Football news - How England can maintain momentum in 2019 after famous year

Updated 24/12/2018 at 14:19 GMT

Never before in a calendar year have England played more than the 17 occasions they have done so in 2018, but their modest 58.8 win-percentage indicates there is still plenty of room for improvement, writes Ben Grounds.

Gareth Southgate acknowledges England fans

Image credit: PA Sport

“It is first thing to create,” said Pep Guardiola at his first press conference this season when asked if instilling the right culture lay at the heart of his success at Manchester City.

The past 12 months for Gareth Southgate have been the most successful of his managerial career, but the challenge now is to take England to the next level, where they rank among tournament favourites.

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Remember how far you’ve come

Roy Hodgson admitted he didn't know why he was made to speak after resigning in June 2016

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Back in June 2016, it was a familiar tale of woe. Roy Hodgson was forced to face the media after England's humiliating exit at the European Championships at the hands of minnows Iceland.

It had been the national team's “greatest humiliation”, according to The Times, while the 2-1 reverse to Lars Lagerback’s valiant warriors was viewed as the "worst defeat in 66 years" by the Independent.

But things would get worse as the FA were soon to be left embarrassed by the whole Sam Allardyce saga.

Sam Allardyce finally realised his dream of managing England but lasted one game

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The tough line the governing body took on Hodgson's successor was declared at the time to have been taken in order to 'protect the wider interests of the game' but it would in time prove a minor stroke of genius.

Fast-forward two years, and Gareth Southgate is set to win Christmas with a jumper that pays homage to the England manager's sartorial preference during those halcyon, hot days in Russia.

The festive waistcoat captures the mood of a nation that is riding on the crest of a wave even before the Croatia head coach Zlatko Dalic admitted that football is "coming home very soon".

We all scratched our heads at the UEFA Nations League when it first crept over the horizon like the hangover from hell, but the widespread view that these fixtures were just glorified friendlies has now been replacement with just the gathering whiff of glory.

Handling the expectation

Harry Kane celebrates his winning goal against Croatia with Jesse Lingard

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June provides England with a second semi-final in the space of 12 months, having waited 28 years for one to come along. Supporters will already be booking their flights to Porto, but their growing sense of enthusiasm towards international football will then be carefully placed back in its box until next March.

It’s not quite a case of containing the excitement as much as England learning to handle the growing levels of expectation in games they will be favourites to win as a Pot One team.

Those days in the Portuguese sun are sandwiched in between the return of the traditional European Championship qualifiers, and with it those trips to the many unheralded backwaters of the Old Continent made known to Year 5 geography pupils just because England were in town.

Having basked in the afterglow of a glorious World Cup showing, the momentum gathered helped take England through the challenge of Spain and Croatia, but Southgate must spend the winter months plotting how best to keep his New England feeling fresh.

It brought a fitting end to a year that has seen plenty of progress. Southgate's team has evolved. The tweak in formation is testament to the growing maturity and faith in the manager's playing style, with the successful deployment of a pragmatic back three switching to a more adventurous 4-3-3.

An England squad has always divided supporters, but the sense of incredulity at seeing Jake Livermore repeatedly called up has been replaced by an increasing show of faith in whoever the manager sees fit to wear the shirt.

... and hope for a slice of luck

Lingard scrambles the ball off the England goal-line during a frantic second-half

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Reconnecting fans with the England side has enabled all manner of possibility, while moments of good fortune along the way have certainly helped.

Southgate admitted himself that both of England's goals against Croatia were something of a throwback to a bygone era, Jesse Lingard's equaliser coming via a throw-in while Harry Kane pounced from another set piece. It was a game of fine margins as Lingard also hooked a shot off the line, while Croatia were denied a penalty in the first-half.

Danny Welbeck’s cruel ankle injury will likely mean he misses a large chunk of what remains of this season, and a similar lengthy setback to a more integral member of the England squad – as seen on previous infamous occasions prior to a major tournament – would check the euphoria.

Keep the squad fresh

Callum Wilson scores on his England debut against USA last week

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The hallmark of Southgate's unabated love affair is his unwavering retention of youth and the regular injection of new faces into a very likeable group. While he has created a club mentality, he has not made it exclusive.

The likes of Joe Hart and Livermore have been gently phased out while Rooney leads the line of those forced into retirement, but Callum Wilson’s recent call-up shows that the door is open for those deserving of a place on merit.

The Bournemouth striker’s first cap against USA last Thursday meant that Southgate had used 0.84 debutants per game during his tenure - the highest of any of the last eight England managers.

Despite the country’s virtually impeccable record of qualifying for major tournaments, complacency cannot be allowed to seep in due to the Nations League safety net.

A place in the squad must be earned but by keeping the rate at which he injects those on form and eager to impress into the fold, this will help ensure any sort of drop-off doesn't happen.

Kane needs to inspire Alli

Dele Alli entered the England fold at the same time as Kane but only one has reproduced their club form

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Conversely, trips to unglamorous venues that will now take centre stage also offer the more established a chance to remind Southgate of their capabilities.

England will want to book their place at Euro 2020 at the first attempt and the first two matchdays of the qualifying campaign in March will also act as an audition to be part of that squad for the showpiece tournament in Portugal.

Harry Kane underlined his importance to the side with his first international goal in seven outings, but one of his Tottenham team-mates must see the next 12 months as an opportunity to become similarly irreplaceable.

Dele Alli has had a stop-start time of it for both club and country. He was named PFA Young Player of the Year in consecutive seasons in 2016 and 2017, but there has been minimal reaction since he was an unused substitute in the 1-1 draw with Italy last March.

Alli is in danger of being left behind at international level

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Injuries have played their part, but Southgate’s preferred formation also suggests he has become the biggest fall-guy of the evolution. He has become a bit of an unused luxury.

For all the talk of Jadon Sancho’s promise, the excellence of Trent Alexander-Arnold and the potential of Ben Chilwell and Joe Gomez, it shouldn’t be forgotten that Alli is still just 22, with 33 England caps already to his name.

His game has always been about scoring goals, making runs off Kane, but the three international strikes he’s mustered illustrates how he has failed to replicate club form for his country. It was more a coincidence that England recovered on Sunday after his introduction for Ross Barkley.

While Alli has failed to shake off his tendency to be a streaky player, the attacking midfielder has overcome a recent hamstring strain and he must view the upcoming congested festive schedule as an opportunity to remind Southgate that he is far more than just gimmicky handshakes.

2018 is just the beginning

Southgate must keep players grounded and maintain the intensity next year

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Nothing has been won, but Southgate will take inspiration from Guardiola, who told his Manchester City players to use the success of last season as the "basic principle" in hunting down more silverware this campaign.

When the group reconvenes at St George's Park in the Spring, it will not feel like the inconvenience March internationals have held in the past, just when the serious domestic stuff is simmering to a crescendo.

The many months of football ahead will no doubt shape who will be available in four months' time, but having demonstrated an ability to win when it matters against the big nations, 2019 will largely be about maintaining momentum through professional performances.

England have made a nation believe in their team again through a manager who has stuck to his philosophy, but the challenge now is to retain momentum through to the next major tournament.

Channel sense of unfinished business

England must see Nations League success as just another step towards the ultimate goal

Image credit: Reuters

Sunday's comeback - the first time ever in 601 competitive internationals that England have won a game in 90 minutes when trailing with 15 minutes left - in no way made up for the semi-final defeat to Croatia in Moscow.

The nation collectively removed the summer anthem from their playlists the moment Turkish referee Cuneyt Cakir blew his whistle to signal the end of extra-time that day.

As Baddiel and Skinner’s hit boomed once more across the Wembley speaker system on Sunday, fans sang the chorus with a sense of nostalgia for the summer of 2018 – not Euro ’96 – but the aim now is to turn those intentionally ironic undertones into a central refrain that is sung with the belief that the wait for a second World Cup will end in Qatar.

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