Over to you then, Gareth. On a cold, still night in north London England’s players pulled themselves up to their full height and produced a display that was enough first to see off a limited Scotland team and second to ensure, in all probability, that England’s temp-to-perm manager can now take the job on as permanent a basis as these things ever get.
For England there was always a degree of additional self-inflicted tension about this World Cup qualifier. Having lost two managers in three months, they had the chance here to lose another by all-but declaring Southgate’s future would rest on the result of this febrile one-off. In the event there was a certainty to their finishing here that decorated a good if not exactly flowing performance against opponents who defended for much of the game.
As Gary Cahill headed their third goal midway through the second half Southgate could even be seen quietly punching the air. And deservedly so. He deserves the opportunity he will now surely be offered, and which really should have been his in the first place given the absurdity of talking about long-term plans and an England DNA, style of play and so on and then hiring Sam Allardyce.
As England managerial bodgings go the almost-but-not-quite-hiring of Southgate is not quite up there yet with 67 Days of Allardyce or the Last Days of Roy. But before last night it was definitely showing promise. As ever with England, this has looked like a case of good intentions woefully executed. Promoting the successful young-ish manager of the England Under-21s: this is eminently sensible. Telling him he’s only got four games, that should he lose to Scotland then that’s all junked and we’re looking elsewhere. Well, not so good. Now off you go, Gareth. And remember. Relax, Long-term planning! England DNA!
In the event England did all that Southgate could have asked here, taking their chances on a night when, as kick-off drew closer, there was something odd about Wembley, the air around this great oval spaceship of a stadium crackling oddly with noise, unfeigned excitement and the traditional booing of a pair of brilliantly boomed national anthems. This was different. This felt like (hang on) a football match.
Scotland started strongly in their peeling-sunburn shirts, asserting their muscle in midfield. There was clumsiness at the back early on for England as Scotland’s hot pink high-press dug its fingers in. Southgate appeared in his chalk square, double-teapotting in his light blue suit and spiffy shiny brown shoes, like a man broken down on the hard shoulder of the M6 on the way to his cousin’s wedding.
There has, as ever, been a lot of talk around the England team about style and identity. One day, perhaps, English football will realise that we’re already there, that this is it. Worrying about identity: that’s our identity. Feeling anxious about styles: that’s our style. Certainly the possession-based game that was once a clear stand of this grand plan looked pretty ill-grooved here at times. John Stones and Gary Cahill struggled to play out from the back. Players further forward lost the ball too easily. England looked like what they are: a pretty good bunch of players bowed by anxiety and playing slightly below rather than slightly above their limits.
Unsurprisingly given the lurking tensions, the atmosphere in this mini-era England has been a little sombre this week. Southgate’s response has been to call his players in for group discussions where they share and ruminate and debate concepts like leadership and confidence. Is this really a good idea? Whatever happened to the strong silent type? Whatever happened to Gary Cooper?
Certainly po-faced introspection and brittle, snowflakish self-regard have been an England theme through successive tournament disasters. Perhaps rather than a series of meandering, damp-eyed semantic discussions what England’s players need to do is try and have a little fun, or at the very least communicate some excitement, derring-do and basic entertainment.
To their credit, England did play well at times as the game wore on. With 22 minutes gone Kyle Walker surged forward and fizzed a chest-high cross into a packed penalty area, in the middle of which Daniel Sturridge found space to twist and fizz a fine header into the far corner. It was Sturridge’s eighth goal for England and his fourth in his last six starts. At times his movement can look divorced from patterns and team play. At others it can be supremely difficult to track, a leftfield-ish quality that makes him in isolation not just England’s best finisher but a creative, slightly winsome spirit.
Scotland had at least one clear chance to equalise after half-time, but with 50 minutes gone it was England who doubled their lead, again with a fine header from a Liverpool player on the end of a whipped cross from a Tottenham full-back. Quick! Annotate the DNA manual! On this occasion it was Danny Rose scuttling away to cross for Adam Lallana to direct a fine header past Craig Gordon. Lallana was again the best of the attacking midfield trio. Nobody in this England team controls and manoeuvres a ball with such aristocratic confidence, which is perhaps odd given Lallana rose through the lower leagues rather than some elite Premier League academy.
By the time the third goal came, headed in from Wayne Rooney’s corner, England had begun to cruise, Southgate to look a little looser on the touchline. There is an absurdity in the idea that any short-term manager could be to blame for the spiritual poverty of England’s recent tournament football. Institutional decay, short-termism, the fact that other countries have simply organised themselves more effectively: OK Gareth, off you go. Southgate, the continuity candidate, deserves his shot.
