England youngsters in ‘matches that matter’ have Southgate looking up

Sometimes managers pepper their answers with cliches just to get to the end of a press conference. Yet Gareth Southgate is not being flippant when he responds to a question about the Champions League final by emphasising how Liverpool will be representing England when they face Real Madrid in Kiev on Saturday. With the World Cup looming large, England’s manager makes no attempt to play down the significance of Liverpool’s progress under Jürgen Klopp.

“It is big,” Southgate says. “We want our players in those big matches. The experience for the likes of Jordan Henderson, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Adam Lallana over the last few months of playing in those matches that matter – and it was the same for the Spurs boys in their games and the Man City boys – you want them in that environment and to experience winning things.”

While a knee injury has ruled Oxlade-Chamberlain out of this summer’s tournament and Lallana has had to settle for a place on the standby list after enduring almost an entire season in the treatment room, Alexander-Arnold and Henderson are part of England’s 23-man squad and Southgate makes it clear that his team will benefit from having players taking part in club football’s showpiece occasion.

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“Then they know what’s needed,” he says. “They know that hurdles can be overcome and they gain belief from those performances. So I think it’s a great thing for English football that Liverpool are representing England in the final. I know that won’t be seen universally by all supporters. But why would we want Real Madrid to win? I can’t see the logic in that.”

It can be fashionable to belittle English players but Southgate believes that Liverpool’s success in Europe is something that should make the country feel optimistic about the future. “When I came here to take the under-21s, it was for that purpose,” he says. “I believed young English players could play in that style. What was stopping them from being as good as players around the world? We’re seeing that with some of our youngsters playing abroad and Manchester City having a core of four English players most weeks in their team.

“Manchester United have an English core. Liverpool have the same. And they’re working with top European coaches. There’s an assumption that European coaches will come here and pick foreign players. But Mauricio Pochettino has gone with an English core. That’s a great message for our players. They’re performing in one of the most competitive leagues in the world and doing really well.”

It is worth listening to Southgate. For all his inexperience at the highest level of management, he is an intelligent man who played in one of England’s finest teams and he gave a lot of thought about how to structure his squad announcement. Some of his predecessors preferred to select 30 players before gradually trimming the numbers. Southgate, however, was wary of making his youthful team unnecessarily anxious. Lewis Cook, Tom Heaton, Lallana, Jake Livermore and James Tarkowski have been given time to adjust to being named as standbys.

“We could have picked 30 or how we’ve done it,” Southgate says. “My experience of this way was that it’s cleaner. The guys on standby have a clear understanding of their role. They have some time to get over the disappointment but they will play a crucial part in what we’re doing over the next few weeks and there’s always an opportunity they may be with us beyond that, which is what happened with Trevor Sinclair in 2002.” The then West Ham winger played four matches in that year’s World Cup, having initially flown home from Japan after not making the 23, before injuries propelled him into the squad and then the team.

“We had a really interesting discussion with Stuart Lancaster [the England coach at the 2015 Rugby World Cup] on this. They have to have a bigger squad in rugby because of the bigger numbers and the number of injuries they get, plus they’re together for eight or 10 weeks.

“But he made the observation that there’s a difference between a selection and a performance camp and when there’s an uncertainty between – ‘Am I in or am I not in?’ – then it becomes a selection camp and you don’t only have the five that are likely to be out but another five who think it might be them.

“Of the group of 28, you could have 10 or more working with uncertainty. You can be less specific on positions and tactical work. Now we know where players are going to be in training sessions. The players can have less tension around what’s coming and can start to bond a bit tighter.”

Southgate has spoken about a tight-knit squad. But while he believes that the camp will not be riddled with cliques, the competition for places up front is fierce. Dele Alli, who has had another fine season, was a substitute in the recent friendlies against the Netherlands and Italy, with Jesse Lingard and Raheem Sterling preferred in the deep-lying attacking roles.

Yet Southgate was impressed that Alli responded by scoring twice in Tottenham’s 3-1 win against Chelsea a week later and he made the point that Michael Owen and David Beckham were left out of England’s opening game at the 1998 World Cup. Both went on to make an impact at the tournament. “You perform in a World Cup and that announces you to the world,” Southgate says. “That’s the beauty of playing in an England shirt.

“Dele is already an outstanding player and he’s going to get better because of his age and desire. We also have some exciting players coming around. It shouldn’t be that anybody is a guaranteed starter. What gets the best out of you? It’s the games you play but it’s also the competition in training.”

It is lucky that Southgate has Steve Holland, the former Chelsea coach, as his number two. “Steve Holland is a legend. He’s won the Champions League, the Europa League, the league, the FA Cup,” Southgate says. “I think the bastard’s won the League Cup as well. With his coaching background in developing young players right through to working with some of best managers in the world, he is the most experienced English coach in the country. He will challenge my thinking and speak his mind. We have complete trust in each other. It’s a critical relationship. Terry Venables had that with Don Howe. He would challenge Terry, who would take it on board.”

Between them Southgate and Holland already have an idea of their starting XI to face Tunisia in Volgograd on 18 June. “But also there is opportunity for people to play into that thinking,” Southgate says. “We know tomorrow what we would select. But that’s always a slightly movable feast. It’s really competitive.” There are reasons to feel positive.