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Gareth Southgate’s exciting young England team are back in action over the next few days, as they face off with Bulgaria at Wembley tomorrow night followed by a match with Kosovo at Southampton’s St. Mary’s Stadium on Tuesday, both games being part of the qualifying campaign for Euro 2020.
While their last two qualifiers couldn’t have gone much better – they thumped the Czech Republic 5-0 and then defeated Montenegro 1-5 back in March – their loss to the Netherlands in the semi-finals of the inaugural UEFA Nations League in the summer showed that despite a lot of progress under Southgate, the Three Lions remain a work in progress.
We could see some of that progress in the upcoming two games, as Southgate has taken the opportunity to introduce some new faces – and bring back some old ones – into his squad, which could mean changes are once again afoot for his team.
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Here are 3 questions surrounding England that could be answered in the upcoming games against Bulgaria and Kosovo.
#1 Who is Southgate’s first-choice right-back?
After some bleak years that saw them struggle for talent, England now seem blessed with at least two or three great players in every position across the pitch. The position they’re arguably the most talent-loaded though is at right-back. And with Southgate now seemingly settled on a 4-3-3 system rather than the 3-5-2 that took the Three Lions to the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup, there can be room for only one.
For the upcoming games against Bulgaria and Kosovo, Southgate initially selected three right-backs – Trent Alexander-Arnold of Liverpool, Aaron Wan-Bissaka of Manchester United and Kieran Trippier of Atletico Madrid – while surprisingly leaving Manchester City’s Kyle Walker, usually his first choice, at home.
Southgate was at pains to ensure that fans understood that Walker hadn’t been “dropped” per se – he just wanted an opportunity to try out different players in the role – but is that really the case?
Walker has been on strong form at City, but he was one of a handful of players who notably struggled against the Netherlands in the summer. And it’s hard to shake the feeling that at 29 years old, Walker’s best years are probably behind him now, and more to the point, Alexander-Arnold appears to have overtaken him when it comes to the all-round ability needed to be England’s first-choice right-back.
Wan-Bissaka – who has since withdrawn from the current squad with a back injury – is more unproven of course as he has yet to earn his first senior cap, but judging by last season, his defensive skills appear to be at least equal to Walker’s even if he doesn’t quite offer the same kind of threat going forward.
And while Trippier had a poor season for Tottenham, he’s shown flashes of his 2018 form since joining Atletico and still has excellent delivery when it comes to set-pieces and crosses.
The likelihood for the two upcoming games is that – without Wan-Bissaka – Alexander-Arnold will start one and Trippier will start the other. Wan-Bissaka will likely be given his chance in either October or November’s internationals – but whether Walker returns or not remains a question mark and could well depend on the performances of his rivals in these two games.
#2 How will the midfield look?
In their 2018 World Cup defeat to Croatia the main criticism of England’s performance fell on their midfield; a gap emerged between the more defensive Jordan Henderson and the more attack-minded Dele Alli and Jesse Lingard, and this allowed Croatia’s more technically proficient midfielders like Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic to essentially run the game, swarming Henderson and neutralising Southgate’s side.
Southgate’s response to this was to switch formation for last autumn’s Nations League games, going from a 3-5-2 with wing-backs to a 4-3-3 system, but while this worked excellently in England’s wins over Spain and Croatia, the midfield shortcomings were again exposed in the summer’s Nations League semi-final against the Netherlands.
The three-man midfield that started the Netherlands game – Declan Rice, Fabian Delph and Ross Barkley – simply lacked dynamism going forward and more worryingly, both Rice and Delph seemed unable to collect the ball on the turn from England’s defenders, which inadvertently led to the mistakes that eventually cost the Three Lions the game.
Meanwhile, Netherlands midfielder Frenkie De Jong controlled the game with his range of passing just as Modric and Rakitic had done.
It’s clear that Southgate sees 4-3-3 as the way forward for England so in turn it becomes clear that the issues have stemmed from the personnel used rather than the system. That’s why the upcoming games against Bulgaria and Kosovo are so interesting, as Southgate has selected a trio of newer players who could make a genuine impact in the middle.
Youngsters James Maddison and Mason Mount – both of whom have started the season in excellent form for their respective clubs – are in to compete for the role of creative man, and it’s expected that both men will feature in some way.
As Ross Barkley has already shown what he can do in the role, to see Mount start one game and Maddison the other wouldn’t be a surprise – and if one or both perform well they could cement themselves as a starter in this system.
More interesting though is the inclusion of Tottenham’s Harry Winks. Winks isn’t the flashiest player but he brings something to the table that no other current England player – with the possible exception of Bournemouth’s Lewis Cook, who is currently injured – does in his abilities to collect the ball on the turn from the defence and consistently find passes while moving forward.
His metronomic style was on show last October in England’s win over Spain, and many observers felt that he could’ve made the difference against De Jong in June.
To see a midfield comprised of a destroyer (Rice), a metronome (Winks) and a playmaker (Mount/Maddison) seems to make sense to me, but this would of course leave England stalwarts like Henderson and Lingard out in the cold. But perhaps, as cruel as it sounds, this is the only way forward if the Three Lions want to evolve and succeed.
#3 Is there pressure on England’s front line?
Assuming England go with their 4-3-3 system for the games against Bulgaria and Kosovo, the general consensus seems to be that the starting trio on the front line would be captain Harry Kane in the middle, with Raheem Sterling and Jadon Sancho acting as wide forwards alongside him.
All three men have started the 2019/20 season in good form, with 10 goals among them already, and of course, all three have proven their worth to Gareth Southgate in recent games, too.
Where more question marks arise, though, is around the form of the forwards that Southgate has selected to back his first choice trio up. That group is comprised of just two strikers; Marcus Rashford of Manchester United and Callum Wilson of Bournemouth.
While it’s unlikely that either man will start tomorrow or on Tuesday, one or both is surely likely to make an appearance from the bench – and it’s pretty clear that a good performance is almost a must.
England aren’t blessed with many top-class forwards right now – particularly as Jamie Vardy has retired from international football - but some eyebrows were raised when Southgate didn’t select Tammy Abraham of Chelsea, a striker who’s started 2019/20 with four goals in three Premier League starts.
That return puts him ahead of Wilson and Rashford, and while Southgate may have felt these two games were too early for him, if he continues this run of form it’ll be hard to ignore him come October.
Pressure may be on Rashford in particular here; his finishing skills have come under criticism already this season and while he’s been relatively consistent for England, scoring 7 goals since debuting in 2016, he did miss big chances in last autumn’s games against Spain and Croatia. But he does have one ace up his sleeve – he can play as a wide forward, which means it may be Wilson’s spot which is more under threat.
Wilson is less proven at international level, with just 3 caps to his name, and although he scored on his debut against the USA and had a goal chalked off for a foul against Switzerland, he’s also 27 years old and worryingly injury prone.
Given England are expecting big goal returns in these two matches – they put a combined 10 past the Czech Republic and Montenegro in their previous two qualifiers – goals from either Rashford or Wilson would go a long way to cementing them in Southgate’s squad. Draw a blank and it could be them sitting at home while Abraham is selected instead next time around.
