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With such novice talents at his disposal, especially in the current England squad, it’s easy to forget Gareth Southgate is a relatively young manager, at least when it comes to senior international football, and youth – no matter what field its in – has a tendency to make mistakes. Southgate showed a determination to learn from his when he fielded England in a 4-3-3 formation against Croatia on Friday night, after using three-man defences for almost exactly one year prior.
Although the development of England’s unique 3-1-4-2 system was a central pillar of England’s march to the World Cup semi-final in Russia, eventual nemeses Croatia highlighted the formation’s shortcomings – allowing high-quality opposition to dominate the midfield being chief amongst those – as did Spain in England’s first competitive fixture following the tournament, the 2-1 Nations League defeat at Wembley.
Switching to 4-3-3, a setup most players in the England fold will be more than acquainted with from club football, showed Southgate’s tactical awareness and openness to adapting. More stubborn, idealistic managers would have insisted the execution rather than the idea was most at fault, otherwise it wouldn’t have served England so well during the summer, and probably therefore compelled the Three Lions to another defeat at the hands of Croatia in a matter of months.
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The fact 3-1-4-2 hasn’t already become a dogma because of its previous success is only a good thing for England – that game-plan remains in the armoury for when needed, likely when England face much lesser opposition, and the more proven setups Southgate can choose from the less predictable the Three Lions will be. But changing teams up between games – or in this instance between international breaks when there are several weeks to consider the options – is one important skill for international managers. Changing things during games, however, is a different quality entirely, and that’s where England’s popular head coach is still lacking.
The scoreless draw with Croatia on Friday provided the perfect case in point. Yes, England grew into the match the more it went on and yes, their performance was far more competitive than the last time they faced Croatia. But in search of an away goal that would have played a massive hand in avoiding relegation into League B, Southgate only made one substitution in Rijeka’s empty stadium. That was a like-for-like in the 78th minute, Jadon Sancho on for Raheem Sterling, which didn’t change the shape or the style of the team in a way to create new problems for Croatia.
It was, however, a largely effective substitution. In an incredibly underwhelming encounter made all the more mind-numbing by the absence of a crowd-created atmosphere, the Borussia Dortmund youngster provided exciting sparks of energy and flair that left-back Josip Pivaric simply couldn’t cope with. But that only begs the question of why there weren’t more substitutions made – Marcus Rashford, on the opposite wing, looked bereft of confidence after missing two glorious chances – and why they weren’t used with more ambition than simply getting fresh legs onto the pitch.
But that has been a common theme of Southgate’s time in charge of England, and particularly over the last few months. Excluding extra time and friendlies, Southgate’s decided against making all three substitutions in four of England’s last nine games, and also excluding the two World Cup encounters with Belgium that were essentially glorified friendlies, from the remaining seven games his first substitution has been, on average, just after the 70th minute.
Perhaps most tellingly of all though, Switzerland friendly included, the last time England scored a goal after Southgate had made a substitution was in the World Cup opener against Tunisia. Since, 18 substitutes have come onto the pitch without a single Three Lions strike finding the net.
Very few of those substitutes too, have been used to really change the shape of the team, which perhaps explains why they’ve given little back in terms of goals. Of course, a number of these games were tight affairs in which England held the lead, so perhaps it made sense not to rock the boat too much.
But even during the defeats to Croatia and Spain, modifying the structure was a noticeable deficiency; it hardly required a tactical mastermind, with Dele Alli and Jesse Lingard already on the pitch, to change 3-1-4-2 to 3-4-3 against Spain in September, at least for ten or 15 minutes, and put more pressure on their full-backs. Likewise, considering the control of possession England exerted over Croatia in the second half, throwing on a more creative presence like James Maddison or Mason Mount to switch from two holding midfielders to one could have brought that winning goal in an empty stadium.
Such proactivity from the bench though never arrived and for that only Southgate can really answer. Perhaps he was being pragmatic in taking a point on the road, perhaps he doesn’t completely trust the wider extremities of what is a noticeably weakened England team, perhaps he thought nobody on his bench could do a better job and that a scoreless draw with Croatia in the grand scheme of things is a strong result for this England squad.
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But a failure to make the kind of changes that can alter the direction of a game, whether that’s using substitutes or players already on the pitch, remains Southgate’s most distinguishable flaw. For a manager who has only officially been in the job on a permanent basis for 24 games, perhaps that can be forgiven, even if Southgate’s overall career has seen him in the dugout for nearly nine times as many matches.
As much as the quality, experience and consistency of this youthful England generation needs to improve before the 2022 World Cup in Qatar though, Southgate needs to sharpen his skills as well. There will no doubt be points in that tournament when in-game changes are needed; Southgate’s yet to show he’s capable of making them.