Cod Almighty | Diary

Imagine no possession

28 June 2024

It was the first day of training yesterday for the GTFC players. The sun was shining, the players looked good, the grass looked good, the training looked good, the kit looked good. We were encouraged to look just as good by buying some training kit. When did it become compulsory to add an advert to every communication? Or should we simply shrug and remember that every communication is an advert?

Last week your A46 Diary mentioned the GTFC twist on the response to Southgate's handling of the national team with a little whinge about Gareth Hurst, etc. The two of them are comparable because both are seen as a safe pair of hands, that they will both 'keep us shape' and make sure their teams are competitive with as little risk as possible. If the players in those safe hands remain available, fit and well, all is well and progress will be made.

What I didn't mention was the two stark differences between them. Firstly, Hurst has far fewer players at his disposal. I'm not talking talent, necessarily, just numbers. Southgate has every English footballer as an option, while Hurst has whoever no longer fits at Accrington Stanley et al. Secondly, of course, is that, unlike Southgate, Hurst did win things. Two very significant things, both of which were sensibly based around the player and players who had been getting the goals: get the ball to Bogle and Amond, McAtee and Taylor. For England the magic duo has been Kane and another, be it Stirling, Rashford, Saka, etc. I'm sure you've done this many times, but please indulge me: imagine if we'd kept Amond or McAtee and Taylor had been fit throughout their second season. Imagine if we'd had the solid foundation of goals as we re-entered the league. Every other position could've changed and it wouldn't have mattered if we'd had those pairings to build a team around.

In Kane, England have had what we haven't had for many years: a high-quality, high-impact footballer who spent all his peak years under the same coach on the same team. Was Groves our last one? A couple of seasons at West Brom aside, he was our Mr. Reliable, and anything other than playing through him was pretty much unthinkable.

The isolation of Kane (which should be the title of an avant-garde novel about fraternal strife rather than the issues facing a major international hopeful at a tournament) has shown that managers and coaches should always beware when changing focus from a previously successful formula. What success England have had is centred around him and, while they've never quite made it, never quite had their 2016 or 2022 moments, changing now to accommodate a three-man midfield that sits expectantly behind what was the most effective player is at best short-sighted. 'Was' is doing a lot heavy lifting here. Kane is now turned into a Pyke-like forward who lumbers around the opposition backline looking like a lost teenager at a festival who has finally found a line of stewards, but he can't make himself understood because he's so high on mushrooms.

Of course, it may simply be that Southgate's hands are tied and Kane isn't fit enough or no longer mobile enough to fulfill the role he previously seemed to revel in. A series of shuffling, Biden-esque performances that show the country the hole that has been left by a Kane noticeably slower (not that he was ever fast) and less elegant than previous iterations.

But the hands-tied excuse wears a little thin when the coach has so many players to choose from, so for Southgate to tell us the hole is Kalvin Phillips-shaped seems disingenuous at best and incompetent at worst. Players like Philips, the gut-busting, box-to-box, all action hero, are ten-a-penny in English leagues and if Southgate cannot find another elite (ha ha!) version of Kieran Green, something he's said is vital to the progress of his team, then what has he been doing since Phillips's last appearance eight months ago? The replacement for fall-guy-Trent, Gallagher, showed himself to be lost at the same festival as Kane, only he was certainly not high on mushrooms...

All of this brings us to the elephant: England's own John McAtee, Jude Bellingham. A wonderful player, fluid and powerful, dominant and graceful. I have had the pleasure of seeing him in the flesh. I was part of a school trip to the Etihad for the semifinal between Man City and Real Madrid (it is true: they fill their stadium with coachloads of school kids) and I made my usual cutting analysis, asking a student, a boy of 14, "Who's that number 5? He looks amazing." The boy looked at me as if I had fallen from the stars. "Bellingham?" he said. "Oh yeah, forgot about him." Shuffle in seat. Focus on game. Cough gruffly.

Bellingham was awesome that night, at times carrying Madrid on those broad shoulders. He is a fantasy footballer, ten feet tall, omnipotent, like something from a Greek myth. I can well understand Southgate's desire to play him, just like I'll never blame Hurst for sticking with McAtee whenever he was even close to fit in that awkward second season. It's true, however, that Hurst never had much choice, no ready-made replacements sitting on the bench. Without Amond or McAtee 2016 and 2022 wouldn't have happened and without Kane, Egland wouldn't have gone so deep in 2018 and 2021. But Southgate has options, drop Bellingham deeper and use Foden or Cole through the middle, being the most obvious, that Hurst never had.

A safe pair of hands is not used to change. A safe pair of hands makes safe decisions that cover their own reputation – what's worse, dire performances with Bellingham/McAtee or without? A safe pair of hands needs familiar weights and shapes, so what can they do when those weights and shapes no longer sit in the palms the way they used to? Not much, it seems. But we could always buy some kit to cheer ourselves up.