England boss Gareth Southgate facing difficult juggling act after calls for stars to miss Iceland clash

Dan Kilpatrick @Dan_KP16 November 2020

Gareth Southgate will face one of his toughest balancing acts since the 2018 World Cup for Iceland’s visit to Wembley on Wednesday.

Sunday night’s 2-0 defeat to Belgium has left England’s final Nations League qualifier as a dead-rubber, but Southgate insists his players will be competing for pride and places in the squad for next summer’s European Championship.

Meaningless international fixtures raise the hackles of club managers at the best of times and, in this relentless season, even the most mild-mannered will resent their players being involved on Wednesday night.

The wisdom of playing international football in the midst of a global pandemic and this truncated campaign is already in question after a slew of injuries and positive tests around the globe this week.

Clubs have never been more concerned about the welfare of their players while on international duty, while the relationship between England and the Premier League ‘big six’, who have particularly unrelenting schedules, is already under strain.

Southgate has argued forcefully that Fifa should have taken the opportunity to completely reschedule the calendar after the initial shutdown in March and lobbied successfully for Uefa to allow five substitutes in the Nations League.

But more than ever this week, he will be caught between the need to do his job and maintain relationships with England’s top clubs, who will pressure their stars to sit out midweek.

Southgate admitted on Sunday night he would “find out a lot” about his players and insisted some “want the opportunity to play” - a subtle attempt to apply some pressure of his own.

Among those who will be most eager to impress against Iceland are Tyrone Mings, Jack Grealish, Mason Mount, Harry Winks and Bukayo Saka, who are either on the fringes of the squad or close to cementing a first-team place. All featured heavily against both the Republic of Ireland and Belgium.

Gareth Southgate faces a difficult balancing act ahead of England’s Nations League dead-rubber against Iceland
AP

Southgate’s unenviable position was further weakened by Sunday night’s defeat in Leuven, sealed by first-half goals by Leicester’s Youri Tielemans and Dries Mertens.

Jordan Henderson was replaced at half-time with muscle tightness and Liverpool’s relationship with England will be further soured if the midfielder has suffered a meaningful problem, following club-mate Joe Gomez’s potentially season-ending knee injury last week.

Similarly, Chelsea will be hoping Ben Chilwell’s back injury, which forced him off after 35 minutes, is not serious, while Manchester City are sweating over the fitness of Raheem Sterling for Saturday’s match at Tottenham. The winger sat out Sunday night’s game and is expected to miss Iceland with a calf problem.

Jose Mourinho, the Spurs manager, publicly sparred with Southgate over Harry Kane’s game-time last month and has already suggested he does not expect the England captain to play in any meaningless international fixtures this season.

Chelsea defender Ben Chilwell limped off with a back injury against Belgium in Leuven on Sunday night
BELGA/AFP via Getty Images

The same will apply to Eric Dier, whose injury during the OctoberEngland camp has been repeatedly mentioned by Mourinho ever since.

None of these injuries to players are a coincidence, of course, but instead the natural consequence of an unprecedented workload on players. That is not Southgate’s fault and he is conscious of the need to “protect” his players, while also aware that England have just three more competitive matches in which to fine-tune his side before Euro 2020 gets under way.

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