A New System for a New Era: encouraging decisions made early by Southgate

Though Gareth Southgate has been in temporary charge since Sam Alladyce’s ill fated bungs meeting , tonight signalled the  beginning of his era as permanent boss.

  
England travelled to Germany in a friendly which in all honesty felt like a testimonial due to the focus on the outgoing German legend Lucas Podolski, illustrated by a comically long presentation pregame and more importantly his fantastic long range winner in a 1-0 victory.

In addition to a much changed German side, Southgate was also robbed of various key men including Kane, Henderson and Rose so the 1-0 result could only give us certain indications as where the team is in the grand scale of things.

An England side boasting in form debutant Michael Keane and Jake Livermore exuded confidence from the off. Alli, Walker and Lallana managed to constantly get in space behind German lines and cause problems, while England looked impressively comfortable positionally. It was extremely encouraging and will only improve in time.

In his first selection as manager Southgate chose a wing backs formation not deployed regularly by England since a similar system seen under Hoddle’s tenure in the late 1990s.  This was a bold decision by Southgate and one that indicates that he is willing to learn from mistakes made by recent managers. Football is evolving and it is a criticism often aimed at England that they have failed to move with the times, and suffer in international football due to an incompetence while trying to keep possession of the ball. 

In addition there are those who critisise the national team using a reverse arguement. There are pockets of fans who believe that England struggle by trying to mimic successful European nations and don’t play like a typical England team, in turn failing to play to the strengths of the English Premier League in which all of the squad other than Joe Hart ply their trade. 

The Premier League is recognised for its unmatched pace and intensity and what it lacks in comparison to the technical brilliance of the Spanish league or the well drilled efficiency of German teams, it makes up for with passion and excitement. 

Young Spurs players Rose, Dier and Alli try to recreate their club form for England

It is about time that an England manager decided to play to the strengths of the league and the teams from which the bulk of its players regularly work. Their was a brief glimpse of this theory in the European Championships when England chose to start 5 of the Spurs team that were used to playing alongside each other in a successful campaign last year. This didn’t bring the rewards short term England had hoped but there were plenty of positives to encourage its continuation.

What Southgate has studied when choosing his system is that in the Premier league the top two teams, Chelsea and Spurs, play a high pressing wing back system. This is a system which puts intense pressure on the opposition while they are in possession drawing mistakes and creating the chance to win the ball high up the field. The wing backs supply the width and attacking thrust in turn creating space in which England’s creative players, tonight Alli and Lallana, can thrive. This game illustrated how this system can be successful and it was at times a joy to watch with England much the better side.

With the players that England currently have at their disposal, the system plays very much to their strengths. Gary Cahill is the senior centre back in the squad and captained the team. He currently is a keg cog in the 3 centre back system deployed by Champions elect Chelsea. Kyle Walker and Danny Rose play fantastically as wing backs in the same system at Spurs, while Lallana and Alli excel in central roles behind the striker at their clubs, just as they did tonight.

In all likelihood the top sides in England are going to deploy this system or one similar for the foreseeable future and especially while this is the case, the familiarity the top English players have with the system will only strengthen England’s cause moving forward, especially with key figures such as Harry Kane and Henderson to be reintegrated.

It was very interesting hearing Southgate talk of how England need to make short term sacrifice to achieve long term success; while early days, the decision and the subsequent performance by England promise much as we enter a new era in the build up to the World Cup. A clear project has been set out to peak at a Championship as lessons looked to have been learnt, time will tell but the initial signs are good.

Haye vs Bellew: Haye perfects the promotion, now needs to finish the job


David Haye versus Tony Bellew is the hottest ticket in town, drawing the attention of British fans everywhere. The box office grudge match has captured the imagination of the fans and is the talk of the boxing world. 

The build up has been littered with abusive exchanges and oneupmanship, and at times the threats have been distasteful. Regardless of the method, what cannot be disputed is that the buzz that has been created is incredible.

This fight when boxed purely on paper is a humongous miss match. While Haye has played David from the well know tale earlier in his career, he certainly plays Goliath on this occasion. While Tony Bellew is a world champion cruiserweight with a solid career behind him; he has never reached the heights of Haye and certainly not fought anyone of his power. 

David Haye was once the undisputed champion of the world at cruiserweight level, the first boxer since Evander Holyfield 20 years his previous. After he had achieved all that there was to achieve at cruiserweight level Haye chose to try his worth in the heavyweight game, regardless of the fact that he was a very small heavyweight. 

He capitalised on the fact that his lightning speed together with blistering power translates to heavyweight, as a result even at heavyweight he was one of the most fearsome and dangerous boxers in the world, soon becoming IBF world champion.

Both Haye and Bellew have played their part in contributing to the promotion of this fight. Huge credit must be given to the fighters and their teams for their ability to turn what any educated boxing fan would estimate to be a one-sided victory, into a grudge match that boxing fans worldwide will invest their interest on Saturday night. 

Whilst some will criticise Haye’s approach, and his arrogance in the pure dismissal of his opponents ability, You could argue that his approach is actually genius. 

In almost five years, Haye has been involved in only two fights lasting a total of less than seven minutes, these against what Bellew has described as ‘glorified bouncers’. On the flip side in this period Bellew has racked up 13 fights.

Even so, since this fight was agreed no educated pundit gave his opponent a chance; due to outstanding promotion work this is no longer the case.

In order to even the playing field as much as possible, Haye has swamped his social media with videos constantly partying with Celebrities while training on a yacht; he portrayed himself as a playboy rather than a boxer preparing for a huge fight. 

He wanted the world to know that even though he’d taken this fight, he feels on another level to Bellew. If you look deeper though you will appreciate Haye the promoter. The aim of this was to create a seed of doubt in fight fans minds all over the country, that maybe David Haye isn’t taking cruiserweight world champion Tony Bellew seriously enough to win what will be all out war on Saturday night. 

Both Haye and his trainer have dismissed his opponent as nothing; they refuse to give him any credit or to accept that and upset is at all possible. The promotion of this fight would not find itself out of place in a Rocky movie. The resilient working class Bellew versus the handsome, hard-hitting Playboy in David Haye. The fact that Haye has been content to play the bad guy in this pantomime illustrates his knowledge of the box office market regardless of the fact it might make him lose fans.

Haye has previous in the role of playing the pantomime villain in order to get more buys for his paper view event, previously donning a shirt in which Haye stood tall grasping his opponents head above it’s beheaded body to create conflict.

 He has never been shy in admitting that he boxes for financial gain. He is a master at accelerating the buy rate of a paper view event; if he needs to play the bad guy he will do all that is needed in order to make the event to succeed. 

He portrays a brash cocky exterior alienating him to many, but if you search beneath the surface you will see that what he’s actually doing is looking after his brand. He has elevated interest in this event to a level that many didn’t deem possible. While in my opinion he will have been training much harder than his videos envisage, and will actually be in amazing shape due to the opportunities that a win in this fight could grant him; he has the general public questioning whether he will win this fight at all. 

Not many people would like to buy a paper view event in which the winner is already determined, this piece of propaganda and promotion by Haye has in short-term views guaranteed big pay day for him and his opponent.

In terms of the fight, Bellew is a good fighter. He is resilient and full of heart, and if Haye has cut any corners he will be there to pick up the pieces. The fact of the matter is that if Haye is anywhere near his mercurial best, his pure power and precision should be enough to win this fight within 3 rounds in showstopping fashion. 

The real question is whether Haye is truly hungry enough to have worked hard to make the Hayemaker 2.0 an improvement; hard enough to set himself up for one last shot at being heavyweight king. Alternatively, has his ego truly left him unprepared for the war Bellew has trained for.

Haye looked trim, mean and focussed at the weigh in and I predict a brutal knockout in rounds 3-5.