England goes back to drawing board as midfield issues remain

LONDON: For all the improvements made by England under Gareth Southgate — and reaching the World Cup semifinals and European Championship final suggests there are many — one major problem has been holding the team back.

Finding the right balance in England’s central midfield is an issue that predates Southgate. Who, for example, can forget that long-running debate over whether Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard could play together in the early 2000s?

Fast forward a few years and the current England team hasn’t got that world-class quality of Gerrard, Lampard and Paul Scholes as center-midfield options. Instead, Southgate has a few solid, hard-working players sprinkled with some potential stars of the future who are still learning their trade in a number of different positions.

Getting the right mix is proving problematic.

With England’s conservative midfield being overrun by Croatia in the World Cup semifinals in 2018 and Italy in the Euro 2020 final, there has been a clamor to get some more ball-players in the midfield three to give the team a chance of retaining possession better against top opposition.

So when Southgate selected a central midfield consisting of Declan Rice as the anchorman behind two attacking No. 8s in 22-year-old Mason Mount and 21-year-old Phil Foden for Tuesday’s World Cup qualifier against Hungary, there was a sense of anticipation.