England have excelled on the counterattack but manager knows they must keep the ball better to challenge the best
With a waistcoat rather than a donkey jacket, Gareth Southgate does not look like a radical. But the
England manager can sound like he has been cribbing from Karl Marx when he talks about his football team. There is a minute difference, rather than Marx’s ‘constant revolution’ Southgate wants ‘constant evolution’, but the ultimate aim is the same: the conquering of state power by the proletariat (or winning the World Cup, whichever comes first).
Southgate goes into the next round of European Championship qualifiers this weekend having evolved his Lions once more. The absence of Kyle Walker, justified on the slightly unconvincing premise that Kieran Trippier needed to be reacquainted with the squad after 10 months’ absence, has been the main talking point. But there are other names missing too and, in total, only 11 players from the 2018
World Cup squad have been selected for the fixtures against Bulgaria and Kosovo.