Qatar 2022: Southgate confident England will advance against France 

England manager Gareth Southgate has so much belief in his England players that he will say nothing in the dressing-room before kick-off against France at Al Bayt Stadium Saturday night. “Nothing at all,” he revealed. Southgate will already have delivered his team talk about seizing the moment, have done all the tactical work on the 4-3-3 system that suits his players best and overseen penalty practice.

Southgate will leave the players to their own devices, probably mobile devices, before they put their boots on, their game heads on. Southgate will hand the floor over to his captain, Harry Kane, to say a few final words before they head out for their date with destiny in the desert. He trusts them. “When I was a player I’d think, ‘I’m ready’. All you [a manager] can do is mess it up now!” Southgate said.

His players know what is needed of them individually, whether Kyle Walker, Southgate’s rapid response unit at right back, in his duel with Kylian Mbappé or Jude Bellingham, the prince of poise, raiding forward and getting at and beyond Aurélien Tchouaméni. The key messages have been conveyed.

Southgate’s players understand what is required collectively, including hunting in packs with Jordan Henderson and Bukayo Saka scrambled when Mbappé gets the ball. An all-for-one mentality defines this England squad. “You have to be alongside your mate to help at all times with or without the ball,” Southgate has already told them.

There’s really nothing more for Southgate to add. His players just want to get on with it, get on the field, and try to get back to another World Cup semi-final. They have waited six days since booking their place in the quarter-finals, they’ve waited 17 months since the frustration of losing to Italy in the final at Euro 2020 while six of the starting XI tonight have waited four years since faltering against Croatia in Moscow.

They crave this chance to prove themselves against an elite side, the world champions, the team of Mbappé and Antoine Griezmann. They’re ready. “We’re more than ready,” Kane said.

England are seeing the sunlit uplands of this World Cup because Southgate has seen the light. He has reverted to 4-3-3, gone on the front foot, and unleashed the bold young generation led by Bellingham.

Southgate readily admits he analysed the tournament denouements in Moscow and at Wembley. “Well, I’d be an idiot if I hadn’t learnt over five years managing some of the biggest games in world football, managing some of the most high-profile players in Europe,” he said. “Going through the experience of having one of the most high-profile jobs in the country you learn quite a lot. You constantly improve as a coach. Another four-five years down the line I’ll be a better coach than I am now.

“We’ve constantly tried to evolve. I know people think I have a preference for a certain system, but if anything my preference has always been 4-3-3, but I don’t think it’s always been appropriate for us to play and get the best out of the team. The job is not just to have a philosophy, the job is to win matches. And you can have a philosophy but if you’re going home at the start of the tournament then the philosophy doesn’t wash, really. With the national team you’ve got to keep winning.

 “I’m always going to be judged on the next game. If we don’t win, I know where the buck will stop. But that’s fine, I’m the manager, I have to take responsibility. I feel good about where I am on my decision-making and my energy and my excitement for the game.”

All week the narrative about the game has been about France’s threat. Dayot Upamecano observed that to deal with Mbappé “you have to go to bed early”. Mbappé still might put you to sleep. The focus has also been on the creativity of Antoine Griezmann, the scissor-kicks of Olivier Giroud, the danger oozing from Ousmane Dembélé. The plot line runs that it’s going to be French attack versus English defence at Al Bayt Stadium.

But the reason why England have a chance against the world champions is the calibre of these players, these confident, bold individuals. “The biggest thing for me in the game is going to be our mentality,” Southgate said. “We’ll of course be tactically prepared. But on these nights you’ve got to have men that stand up and take on the challenge. That’s the bit we’ve got to prove to people.

“We remind them of the hurdles they have overcome as a group to get to this point, remind them of the qualities they’ve shown over a period of time and certainly the recent evidence for them in the games they’ve played. We’ve got individual players with big-match experience and I’ve no fear about the young ones because they’re just going to go and play. In big games, in the end, big players step up and they can be decisive.”

England have big players, such as Kane, Bellingham and Henderson. They will back themselves in and out of possession. In possession, Phil Foden can get at Jules Koundé, a centre back playing slightly unconvincingly at right back. Koundé might be even more vulnerable if Marcus Rashford runs at pace at him in the second half, just as Bukayo Saka can get at and beyond France’s left back, Theo Hernández. Bellingham will raid upfield. It’s unfair that England are playing with 12 as Kane appears at No 10 and No 9.

These are the occasions Kane relishes most, a knockout tie for his country, more than 20 million tuning in back home, and where better than to equal, even surpass, Wayne Rooney’s England goalscoring record than right here, right now, when his country needs him most. Kane has scored only once against Raphaël Varane in five club games (Tottenham Hotspur against Real Madrid and Manchester United) but twice in two internationals. Along with Harry Maguire and John Stones, Kane will unleash their “love train” at corners and free kicks, looking to exploit any vulnerability in France’s defence, and any hesitancy from Hugo Lloris. Maguire is in the mood to bury one of Foden’s outswinging corners. England have an array of goalscoring avenues, not least from the bench.

Out of possession, England will back themselves. Walker will remind himself of his motivational motto that “nobody will run harder than me” and stick tight to Mbappé, as Poland’s Matty Cash attempted, knowing that Henderson will cover across, and Stones will cover behind him and Saka will track back. England will take Mbappé in numbers.

“Clearly with France, they’ve got an outstanding player that if you can get extra bodies around him [it’s vital],” Southgate said. “It can’t be one person’s responsibility. We’ve obviously got a player [in Walker] who can deal with that as well as anybody I can think of but it can’t be just his responsibility. You’ve got to have zonal coverage on players like that. We also can’t let Antoine Griezmann have the run of the park because he’s a good player himself.