You can see why Southgate did it this way though. He’s not going to reverse the inferior technique in passing and possession football that’s been inherent in English players for generations in the time he gets with them so he decided to get them incredibly well organised instead.
The easiest thing to organise players at is set pieces, both defending them and using them as an attacking ploy. Add to that VAR causing an increased focus on holding and grappling at set pieces and you have a built in advantage in either being freed up to implement your routines unabetted or more likely to win a penalty if you’re grabbed than you would have been pre-VAR.
Also, players like Sterling, Alli and Lingard may lack the finishing prowess to convert enough chances but they can run headlong at defences and win free kicks for a good portion of the game giving you another incentive to work like hell on perfecting what you do with them.
In a way it reminds me of what the GB athletics coaches did with their sprint teams in last years Athletics Worlds. They realised they were not going to take on and beat countries like USA, Jamaica and others in the individual events because they just don’t have the stock of gifted enough sprinters. Instead they focused on the “low hanging fruit” of relays to pick up medals.
They trained and trained and trained on the mechanics of the relays and fundamentals like baton exchange knowing that the “bigger” countries bother less with that and tend to just team up four sprinters and rely on their individual speed. They won four of their six medals in the relays (Farah won the other two), meeting their target.
The easiest thing to organise players at is set pieces, both defending them and using them as an attacking ploy. Add to that VAR causing an increased focus on holding and grappling at set pieces and you have a built in advantage in either being freed up to implement your routines unabetted or more likely to win a penalty if you’re grabbed than you would have been pre-VAR.
Also, players like Sterling, Alli and Lingard may lack the finishing prowess to convert enough chances but they can run headlong at defences and win free kicks for a good portion of the game giving you another incentive to work like hell on perfecting what you do with them.
In a way it reminds me of what the GB athletics coaches did with their sprint teams in last years Athletics Worlds. They realised they were not going to take on and beat countries like USA, Jamaica and others in the individual events because they just don’t have the stock of gifted enough sprinters. Instead they focused on the “low hanging fruit” of relays to pick up medals.
They trained and trained and trained on the mechanics of the relays and fundamentals like baton exchange knowing that the “bigger” countries bother less with that and tend to just team up four sprinters and rely on their individual speed. They won four of their six medals in the relays (Farah won the other two), meeting their target.
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