Southgate fails to master the midfield balancing act

There was a problem with the team of all the talents.

- RICHARD JOLLY

It wasn’t a team. In as much as there is any agreement on anything concerning the England team, Gareth Southgate may have thought he had given the people what they wanted. He had crammed in his four most gifted attackers and a generational talent of a passer, primed to supply them.

And in Trent Alexander-Arnold’s parting contribution, he almost got a glimpse of what might have been.

Southgate thinks Alexander-Arnold is a quarterback of a midfielder. And if an up-and-under seemed borrowed from rugby rather than American football, it resulted in Bukayo Saka heading into the side netting. But by then, the decision had been made. A minute later, Alexander-Arnold was withdrawn, Conor Gallagher introduced in the 1-1 draw with Denmark.

Southgate experimented with an artist in his midfield and ended up with a loyal labrador. Gallagher cannot do what AlexanderArnold can on the ball. But the Liverpool right-back cannot do what the Chelsea runner does without it. Gallagher hustles and harries. At times, he doesn’t do much else. He was booked within a few minutes for ploughing into Andreas Christensen. English football has a historic love of conspicuous effort and, very obviously, Gallagher is a player who tries.

English football also has a host of historic weaknesses. Not knowing what to do with the unconventional is one.