England’s manager has handled the Raheem Sterling incident well but cynics might argue it was an easy step for this fixtureGareth Southgate and England have just dealt with a modern problem in a pleasingly modern way. Over the course of 999 previous internationals it stretches credulity to imagine nothing like the contretemps between Raheem Sterling and Joe Gomez has been seen before, but the vast majority of England get-togethers took place in eras when it was perfectly possible and reasonable to hush things up and keep any small-scale disturbances in house.These days that is not so easy, and before social media could have a field day with speculation and jigsaw identification England fronted up and laid the matter to rest....
Change is good but the England manager’s tactical tinkering is starting to feel reckless as the Euro 2020 defeat in Prague shows“At that moment, Svejk looked as if he had fallen down from the skies from another planet and was now looking with a naive wonder at a new world, where people were demanding from him idiotic questions he had never heard before.” Jaroslav Hasek’s great Czech comic novel The Good Soldier Svejk follows its amiable hero through the contortions of central Europe during the first world war. Its real subject, though, is human folly, human conflict and the absurdity of human attempts to manage the chaos. At which point cut to Mason Mount on Friday night in Prague, another...
Younger players are heading further afield as a path to first-team football and it’s benefiting national teamsG areth Southgate was still beaming when he arrived at the ground. There had been just enough time to watch Ben Stokes produce the innings of a lifetime to lead England’s cricket team to victory in the Ashes third Test before the manager of England’s football team left his hotel and made the 12km journey south to Leganés. It was late August, he had come to see Kieran Trippier play for Atlético Madrid and by the end of a good day for English sport, he decided he liked what he saw. Four days later, the full-back returned to the national squad.Trippier started in the...
Individual mistakes that gifted Kosovo goals will worry Gareth Southgate but there is no reason to think they will be repeated come the real thing next summerWhen Gareth Southgate sat down to meet the media in the Terry Paine lounge at St Mary’s on Tuesday night, the topic in hand was human error.Such a debate would normally offer great insight for all of us, given our proclivity for mistakes in the most unexpected (and expected) of circumstances. But this was specifically to do with the errors of human footballers, and the very best footballers at that, so the learnings for mere mortals were limited. However much you might wish to put yourself in Declan Rice’s shoes, in a very real...
In the 4-0 win against Bulgaria, England’s forwards proved too hot to handle and again underlined their potential as the team breezes through Euro 2020 qualifyingIt wasn’t thrilling. It wasn’t much of a spectacle. There must be broader concerns about the diminution of the Euro qualifiers as a spectacle since the expansions of the finals. Not that football has ever shown much inclination to worry about such matters, but there probably should be qualms as well about how many central and eastern European sides seem simultaneously to have suffered such a decline. But for England the lack of drama in Saturday’s 4-0 win over Bulgaria is itself an indication of how positive the present situation is for them. Related: Harry...