England may revert to a back three and must stymie Italy’s menacing left flank – but set pieces could hold the keyBefore every game, the biggest question has been whether Gareth Southgate should go with a back three or a back four. Block in the opposing wing-/full-backs or give them a defensive problem? There is no definitive answer. Related: Gareth Southgate’s special qualities can be lost amid political squabbles | Barney Ronay Related: England’s origin stories: this is where football came home from Continue reading...
England’s World Cup-winning coach changed team and tactics as he alone saw fit, and his successor at Euro 2020 does likewiseAlf Ramsey was not a man much given to drama, but when he read out the team for England’s final warm-up friendly before the 1966 World Cup, away to Poland in Chorzow, the players noted a distinct pause before he delivered the 11th name.Alan Ball was in on the right, so everybody assumed that meant a conventional winger on the left, probably Terry Paine. But Ramsey’s grand reveal was a genuine surprise: Martin Peters. As he had against Spain the previous December, Ramsey was going without wingers. For only the second time in history, England would play 4-4-2. Related: Gareth...
How to counter Joshua Kimmich and Robin Gosens is one of a string of conundrums the England manager must solveNothing in football is ever straightforward. There are few rights and few wrongs; almost everything is contingent. But even within that context, England’s game against Germany on Tuesday is hard to pin down. There are few certainties for either side; rather this is two swarms of questions buzzing into each other.At least with Germany, there is relative certainty about the shape. Joachim Löw has vacillated between a back three and a back four since the World Cup debacle before finally settling on a 3-4-3, in which the real strength is the attacking prowess of the wing-backs, Joshua Kimmich and Robin Gosens....
The throttle must be revved and talent expressed by Gareth Southgate, because it is also the way to winThere is an odd, rather overlooked detail about the recent progress of the England football team. Gareth Southgate has picked 10 different full-back combinations for England’s last 11 internationals. Yes, really. Ten!This has been a giddy two-year journey through James-Shaw, Walker-Trippier, Godfrey-Shaw, Alexander-Arnold-Trippier, Walker-Chilwell, Walker-Shaw, James-Chilwell, Walker-Trippier, Trippier-Chilwell, James-Saka, and James-Maitland Niles. It is a tale of faff, vacillation (and unavailability) that has culminated in the baffling gambit of selecting four different full-backs for the opening two group games of Euro 2020. One question presents itself: why? Related: Raheem Sterling shuts out the noise and takes positives from Southgate | David Hytner...
Yet another defeat to pacy counterattackers raises tantalising questions over Manchester City’s European tie with PSGAnd so the quadruple remains out of reach for another season. Perhaps Pep Guardiola is right to banish talk of it: when goals are set so high, even an extraordinary season could feel like failure. And so it lingers, forever on the edge of perception, as the Double did for Liverpool for much of the 70s and 80s, something that feels often in their grasp and yet keeps on eluding them.For a long time, the Double was rare enough to be an almost mystical quest. Growing up in the 80s, the sides who had achieved it felt vaguely otherworldly, to be spoken of in hushed...