The rondo eventually stops at 45 passes. For half a minute Kyle Walker and Sam Johnstone are innocent bystanders caught in a hail of pure piss-taking punishment. Rico Lewis to Cole Palmer, back to Lewis. To Kieran Trippier. Over to Jordan Henderson. Harry Kane and Phil Foden nudge it between themselves a few times for a laugh. Walker, one of the greatest covering defenders English football has produced, lunges at his former teammate Palmer and gets sent for brunch.
Remember, this isn’t even the A-team. By the common consent of his teammates, the filthiest rondo technician in the England squad is actually Marcus Rashford, with his lightning speed and repertoire of sadistic nutmegs. Bukayo Saka, Jude Bellingham, Jack Grealish: all also absent. At the risk of being fatally seduced by a 29-second viral video posted on England’s social media accounts this week, the point is this: England can play some serious ball. The rise in standards and the level of technical ability at the highest level of the game these days is simply ridiculous. Put peak Bobby Charlton in the middle and he’s going to be there for two days.
So, Gareth Southgate: no pressure. It has become something of a cliche in the more fevered alcoves of social media to deride the England coach for squandering this lavish generation of talent, but even in what may be his final months in the job before Euro 2024, there remains the time and the space for evolution and growth. The forthcoming qualifiers against Malta and North Macedonia have little hanging on them in a competitive sense but they may give us an idea of how much, and how fast, Southgate is willing to adapt.
The inclusions of Lewis and Palmer for the first time, along with Trent Alexander-Arnold as a midfielder, are perhaps the best evidence yet that Southgate is still pondering his options in the centre of the pitch. But this is not so much a question of personnel as of approach and mindset: the extent to which Southgate is prepared to retool England’s midfield to reflect the rapid shifts at the top level of the club game.
The debate over England’s midfield is frequently characterised as control versus chaos. Perhaps a better description might be structure versus flexibility. England’s early years under Southgate were defined by a search for midfield stability. Spooked by the way England were cut apart by Croatia in the 2018 World Cup semi-final, Southgate began to prioritise midfielders with discipline and dependability, who could compete and cover ground, who could deter counterattacks and avoid losing possession at all costs: Jordan Henderson and Declan Rice, Mason Mount and Harry Winks, Kalvin Phillips and James Ward-Prowse.
But, at the top of the European club game, the opposite has taken place. At Manchester City Rodri is no longer a simple holding midfielder but has more licence to roam. Meanwhile, the centre of the pitch is populated by players who are not really central midfielders: Julián Álvarez, Bernardo Silva, John Stones and, latterly, Manuel Akanji. The signing of Matheus Nunes from Wolves, a dynamic box-to-box midfielder skilled at accelerating out of tight spaces, is another sign that Pep Guardiola’s City now see the midfield as a zone to transition: get the ball in, draw the press, get it out as quickly as possible.
Perhaps this was the next logical step after a team of 10 midfielders: a team of 10 non-midfielders, all of whom moonlight in midfield when necessary. Liverpool’s midfield is defined by flux and position swapping: Alexander-Arnold steps up, Cody Gakpo or Diogo Jota tuck in, Curtis Jones drifts wide. Oleksandr Zinchenko at Arsenal is another full-back/midfield hybrid. Kane at Bayern Munich can be a conventional No 9, a high pivot and a deep-lying playmaker in the same move. At Real Madrid, Bellingham is a midfielder who is actually a forward, Federico Valverde a winger who is often a midfielder and Toni Kroos a midfielder who is often a full-back.
Very gradually, this is a trend beginning to filter through the international game. Spain, influenced by the retirement of Sergio Busquets, are beginning to evolve away from their ordered possession based football into a more dynamic game of quick switches and darts into the channel. France, already blessed with players such as Aurélien Tchouaméni, Eduardo Camavinga and Antoine Griezmann, have given a first call-up to the brilliant 17-year-old Paris Saint Germain central midfielder Warren Zaïre-Emery, who simply goes everywhere and does whatever he wants. The new Italy coach, Luciano Spalletti, has said the role of the classic regista – think Andrea Pirlo or Jorginho – needs rethinking in a more intense and physical sport.
The common thread here is the slow death of the midfield specialist. These days your midfield – whether individually or in the aggregate – needs to be able to dribble out of a high press, to pick a forward pass through traffic, to cover for the full-back, to provide a late-running goal threat, to be as elusive and unpredictable as possible. In short, the days of simply sticking Rice and Henderson in front of a back four and hoping for the best are probably over.
Rice is a dynamic enough player to thrive and adapt. Henderson’s continued selection is an utter mystery. Bellingham will keep doing Bellingham things. But elsewhere the portents are more intriguing. Lewis, like Alexander-Arnold, can operate at full-back or in midfield. Palmer, enjoying a breakthrough season at Chelsea, is a deceptively difficult player to categorise: a winger who loves to drift into the centre, a midfielder who can wriggle himself into goalscoring positions. Meanwhile, Mauricio Pochettino is discovering that Conor Gallagher’s preference for being everywhere at once can be a strength rather than a weakness.
These are intelligent, slippery modern footballers: ferociously technical, sharp and explosive, good under pressure, forged in the furnace of the rondo and the small-sided game, where fixed positions matter less than instinct, deception and the ability to make the right decision in a split second. But in order to accommodate them, you need a team that prize flexibility and rotation, that seek not only to control but to terrify, that aspire not merely to take the handbrake off but to slam it on and then execute a screeching 180-degree turn into space.
Malta – unlike North Macedonia on Monday – will not engage England high up the pitch, and instead will try to sucker them into a slow, structured buildup. But the principles of fluidity and the swapping of positions can still be drilled against weaker opponents, and are arguably even more important against deep-set defences where unpredictability is the key. Will Southgate see these games as an opportunity to develop new tones and shades? Or simply as an opportunity to get more minutes into the legs of Phillips?
