As England prepare to take on Italy in Euro 2020 Grand Final, we take a look at how Gareth Southgate could choose to line up his Three Lions for their first final since 1966.
With the pressure of the nation upon their shoulders, England enter their first final in 55 years looking for a maiden Euro title after netting ten goals in six matches, yet are up against a resurgent Italy who have netted 12 goals with their attacking 4-3-3 formation.
Southgate therefore faces tactical and selection headaches as to how to line up his Three Lions as we take a look at who could be in contention to start this crunch clash.
Goalkeeper
Despite producing a poor reaction to Mikkel Damsgaard’s free-kick which led to England’s first conceded goal of the tournament in Wednesday’s semi-final, it is difficult to see Jordan Pickford getting dropped because he has been consistent and was just unlucky with the powerful set-piece.
Pickford however did atone for his slow reaction with a series of saves later in the match to help seal England’s place in the Final, which shows his resilience in goal against tricky opposition given that Italy are a top attacking team who will be difficult to play against.
Add in the fact that the two alternatives are Sam Johnstone and Aaron Ramsdale who both last season played for West Brom and Sheffield United, of which both clubs were relegated which highlights the gulf in quality between them and Pickford.
Defence
Much of the defensive selection will depend on which way Southgate decides to go tactically because he could easily stick with the back four of their last two matches, yet he could opt to return to the 3-4-3 formation which he used to counteract Germany’s attacking ability in the Round of 16.
This is therefore a tough decision but I expect Southgate to trust in his 4-2-3-1 formation for a third consecutive match for stability purposes, with an unchanged defence of Kyle Walker, John Stones, Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw again starting in the back line.
Midfield
If Southgate goes with the 4-2-3-1 formation then I definitely do not see any changes in midfield with Kalvin Phillips and Declan Rice marshalling the central midfield, like they have done throughout the tournament.
Raheem Sterling and Mason Mount meanwhile should retain their left-wing and central attacking midfielder positions respectively, whilst I wouldn’t be surprised if we see Bukayo Saka again start on the right wing because he was excellent against Denmark with his pace and creativity for 68 minutes.
Southgate however will be wary of Italy’s threat on the flanks with players like Giovanni Di Lorenzo and Lorenzo Insigne, so Jadon Sancho could be an option if Southgate considers using a wide playing winger to force Italy’s wing based fullbacks out of position.
Saka has however shown that he can do that as well as provide a threat when cutting in from the flank towards the central third, as evidenced by setting up Simon Kjaer’s own goal on Wednesday so is definitely the preferred option in my opinion to slot into the right-winger position on pure ability.
Forward
Although he often had to drop deep against Denmark to help out his midfield in terms of springing attacks, Harry Kane is a sure-fire bet to lead England up front because he has proved this tournament that he is a team player which could be crucial in creating attacks against a difficult Italian team.
Kane however has often run the risk of dropping just too deep to recover his position to meet conclusions of attacking moves into the box created by those on the flanks, which could cause some difficulty if Italy defenders can quickly track him and force him into tussles to slow him down.
It is also worth noting that Marcus Rashford or Dominic Calvert-Lewin likely couldn’t of provided the quality which we have seen from Kane all tournament, in terms of dropping deep and springing attacks although Rashford is a strong quality left-winger only kept out by Sterling’s international form.
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