The England squad is weird, and it just might work

Generally, the friendlies that precede a World Cup follow a predictable pattern. As set out here in exhaustive detail, the traditional thing to do is to pick a geographical neighbour of a group stage opponent. Sometimes this makes a lot of sense; other times, less so …

But occasionally a nation decides to try something different, and England’s March friendlies — a 1-0 win against the Netherlands last Friday night, then Italy Tuesday — are clear and targeted exercises in self-improvement. These opponents are, after all, footballing aristocrats. They are the kind of nations you might expect to meet not in the groups but in the latter stages of a big tournament. The kind of nations, in short, that are defeated by World Cup winners.

Of course, England won’t actually meet either of these sides in the latter stages of Russia 2018, because both made a mess of qualifying and will be staying at home. Still, the principle is sound, just about.

Whether England’s squad is sound is a much trickier question. With the notable exceptions of Harry Kane, who should be back in time for the tournament, and Gary Cahill, currently out of favour at Chelsea, this is England at close to full strength. And it’s a motley collection of players: a few first-team certainties, a lot of question marks, and some notable patches of inexperience. Also, four goalkeepers, which always feels a little like a cry for help.

Of those goalkeepers, Jordan Pickford started against the Netherlands, and has been given the chance to establish himself as England’s no. 1. Pickford has certainly been the busiest of England’s options over the season, since Joe Hart’s been dropped, Jack Butland’s been injured, and Nick Pope’s been playing behind a competent defence. And while he hasn’t looked flawless, he’s young enough to get much better. He also, as we saw against the Netherlands, has the advantage when it comes to the goalkeeper-adjacent business of actually playing football.

In front of the keeper, whoever that turns out to be, is a collection of interesting questions. It’s a strange time for English central defenders, particularly at the top of the table. Cahill isn’t in the Chelsea team, and though Chris Smalling is playing for Manchester United, Southgate doesn’t seem to fancy him for England. Phil Jones is injured, obviously. And though Southgate has kept faith with John Stones, he appears to have slipped in Manchester City’s defensive pecking order, behind Nicolas Otamendi, Aymeric Laporte, and maybe even the big ball of sellotape keeping Vincent Kompany’s legs attached.

Faced with precarity in the notional elites, Southgate is improvising. Burnley’s James Tarkowski, Swansea’s Alfie Mawson, and Leicester’s Harry Maguire might not have been obvious England internationals at the beginning of the season, but they’ve managed to suggest their usefulness to Southgate, and many longer shots have gone to World Cups. Maguire also comes with the ineffable quality of looking like he could have been playing in 1966.

Then, just to confuse everybody, Southgate decided to pick Kyle Walker in a back three. And it worked, with all the necessary caveats about the standard of the Dutch team and the intensity, or otherwise, of friendlies. Further, a back three means England can patch this vulnerability through strength of numbers, while allowing their fullbacks to spread their wings. Can’t decide between Walker and Trippier? Play them both.

The rest of the team is intriguingly poised as well. Beyond automatic picks Jordan Henderson (captain) and Harry Kane (goalscorer), there’s a whole range of options depending on what Southgate wants to do. There’s Eric Dier if he wants defensive solidity, and then a clutch of broadly attacking midfielders — Raheem Sterling, Dele Alli, Jesse Lingard, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain — all of whom offer goals and playmaking, energy and bustle, in various proportions.

Also there’s the Jamie Vardy question, which has an obvious answer — he’ll be back-up and game chaser — that feels a little unambitious. The Leicester striker may be fuelled by Skittles, port, and apparently limitless rage, but as a result he’s terrifying in a way that no other English attacker can manage. A weapon, in as many senses of the word as you like. If they can only find a place for him.

Broadly speaking, there are two kinds of England squad when it comes to major tournaments. There’s the squad stuffed full of Massive Names who go, fail, and get torn to pieces in the papers. Fortunately for everybody, Russia 2018 won’t see one of those. Instead, it’ll be of the other, more intriguing sort: definite strengths, obvious weaknesses, and — as a result of the latter — some interesting inclusions.

Asked about his surprise call-up, Alfie Mawson rather endearingly suggested, in addition to playing well, “sometimes it’s down to being a nice person.” Whether or not Southgate picked him for his pleasantness, it’s a useful reminder that building an international squad isn’t just about picking 23 world-class players and calling it a day (much as Southgate would like to be able to do that.) It’s also about building a group that can spend a month together without driving one another up the wall, and about finding players that can perform together despite coming from different clubs.

It’s been a long time since international football was the highest standard of the game, if it ever truly was. In many ways, function is more important than quality: it doesn’t necessarily matter if a squad is a little callow in places, or improvised in others, as long as it works. England’s opponents this week are decent demonstrations of this: for all the quality in the Dutch and particularly the Italian squads, they couldn’t get through qualifying. Which is, ultimately, why they’re the warm-up acts, while England, with their four goalkeepers and their Swansea centre-halves and their Jake Livermore — somehow, still, bless him — are heading to Russia.