Roy Hodgson has promised he will allow Gareth Southgate to remove players from the England team for the Under-21 European Championship next summer in a calculated gamble that is likely to involve at least four players from the senior squad dropping to the younger level.
Hodgson’s team are now in such a position of strength in their qualifying programme for Euro 2016 that the England manager insists Southgate can choose whichever players he wants even though the Under-21 tournament clashes with the senior team playing in Slovenia as well as a friendly against the Republic of Ireland.
Southgate’s early intention is to select Luke Shaw, John Stones and Calum Chambers to bolster his defence despite all three now being full internationals. Saido Berahino is also in Southgate’s plans and Hodgson insists he will not oppose call-ups for Jack Wilshere, Phil Jones, Raheem Sterling and Ross Barkley.
“My policy is this: after Gareth Southgate has picked his squad I will pick my squad,” Hodgson said. “I will take whatever is left. Can it be simpler than that? He can pick any Under-21s who are available and I will take the rest. He will speak to me, tell me what he wants to do, and I can’t be fairer than to say it is his choice. He will be under no pressure from me.”
That differs from what Hodgson has said in the past about being against senior internationals reverting to the younger level, and that it would be unfair on the Under-21s who have reached the tournament to lose their place as a result. To that effect, it is understood that Wilshere and Jones are not prominent in Southgate’s thinking. Hodgson privately has reservations about Sterling and Barkley’s inclusion and it would be politically difficult for Southgate to pick them in his squad despite Hodgson’s comments.
Hodgson was reminded that he had previously said a senior player should remain a senior player. “I do tend to believe that,” he acknowledged. “I am also prepared to accept the tournament is important. If Gareth thinks the best way to win the tournament is to jettison a lot of the players he has been working with and take players from our team that is fine by me.
“It would also mean there will be players in the tournament in the Czech Republic who will be playing three tournaments in a row without a break, three summers in a row without a break from football at all. The decision is Gareth Southgate’s and his alone. We have two senior games but we have a lot of players these days. We can deal with four or five absentees.”
Whether Southgate would dare to choose Wilshere remains to be seen – the reality is he is acutely aware it would be going against Hodgson’s wishes – but the Arsenal player would certainly enhance the team’s chance of success judging by his performance in the 3-1 win against Scotland at Celtic Park.
“In my first year and a half with the team, we were always saying: ‘What a pity we don’t have Jack Wilshere, wouldn’t it be nice if Jack was fit?’” Hodgson said. “It’s been only since the lead-up to the World Cup and afterwards where I can always count on him being there. Right from the start we could see what he could do, take responsibility in receiving balls from the back, even under pressure, the ability to turn with the ball, the ability to see a pass. All he needs to add to his game is goals to be totally outstanding.”
England’s next game will be against Lithuania, followed by a friendly against Italy in Turin in March. Another friendly with France has been provisionally arranged for next November at Wembley. England will then play a further friendly in Germany in March 2016 and there are plans to arrange games against Spain and Holland. The standard of opposition is, in part, to make up for a generally uninspiring fixture list in their qualifying group.
Hodgson challenged Clyne to use the next four months to justify his new status as England’s right-back. “He has done well, let’s hope he keeps his feet on the ground and keeps on improving. Certainly, if there was a game in a week or two he would be one of the first names on the teamsheet.”
The England manager also explained why he had restricted Barkley to only three minutes of the last two games. “Barkley has just come back from a long injury. He is an outstanding talent and a part of our thoughts going forward but I think he, like Theo Walcott, needs a few more [club] games to help him.”
