s best man at his wedding and former Crystal Palace team-mate, sums it up best. ‘Gareth’s always been too nice or his own good,’ surmised Woodman. ‘I’ve told him on many occasions: “There are times, mate, when you have to be a bastard. Situations when it pays to be cynical.” Might as well have been talking to a wall.’
However, that was in 2003, when the pair of them wrote a joint book detailing their footballing friendship. A lot of football has been played since then, a lot of life lived. Southgate has been lauded as a national treasure and alternative Prime Minister sine that book was written. And lambasted as a ‘fraud’ and the ‘man who cost us the Euros.’
So, the England manager would have changed and hardened with life experience since the age of 33 anyway but it was noticeable that he was in uncharacteristically belligerent mood ahead of England’s last two UEFA Nations League games against Italy and Germany in September.
England manager Gareth Southgate has often been branded ‘too nice’ when making decisions
The 52-year-old admitted earlier this year that he needed to stop making compromises
Hearing the damning chorus of ‘You’re getting sacked in the morning’ last summer from England fans after the dismal 4-0 defeat to Hungary at Molineux last June sharpened his senses. Not before time, Woodman would presumably say.
Pondering his mistakes over the summer, he basically came to the conclusion that he was too nice. ‘I felt I compromised certain decisions internally, and you don’t win if you compromise,’ said Southgate. ‘It was good for me to sharpen that focus again, because what we’re going into, we’ve got to be completely ruthless.’
Southgate declined to say what exactly was bugging him and where he had compromised, leading to a frenzy of suggestions. But since then it is noticeable that he has stopped messing around with a back four, despite the clamour from many of us in the written press for him to adjust. Back five it is, and that’s that.
England are almost certainly set to defend first and play a back five (or three) out in Qatar
It was as if he previously had been sub consciously attempting to accommodate his critics, with a Trent Alexander-Arnold appearance here and an attacking 4-2-3-1 formation there. (Ironically the injuries of Kyle Walker and Reece James have taken the heat out that particular hot potato and Alexander-Arnold will go and maybe even play).
But Southgate, and his influential assistant, Steve Holland, have their plan for Qatar. It will be pretty much the same one they had for Euro 2020: 5-3-2 (3-4-3 if you’re being kind) and dare the opposition to make more mistakes than England do.
They have been greatly influenced by a tactical review that FA commissioned of France’s win at the 2018 World Cup, which suggests most major tournaments are won by teams that avoid errors, rather than those who commit to entertain, a story as old as football itself, as the 1974 Dutch team and 1982 Brazilians can testify. Southgate too will face the accusation, as France manager Didier Deschamps did, that he is not utilising his hugely-gifted attackers to the full.
Deschamps didn’t care much as he oversaw the victory parade along the Champs Elysee in in July 2018.
Southgate and Steve Holland (left) will try and get teams to make more mistakes than England
Southgate seems more confident in himself at present, telling European newspapers yesterday that anything other than a semi-final or final appearance at Qatar would be regarded as disappointment.
So no more Mr Nice Guy, as James Maddison and Jadon Sancho will likely discover on Thursday morning. Maddison has become the great England hope, a role previously occupied by Ross Barkley, Matt Le Tissier and Alan Hudson, the flawed creative on whom malcontents can pin their frustrations. If only Don Revie, Glenn Hoddle, Roy Hodgson had picked their cause célèbre, all would be well with England. Their reputations tend to grow with omission.
His hopeful supporters should remember Maddison’s one England cap came in November 2019. That ship has sailed.
Sancho, entrusted with a penalty at the Euro final in July 2021, was last involved in a squad in October 2021 and hasn’t done enough since then to convince. Even though he looked to be England’s most-talented wide player, Southgate has always seemingly been a sceptic and the reports that he found lack of game time difficult during the Euro 2020 camp won’t have helped his cause. Major tournaments require understanding, patient tourists.
Another Euro 2020 penalty taker who might be expecting better news is Marcus Rashford, who might equally thank Erik ten Hag. The decision to play him centrally at Manchester United for several games and Rashford’s ability to rise to that challenge has sparked a renaissance.
Marcus Rashford could be set to earn a recall to England’s squad for the Qatar World Cup
It is unlikely either James Maddison (left) or Jadon Sancho will be named in the 26-man squad
Southgate will wincing at every challenge Harry Kane makes on Sunday against Liverpool, Nottingham Forest and Leeds this week. Never has there been a better time to make a case for being an alternative centre forward and Rashford is making that case more convincingly than Tammy Abraham. And he can play wide. Despite missing out in September’s squad, Rashford can expect a recall.
The players who on Thursday morning will be getting the a phone call from Southgate will be the ones missing out. He still is enough of a nice guy to break bad news as personally as he can. No phone call is good news. The lucky players will be informed by the ping of a text.
The fringe players waiting nervously for the dreaded call will be James Ward-Prowse, Conor Gallagher, Abraham, Ivan Toney, Jarrod Bowen, Marc Guehi and Fikayo Tomori. There will undoubtedly some discussion over Harvey Elliott. 19, who would have a legitimate claim to be one of England’s top-performing midfielders this season.
England forward and captain Harry Kane will lead the line for the Three Lions in Qatar
But Southgate isn’t a springer of great surprises when it comes to the serious business of tournament squads. Known players, a steady presence, such as James Ward Prowse, is more likely.
Ben White, who might have been include on that list of nervous nearly men has made a late charge and is likely to make the 26, thanks to Arsenal form and the implosion in right-back strength. Indeed, how to deal with the injured players will be the issue that has most preoccupied Southgate, Holland and fellow assistants Paul Nevin, Martyn Margetson and Chris Powell.
Kyle Walker seems a definite inclusion despite having groin surgery in early October. Pep Guardiola says he will be fit he has already began running in straight lines. Although he won’t make England’s early games, he can commence multi-directional running, followed by full contact in Qatar and is such a vital part of the back three that, in a squad of 26, it isn’t even a risk to take him.
Kalvin Phillips is more marginal. He last played in mid September, has undergone shoulder surgery and though Guardola says he will be fit, can he really be match fit? In his favour, a shoulder injury allows for much more running, so his conditioning should be good.
Ben White (left) and Kyle Walker (right) are both set to be included in Southgate’s final squad
Kalvin Phillips hasn’t played since September through injury and could miss out on a place
He was a key player at Euro 2020 and was nailed on to start until Jude Belligham’s emergence. The extra three players allowed in a squad of 26 means Southgate can risk at least one wild card. England are light in their central midfield positions, beyond Bellingham and Declan Rice, so Phillips will go, even if just to see out ten minutes of a game.
Reece James though seems a risk too far. On 15th October, Chelsea said he would be out for eight weeks. That would take him up to December 10th, the weekend of the quarter-finals, a stage some sceptics suspect England won’t reach anyway.
His knee injury means he still has to use a brace and can only do pool and gym work in Dubai, where is rehabilitating. James remains hopeful and maybe Southgate will make room for a third injured player but at some point, you have to draw a line and accept reality.
Similarly with Chelsea team-mate Ben Chilwell, who accepted his World Cup hopes were over yesterday, a bitter pill having fought back from a cruciate knee ligament injury. A pulled hamstring in the last minutes of the Champions League dead rubber against Dinamo Zagreb is a cruel way to go. ‘I worked so hard to make sure I was ready for the World Cup,’ Chilwell tweeted yesterday. ‘It has always been a dream of mine. Unfortunately this won’t be possible following my scan results.’
Reece James will almost certainly be absent after undergoing surgery on a knee injury
Left back Ben Chilwell has been ruled out of the tournament for definite with a hamstring issue
Southgate has Luke Shaw and Keiran Trippier can double up at left back. Maybe a door has just opened to James Justin or Tyrick Mitchell as back up, who may be hastily rearranging holiday plans, though Southgate has previously seemed sceptical whether anyone other than Shaw or Trippier were good enough to play there.
Chilwell’s injury came too late in the day. Had this been a normal world Cup and had these injuries been sustained in the last days of the Premier League season, players would have had a three or four week break before the World Cup started and so you could build in more recovery time.
Yet this is World Cup like no other and not in a good way, before Qatar 2022 leap on that as a marketing slogan. Corrupt FIFA executives awarded the game’s most prestigious tournament to a country which would build its infrastructure on the backs of dead labourers, while FIFA and its fat cats got rich. ‘Focus on the football now,’ was the message from FIFA President Gianni Infantino last week.
Southgate will have to do so as he oversees team meetings this week. However, the fact that he will have to hide behind the sofa while watching his players perform, knowing that the slightest knock could jeopardise his squad selection, is to be reminded of the corporate greed, rampant global corruption and disdain for human rights at the heart of Qatar 2022.
