GRAEME SOUNESS: Shame Gareth won't give silky stars licence to thrill
GRAEME SOUNESS: It’s a shame that Gareth Southgate won’t give his silky stars a licence to thrill on football’s greatest stage in Qatar… while the booze ban in the Middle East makes football much more enjoyable
- England’s clash with Wales was crying out for James Maddison and Mason Mount
- Gareth Southgate is unlikely to release the handbrake later on in the tournament
- He has so far yet to harness the glut of creative talent in midfield at his disposal
- The absence of alcohol has also seen a reduction in abuse thrown at matches
- The USA are one of the surprise packages and could beat Holland on Saturday
- Argentina, France and Brazil are the favourites following the group stage finale
- Click here for the latest World Cup 2022 news, fixtures, live action and results
We got a little insight into how Gareth Southgate’s football brain works — and how he sees football — when England played Wales this week.
With the greatest respect to Wales, if you couldn’t be proactive that night, then whenever could you be? We’re talking about a game which had as little jeopardy as you’ll ever get in tournament football. The only risk England had of not qualifying that night was by losing 4-0.
It was a game crying out for James Maddison and Mason Mount — two of England’s most dynamic and creative players — but what did we get? A midfield built not for creativity but for pragmatism, with Jordan Henderson playing further up the field and Declan Rice sitting.
England’s ‘Battle of Britain’ clash with Wales gave a huge insight into Gareth Southgate’s mind
The game was crying out for the proactive midfield creativity of the likes of James Maddison
Southgate instead opted for creatively-limited Jordan Henderson in a more progressive role
Henderson is a player who has an admirable attitude but who is limited in the creative side of the game. He’s a player most suited to closing a game out when you are under pressure but not someone you bring on in the last 10 minutes, when you are chasing the game.
The players you want in the creative positions are going to be on the half-turn all the time, aware of what’s around them. You want someone who can turn, skip past an opponent, deliver a cute pass and chip in with goals. Henderson, with his two goals in 72 games for England, is not what I’m talking about. For me, Maddison and Mount should have been starting on Tuesday.
That approach against Wales tells me that now we’re getting deeper into the competition, watchfulness and pragmatism will be Gareth’s bywords. If he’s pragmatic against Wales, he’ll be pragmatic against Senegal on Saturday.
Marcus Rashford starred with a brace against Wales to go joint-top in the golden boot race
Mason Mount also missed out in a midfield that relied on Jude Bellingham for invention
I do think England have enough to win this next game, but you’re not going to get beyond Senegal, face France in a quarter-final, then suddenly take the handbrake off and fill your team with more creative midfielders. Don’t expect to see England minus the handbrake any time soon unless they’re chasing a game. Don’t expect to see a great deal of Mount, or anything of Maddison.
That’s a huge shame because Gareth has a great array of creative players at his disposal. Players such as Phil Foden, Bukayo Saka, Jack Grealish and Maddison are instinctive. For them, the picture in their head is forever changing when they’re on the ball.
Southgate has a huge array of creative midfielders at his disposal
What enters their imaginations when they get into the last third with the ball at their feet is purely instinctive. They simply don’t have time to think about it. They have a reading of the game which is different. It’s not like American football, where the quarterback shouts out the number and everyone knows what they’re going to do at that moment in time.
Gareth can’t coach Foden, Saka, Grealish what to do when they get into those situations. The only thing they need to understand from him is the shape to get back into when they lose the ball. These men can do untold damage on this huge stage.
But I get how Gareth thinks. He’s innately pragmatic and risk- averse, especially against stronger teams. He was a centre half, after all. He’s the one who has to face the press and the nation when things don’t go well. His argument will be: ‘Trust me. I’ve been to the semi-final and the final of the last two major competitions.’
Many will want to see more ambition from his England team but that pragmatic approach might still take the country a long way.
The former England defender is unlikely to take the handbrake off later in the competition
He has steered the Three Lions to the semifinals and a final in the last two major tournaments
There is a precedent here, which older England fans will need no reminding of. Sir Alf Ramsey’s 1966 World Cup-winning side had a pragmatic approach and outstanding strikers — and they ended up winning the World Cup.
The pragmatism extended to them leaving out Jimmy Greaves — one of the greatest goalscorers in English football history — because they thought he wouldn’t do the hard yards. It was just a team where everyone knew their job and did it.
No one ever looks back on 1966 now and remembers English pragmatism. No one ever remembers how you won it — only that you DID win it and got the job done. England might not be quickening our pulses in the days to come but this brand of football could still take them a long way.
It may not be exciting but England’s brand of football could take them a long way still
Booze ban makes football more enjoyable
Alcohol has created a dark undercurrent in our own football. When I arrive at a match I’m working on back at home these days, I accept that there might be abuse heading my way as I walk from the car to the stadium. I also accept that it comes with the job. No one shouts anything at me that I’ve not heard 100 times before.
But what I’ve witnessed out here in Qatar has been a world of football without that abuse and a really joyous atmosphere, wherever you go. A large part of that flows from the alcohol bans.
Our football seemingly goes hand in hand with hordes of drunken young men, who not only disgrace themselves at international games but their country, too.
The Qatar World Cup has seen a high-profile ban on alcohol despite Budweiser sponsorship
Ecuadorian fans called beer during the competition’s opening game against hosts Qatar
In our culture, it seems that to have a good time at football matches, you have to get paralytically drunk, so the next morning you don’t remember what you’ve done. You don’t even remember whether you’ve enjoyed yourself or not.
It has just become normalised and got steadily worse but being out here has made me realise that we shouldn’t have to accept it. There’s no undercurrent that I’ve witnessed in seven games, so far, and it must be so enjoyable for families, women and children who are going to football here and not witnessing people embarrassing themselves in drink.
This atmosphere is part of the reason why I’ve been so pleasantly surprised by what I’ve found out here — albeit from within the media bubble, being shuttled around by our ITV team.
The absence of alcohol has naturally seen a decrease in embarrassing behaviour from fans
The infrastructure at the tournament has been excellent – at the Lusail Stadium in particular
I’m certainly not ignoring the issues this country has, in terms of workers’ rights and intolerance of the LGBTQ community. I consider myself an ally and friend of that community, after my visit to Brighton Pride three years ago which taught me so much.
But so much out here has impressed me. The infrastructure has been excellent. The stadiums have been extraordinary — and particularly the Lusail where the final will be held.
It is a sporting festival, in the true sense of the word.
Reaction to USA draw is based on lazy preconceptions
How harsh it was on the England players to say the 0-0 draw against the United States was a bad result and performance.
It was an assessment based on outdated, lazy preconceptions about how you should always beat the USA. Did anyone actually watch how that team played? They, along with Japan, have been the real surprises of this tournament for me: a really good team, with skill and athleticism.
A team from a ‘developing’ footballing country usually show naivety for long periods. They can have a good five minutes, then the naivety shows. Against England, the USA played like a nation with a footballing pedigree and when you start to analyse American soccer, you can see the emergence, which has looked like it might be happening for years.
The disappointment following the 0-0 USA draw was based on lazy, outdated preconceptions
There is a huge immigrant dimension to the USA from footballing countries, excellent college facilities, sports scholarships and the money they throw at it.
Of course, there’s the challenge of the established sports but you also have to factor in their attitude to sport, the size of a country with 300 million people and the enormous Hispanic influence. When they host the World Cup in 2026, they could be a real force.
We’re witnessing a broader competitive effect here in other ways, with Japan and Morocco emerging from the groups at Germany and Belgium’s expense, but the USA, with Japan, are the ones I’ve been mightily impressed by. Don’t be surprised if the USA beat Holland on Saturday and Japan do the same against Croatia on Monday.
The USA team have been one of the surprise packages from the group stage so far
Argentina, Spain and France are favourites
After the group stages, my tips for the trophy are Argentina, Spain and France, with England right up behind them. I have a far better feeling about Argentina than Brazil.
Argentina are the ones you don’t want to play and though they had that disaster on day one, they could have been out of sight before Saudi Arabia came back at them.
I’m yet to be convinced about a Brazil side relying on Richarlison, who can’t get into the Tottenham team.
Brazil rely on Richarlison up front despite the forward not breaking into Tottenham’s team
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