3 crucial factors which have led to England's resurgence under Gareth Southgate

England have started their qualification campaign for Euro 2020 in great fashion by defeating the Czech Republic and Montenegro emphatically. They beat Czech Republic 5-0 at Wembley last week and again beat Montenegro 5-1 on Tuesday night.

This is the first time England have scored 5 goals apiece in back-to-back matches in a qualification campaign for a major tournament. They also beat Spain and Croatia in the UEFA Nations League last year. Moreover, they finished 4th in the World Cup 2018, and all the aforementioned information points towards their obvious improvement under the tutelage of Gareth Southgate.

Southgate, who was appointed as the manager of England in 2016, was an England international himself and earned 57 caps for his country. However, his managerial career has already overshadowed his exploits as a player, and we have a look at the 3 factors that led to England’s revival under him.

#1 Tactical flexibility

England had adopted a 3-5-2 formation in last year’s World Cup and played the likes of Dele Alli and Jesse Lingard as central midfielders. They had to depend upon wingbacks, Kieran Trippier and Ashley Young for providing width to the attack.

However, they have shifted to a 4-3-3 now, and given a chance to wingers like Raheem Sterling, Sancho, and Callum Hudson-Odoi to attack without any inhibition.

Playing with a back 4 instead of a 3-man defence has allowed England to be more solid defensively. Their central midfielders have also been able to play more freely. Moreover, they did not have any box-to-box midfielders in their line-up for the World Cup, as neither Alli nor Lingaard can play box-to-box.

However, they have a genuine box-to-box midfielder in the shape of Ross Barkley in their team now. Barkley has scored 2 goals in their last 2 matches and seems to have stepped in the shoes of Frank Lampard.

Hudson-Odoi has also looked great while cutting in from the left flank, and contributed towards a few of the goals scored by his team. Sancho did the same through the right wing against the Czech Republic, and provided an assist.

#2 Plenty of goal-scoring options

England have a number of players in their line-up who are capable of scoring goals regularly. Harry Kane, who won the Golden Boot in the last World Cup, again scored in each of their last 2 matches. Sterling scored a wonderful hattrick against the Czechs and provided a beautiful assist to Kane in the match against Montenegro.

Kane now has 22 goals from 37 matches in his international career. Moreover, as we have already discussed, Barkley is emerging as a goal-scoring option for them. He has an eye for goal and gets into scoring positions frequently.

England also has young forwards like Marcus Rashford and Lingard, who have had a decent season for Manchester United. As a result, the goals have poured in for them in their last few matches. England also beat Spain 3-2 away, and Croatia 2-1 at home last year, and those results show that they have been regularly scoring a lot of goals in the recent past.

#3 Having a large pool of young players

England now has a large pool of youngsters to choose from for inclusion in the national team. Hudson-Odoi made his England debut at the age of 18 against the Czech Republic. Young players like Ben Chilwell, Michael Keane, and Sancho have also played their parts in the last couple of matches.

Moreover, players like Harry Maguire and Jordan Pickford rose to prominence during the 2018 World Cup. Also, there are quite a few other players like Danny Rose, Trippier, and Eric Dier, who are all well short of 30. All those youngsters have combined to make England a formidable team.

Therefore, it is quite evident that England is a young team these days, and have benefitted profoundly from the exuberance of youth in the recent past. Those young players are hungry for success and do not take their feet off the pedal, even when their team are leading by a few goals.

Edited by Anthony Akatugba Jr.