UK Edition
England's new system is 'perfect' way of exploiting Dele Alli and Adam Lallana's athleticism
Gareth Southgate described England’s newly-adopted 3-4-3 system as the “perfect” way of exploiting the athleticism of Dele Alli and Adam Lallana and praised the speed with which his players adapted to the formation despite limited preparation.
England went down 1-0 to Germany and Lukas Podolski’s farewell goal, but the England manager was buoyant in the aftermath. He said that the limitations on training had meant that the players had to “walk through” the three-man defensive system but drew on their own club experience to make it work.
Southgate said: “I think it is the perfect system for the likes of Lallana and Alli, who are both very, very intelligent players and it allowed us to press high up the pitch. I have seen Germany pin teams back and you end up with six at the back if you play with the system we have played in the past.
“I didn’t want to sit there and take pressure all night. We want to be on the front foot and that system allowed us to do that with the intelligence in the way we pressed. In particular the front three created the good chances we had.”
Southgate praised the contribution of Michael Keane, who made his England debut in the three-man defence saying the Burnley centre-back had shown his adaptability in the Under-21s. Southgate said that he decided six weeks ago to adopt the 3-4-3 system pioneered by Antonio Conte at Chelsea this season and used elsewhere in the Premier League.
“We had to be a bit creative in how we did it,” Southgate said. “We couldn’t train on the field too many times. We were able to walk through certain things and have meetings and work through things on tactics boards. We discussed things and got the players’ experiences from their clubs. It wasn’t an alien system in terms of several of the players were playing in it and I felt it suited others that haven’t.”
Southgate said he was not aware during the game of the offensive chants from England fans about the Second World War. “It has been mentioned to me. The travelling support in terms of numbers and the way they backed the team is brilliant and we would encourage them do that in the right way at all times.”
