Surely people can understand now why he was so keen to get Phillips and Henderson into his squad. Those players gave us real balance and allowed Rice to play his natural game. Without Rice and Phillips you’re asking a young lad to come in, in Wharton or Mainoo, or asking a talented right-back to do something for his country that he doesn’t really do for his club. There is a dearth of options in central midfield and it’s been there for years and years, this is why Southgate has placed so much emphasis on building a strong defence, to account for that lack of quality in central midfield.
Over the years he’s lost Mount, Henderson, Alli and Phillips. There’s some talent there. You take Rice out of our midfield and it’s teenagers and Gallagher. The lack of a true, elite-level No6 has held this team back for the last 4 or 5 years. England just doesn’t seem to produce them. It’s easy to criticise Southgate and some of it is merited but his hands are somewhat tied imo. Though I do think if he’s picking Mainoo or Wharton then one of them should be playing midfield ahead of Alexander-Arnold.
Alternatively, Bellingham could play there and you could get Foden more central and Eze or Gordon down the left. But there’s a gaping, long-standing hole in our team that’s been completely exacerbated by Phillips’ form nosediving and Henderson moving to Saudi Arabia, and fixing it is much easier said than done because whatever he does is a fairly big risk. It would be the same for any England manager.