Anybody of a certain age all know how that sentence ends. Hopefully tonight though there will be scenes more like when Gazza lobbed the ball over Colin Hendry and scored that wonder goal, and less like when Southgate missed that penalty against Germany in the Euro 96 semi final.
This week, leading up to the game I have to say that I have not been that bothered about it, but as usual when it comes to game day and the fact that we are playing against the auld enemy, and as much as I despise this bunch of overrated, overpaid primadonnas, we just mustn’t lose to the Jocks.
Gareth Southgate’s first couple of games in charge have not shown us anything different from the Hodgson era, tonight though he has a fantastic opportunity to put his stamp on this and prove to the doubters that he is his own man and he has his own ideas of how England should play. Up until about Wednesday I didn’t think anything was going to change and we would go into this game all safe and lacking in any invention or creativity, however a call up from Southgate has made me think a change is on the way.
When you look at the squad that has been named, there isnt any big surprises and it is a bit same old same old. Then came the inevitable pull outs. Injury deprived keeper Fraser Forster and Leicester midfielder Danny Drinkwater their places in the squad. Normally a manager would replace in his squad like for like, on this occasion Southgate decided to call up in form West Ham left back Aaron Cresswell and not another midfielder. This now means that we have 3 left backs/wing backs in the squad. Does this mean a change in formation, are we at last, going to move away from this old fashioned 4-3-3, are we looking to play a more attacking formation with maybe 2 strikers up front?? It is surely a possibility.
We have already been told that Wayne Rooney starts, I really hope he will play up front alongside one other, Kane, Rashford or Sturridge is fine with me. Is it possible that with the defenders we now have in the squad that Southgate has looked at the Premier League and at the teams that are doing well and decided that he is going to play our attacking full backs as wing backs and go with 3 at the back. With Cresswell being called up I would suggest that he will be looking at playing Ryan Bertrand as a left sided central defender. This is something we could have done during the Euro’s with the squad we had. Bertrand is a good left back who has played as a centre back so know’s both positions. What he gives you is much needed cover to the left wing back when he bombs forward as he will naturally move into that position and cover as he plays there all the time.
If he does decide to go for this style of play and formation then we could see John Stones playing in the middle of the other two defenders with probably Cahill on the right side of the 3. I would then play either Clyne or Walker as right wing back and then Rose or Cresswell as the left wing back. I would go 2 in midfield, Henderson and Dier or Henderson and Wilshire, I would play Lallana as the number 10 due to his form in the league at the moment and Rooney with someone else up front.
I have no idea if this is what Southgate is thinking of doing but any sort of change from the Roy Hodgson 4-3-3 will be a step in the right direction, but if we were to play in a 3-5-2 we could absolutely batter the sweaties tonight.
If we decide to play it safe and play Rooney in midfield and one up front with Sterling one side and someone else on the other side, out of position, then I would say we are in for an uneventful night of little chances and little excitement, probably culminating in a bore draw or even worse a narrow Scotland win.
Lets be honest we should win this at a canter, but not many England fans really care about the game because every game lately seems to be the same old thing. We need a change, we need Southgate to truly step up and show everyone that his England are the ones who will buck the trend. Gordon Strachan is on borrowed time at the minute and he needs to win this game to keep his job. If England play as they have over the last god knows how long then Scotland will win the bragging rights. If Southgate springs a surprise and freshens it up it galvanises the team, the supporters and lifts the spirits of England.
No matter when England play Scotland it is a big game, they always raise their game lets hope a little change can help us raise ours.
Lets be honest there is nothing better than beating Scotland.
Come on England!!
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