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The emergence of Jack Grealish, Phil Foden and others gives the manager more options than at the last World Cup
England look stronger in midfield since suffering at the hands of Luka Modric when they lost to Croatia in the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup. Gareth Southgate has Declan Rice to protect his defence and he has more creativity at his disposal thanks to the emergence of some talented youngsters. Plenty of England’s rivals would love to have players as good as Jude Bellingham, Jack Grealish and Phil Foden.
The challenge for Southgate, though, is finding the right balance before his side’s reunion with Croatia in their Euro 2020 opener on 13 June. The manager was criticised for being too conservative when England laboured against Belgium and Denmark in the Nations League last autumn. Although Southgate felt that a 3-4-3 system gave his team more balance, he was accused of timidity when he used Rice alongside Kalvin Phillips or Jordan Henderson in central midfield. Continue reading...