There are just four fixtures left for England between now and the World Cup in Russia, which gets underway on 18th June with a game against Tunisia in Volgograd.
With such a short period of time left between now and the start of the tournament, Gareth Southgate should have his starting team in mind and should be trying to put it out in all four games. However, injuries and the form guide have left him unable to do so, which leaves Southgate in a dilemma.
Former All Blacks World Cup winning coach Graham Henry believed that in order to win a World Cup, you had to have two players to play in every position. His sentiments are shared by Sir Clive Woodward, current All Blacks coach Steve Hansen and current England rugby coach Eddie Jones.
Here lies the problem for Southgate, he has very little strength in depth to choose from. In fact, as it stands, if you’re an Englishman in the Premier League playing most weeks, that’s almost enough to warrant a call-up. There aren’t too many exceptions to this rule.
As a former England international, albeit from a different era, Southgate will understand his limitations, and, in fact, he’s probably recognised the lack of talent among the English senior team ranks. What he’s realistically hoping for is that the collective becomes a greater whole than the sum of their parts. Also, as a former player, he’ll understand the expectations that are in place for England. He is in a beneficial position on this front though, as they’re not particularly high to begin with. After all, they were knocked out of Euro 2016 in the first knockout stage to Iceland. This added to their terrible record of just six knockout wins in major tournaments since 1966.
With all this in mind, let’s examine the key issues facing Gareth Southgate ahead of this summer’s World Cup.
The Squad Itself
FIFA rules state that teams must pick a squad of 23 for the World Cup, with at least three goalkeepers. Southgate has selected 27 players, including four goalkeepers for this set of friendlies and it begs the question as to why. Some of the players selected are there on form, like James Tarkowski and Nick Pope, who’ve both been key players in Burnley’s surge to seventh in the Premier League.
While that’s a just reward and both players will be delighted, having reached the pinnacle of the sport, are they really going to go to the World Cup? Neither of them would have been considered in England squads of yesteryear, and if they were going to go, why weren’t they picked for the friendlies against Brazil and Germany back in November, when Burnley were also in good form?
While rewards for good club form aren’t new or undeserved, there’s no real consistency with the thinking. Jake Livermore has received a call-up, despite being unimpressive in a team which sits bottom of the Premier League and also having been involved in the taxi scandal in Barcelona.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is also in, despite only playing a few games for Liverpool recently, while there’s no reasonable explanation for Danny Welbeck’s inclusion at all.
Southgate isn’t responsible for the dearth of English footballing talent in this country, that dates back to 1992, but he could have been slightly more ambitious in his squad selection. If he’s picking squads with 27 players in them, he could have looked at Phil Foden from a developmental standpoint. Alternatively, he could have gone for Borussia Dortmund winger Jadon Sancho, who’s starred since moving to the Westfalenstadion this season. However, it’s understandable why he didn’t, as the pressure heaped on these two youngsters would have been akin to that placed on Theo Walcott back in 2006.
The Goalkeeper
Whoever lines up between the posts is probably the biggest issue facing Southgate in the build-up to the tournament. Joe Hart’s star has been fading for a number of years now and it’s a complete mystery as to how he’s been picked in this squad. He was dropped by West Ham in November, missed 15 Premier League games, returned and conceded three at home to Burnley, one of which can be directly linked to him. He’s there purely on experience, but it would be a travesty if he was to start in goal against Tunisia.
Stoke played Everton last weekend, with Jack Butland lining up against Jordan Pickford, but between them in 59 games, they’ve conceded 101 goals and only kept 12 clean sheets. Pickford seems the most likely to start in goal for the World Cup though, considering his distribution skills and Southgate’s determination to play out from the back and pick three centre backs.
Nick Pope is the form English ‘keeper in the Premier League, with 10 clean sheets in 27 games this season, but it would be a big leap of faith to put him as first choice for the World Cup, considering he only made his top flight debut in September and wouldn’t have made it at all, had Tom Heaton not been injured.
One thing for sure though is that this is a huge dilemma for Southgate. He only has to look back to 2010 with Rob Green’s selection to know the importance of having a first-choice goalkeeper. Green made a howling mistake against the USA. He only played for England once after that.
Can England cope without Harry Kane?
For many seasons now, including this one, England have been Harry Kane plus a few talented others. There haven’t been any significant contributions from any other Englishman in an England jersey apart from the Spurs striker. However, after going down after a challenge against Bournemouth, Kane will sit out these two friendlies with an ankle injury, as the nation drew breath, hoping that it wasn’t too serious. Think Beckham in 2002 and Rooney in 2004.
These friendlies will give a good indicator as to whether England can function without their talismanic striker in the team. There aren’t as many options upfront as there have been in recent years, but Jamie Vardy and Marcus Rashford will want to step up to the plate. Southgate prematurely selected Tammy Abraham and Dominic Solanke back in November, they’ll both come again, but that was too early for the young duo.
However, if Kane doesn’t line up for England in Volgograd on 18th June, let’s not forget he’s a potential captain too, then England could be in serious danger of repeating their performance from the 2014 World Cup. At least this time Rickie Lambert won’t be the first option off the bench!