Getting the job done: Gareth Southgate has defended his pragmatic approach
(Picture: The FA via Getty Images)England manager Gareth Southgate has defended his pragmatic approach on the eve of Saturday’s World Cup quarter-final, saying his job is to win matches, “not just have a philosophy".
Southgate been criticised for his pragmatism, and his lack of a defined style or regular system has been cited as a factor in England’s failure to get over the line in the 2018 World Cup and at last summer’s European Championship.
Roberto Mancini, whose Italy side beat England in the final of Euro 2020, is an example of a manager with a philosophy but Spain stuck rigidly to their passing football game in Qatar -- and crashed out in the last-16 on penalties against Morocco.
Ahead of the meeting with holders France, Southgate said his preferred system was 4-3-3 but insisted it had not always been appropriate for big knockouts matches.
The manager switched to a back five against Germany and Italy at the Euros, and used the system all the way through the last World Cup in Russia, where England were beaten by Croatia in the semi-final.
He is, though, tipped to stick with a four-man defence against the world champions at Al Bayt Stadium.
“We decided [the team and formation] on Monday," Southgate said. “By Monday night we’d already watched all the games of France, we’d already reviewed our game from Senegal. So we’re very clear on the right path because then you’ve got to deliver that through the week. We’re comfortable with where we’re at.
“In Russia, [our system] was the right way to go to get the best players we had at that time on the pitch," Southgate said. “I think we’ve constantly tried to evolve that, and I think we’ve done that during this tournament as well.
“I know people think I have a preference for a certain system, but if anything my preference has always been 4-3-3, but I don’t think it’s always been appropriate for us to play and get the best out of the team.
“The job is not just to have a philosophy, the job is to win football matches.
“And you can have a philosophy but if you’re going home at the start of the tournament then the philosophy doesn’t wash, really. With the national team you’ve got to keep winning. Of course we want to win and score goals as we have this time, but the key is always getting the best out of the players you’ve got."
Regardless of England’s formation on Saturday night, the job of shackling France superstar Kylian Mbappe will primarily fall to Kyle Walker, who can play full-back or on the right of a back-three.
Southgate suggested the Manchester City defender, 32, could deal with Mbappe “as well as anybody" but insisted stopping France’s myriad threats has to be a concerted effort.
“It can’t be one person’s responsibility, we’ve obviously got a player who can deal with [Mbappe] as well as anybody I can think of but it can’t be just his responsibility and you’ve got to have zonal coverage on players like that," Southgate said.
“And we also can’t let Antoine Greizmann have the run of the park because he’s a pretty good player himself. So I think we always prepare for the team [by saying], ‘These are the patterns we see, these are the positions individual players like to take up’.
“You go into certain detail that they need to know because they know it’s important in the biggest games but equally we’re doing that at the other end of the pitch as well."
Meanwhile, Southgate has revealed he has had to hire extra security for his family home after pictures of his house were published by a celebrity gossip magazine.
Raheem Sterling left the England camp last weekend, missing the last-16 win over Senegal, after a break-in at his Surrey home but returned to Qatar on Friday morning.
“I could relate to it, because I’ve had to put extra security at home because pictures of my house have been published through this tournament," Southgate said. “My wife was concerned about that. None of that is helpful. These are the sorts of spin-offs you have when you are involved with England. So I could totally understand where Raheem was in terms of feeling the need to look after his family at that time."
