Contrary to what you might have heard over the past 48 hours, there are much bigger issues within England’s camp right now than the story of Steve Holland’s training-ground notes, what they may or may not tell us about Gareth Southgate’s team for Sunday’s game against Panama and the rights and wrongs about the relevant details appearing in print.
Southgate quickly made that clear when he had his first look at the Nizhny Novgorod stadium and attempted to bring some common sense to all the escalating silliness. Was he cross? Not in the slightest. Was he bemused by the way it had been whipped up? Absolutely. “It’s a bonkers environment, isn’t it?” he asked, nursing a dislocated shoulder, supposedly at war with the England press corps and fending off questions from a Chinese journalist about the “hilarious” and “ridiculous” mistakes of England’s footballers through the ages, Raheem Sterling in particular.
A degree of sanity is needed because England remains a largely stress-free camp and Southgate – previously part of the England travelling media – is not, as purported, in a huff with anyone. He explained his views on the reporting of his possible team, starting with an acceptance that he wished he had worded Friday’s comments differently. There is no row. There never was – “I’m totally relaxed,” the manager said – and it was probably a relief for everyone once he had put it to bed and we could start talking about football again, the old-fashioned way.
England will, after all, qualify for the knockout stages, with a game to spare, if they can cope with the punishing heat and a muscular Panama side in their second assignment of Group G. That cannot be sniffed at bearing in mind it would be only the third time that England have won their opening two fixtures in a major tournament, dating back to 1950. The last occasion was the 2006 World Cup when Sven-Göran Eriksson’s team beat Paraguay and Trinidad and Tobago. Before that, it was 1982 and back-to-back wins for Ron Greenwood against France and Czechoslovakia.
Otherwise, England have not managed it in 21 other tournaments, which leaves the current manager wondering sometimes why the expectations are always so high. “It goes back to what I’ve always said to the lads,” Southgate said. “There’s a perception that England have always been hugely successful. When you dig deeper, our history is actually different.”
England’s total of six knockout wins in major tournaments since 1966 emphasises the point again. The message from Southgate was that it was time for his players to create their own history, rather than being weighed down by what had happened in the past, and he can certainly be encouraged by the number of chances his team created against Tunisia in their opening game.
Dele Alli will be missing because of his thigh injury but Southgate has everyone available, the most pressing issue being whether he perseveres with Raheem Sterling or opts for Marcus Rashford to play alongside Harry Kane.
The downside is that England would have to win by six goals to overtake Belgium at the top of the group on goal difference. Far more likely, Roberto Martínez’s side will need a draw to win the group when England take them on in Kaliningrad on Thursday. In that scenario, England would play their first knockout tie in Moscow against the winner of Group H, where Japan and Senegal have won their opening fixtures. Yet Martínez’s declaration that he will make a number of changes against England, with Romelu Lukaku and Eden Hazard among the players likely to be rested, adds another element of intrigue.
Not that England should be thinking too far ahead when Panama have the potential to be awkward opponents, with temperatures of 30C (86F) forecast and the locals here warning that the glass panels of the stadium will make it feel much hotter.
On that front, Southgate said there was “no physiological benefit to train in the heat the couple of weeks before and think there will be an adaptation”. He sounded like he meant it but it is a concern behind the scenes. The advice given to Southgate was that England should acclimatise in a hot area and England had initially identified a hotel in the Black Sea resort of Gelendzhik. The decision to base themselves in Repino, where it has been 16C to 18C, surprised a number of officials at the Football Association. The heat in Nizhny Novgorod is fierce, to say the least.
All of which increases the importance of England’s players to move the ball well and make sure their opponents expend energy trying to win it back. “We’ve done a lot of due diligence on Panama over the last few months, watching all their qualifiers and all their matches since,” Southgate said. “We don’t expect too many surprises in terms of how they play.”
One danger will be Panama’s tactic of long throw-ins. England have been practising how to combat that in training but Southgate has also stressed the importance of not giving away free-kicks in dangerous areas, noting the number of set-piece goals so far.
“I studied Germany a lot from the previous World Cup and one of the big things was they didn’t concede fouls in their third of the pitch. They were incredibly low numbers. We’ve been consistently doing that over a period of time because the quality of every team these days on set plays is high.”
As for the hullabaloo about a photographer taking a picture of Holland’s notes during an open session for the media on Friday, Southgate made his position clear. “I totally understand the media have a role to report the news … I don’t expect the media to be supporters of us in terms of the way they work. They’re here to work. I know they want us to do well. That’s been clear through the tournament.”
The headlines, indeed, will be kind if England can achieve their aim in the oppressive heat.
