lmost a week on and England’s players are still piecing together the eccentricity of an end-of-season overnight stay on Woodbury Common mucking in with http://www.greenbaypackersauthorizedstore.com/clay-matthews-jersey-... the Royal Marines. Harry Kane thrilled at the novelty of “putting up my own tent and sleeping in a sleeping bag”. Kieran Trippier, who can hardly have anticipated enduring the “sheep dip” or a four-mile early morning hike with 21kg on his back through a Devonian wilderness on his first call-up, admitted an initial sense of shock gave way to enjoyment. All spoke of admiration for their hosts and praised Gareth Southgate for thinking outside the box when it came to team bonding.
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Tactical manoeuvre: the England squad train with the Royal Marines – in pictures View gallery Yet it took the manager’s right-hand man to explain the true merit of a trip to the south-west which, like so much of the national team’s attempt at reinvention, was in effect born of memories of the feeble and high-profile capitulation to Iceland in Nice last summer. “It would be easy to assume: marines, army, run until you are sick, but that was actually the opposite of what it was all about,” said Steve Holland. “Gareth has identified issues we need to address and had come up with different ways to go through the process. Take leadership. There were various different exercises that weren’t physically challenging but did demand some to step forward, organise others and take responsibility. To lead. “The guys were having to handle situations where there was pressure. They were out of their comfort zones, and they didn’t feel good about what they were being asked to do, even with limited physical risk. Standing knee high in water, having to pass through a tunnel full of water, not being able to see while in the tube before you reached the marine at the other end … personally, I didn’t fancy that for a second, but I pushed myself through, as did everybody. Now relate that back into football. There are moments on the pitch – and the Iceland game is everyone’s point http://www.sandiegochargersauthorizedstore.com/denzel-perryman-jers... of reference – where you have to react, when you’re one up and everything looks fine, then suddenly ‘bang, bang’, it’s 1-2. The feedback Gareth’s had has been that, in some cases, the team’s ‘identity’ has been lacking Steve Holland “Maybe you were in the stadium, or watching it on holiday like me, looking round at the players thinking: ‘Bloody hell, they’ve gone. Where are the leaders? Where is the leadership?’ That is a pressure moment, so who is stepping forward? It looked to me like there was nobody. Does what we did at the weekend solve that? Not in one hit, no. But having identified it, it is part of a process that hopefully, in the short term but also in the long term, will create a different mindset within the group that can help us. It is as simple as that.” The exorcism of that nightmare on the French Riviera is still continuing.
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Scotland will test England’s progress in the ferocious din of Hampden Park on Saturday, with the group leaders charged with imposing themselves on their hosts. Coping with that level of expectation is part of the process. Roy Hodgson’s side were supposed to ease beyond Iceland, after all, and were ahead early on. Southgate and his staff have recognised that this young group’s potential will not be realised until hurdles such as these are vaulted with ease. “There is potential, yes, but there is also clearly some work to be done to get this group to where their maximum is,” said Holland. “If we can hit that then this team has a chance to win [tournaments]. I have no doubt, this team has a chance to win. “Since coming in, Gareth has been very interactive in the way he has dealt with the players and what happened last summer: asking them what they think, not necessarily http://www.minnesotavikingsauthorizedstore.com/brian-robison-jersey... telling them what he thinks. It has been driven really by an ownership from the players. What did you recognise? What was right? What was wrong? How is it going to be different next time? What can we do to make that process different? The feedback Gareth’s had from players of the past and the present has been that, in some cases, the team’s identity has been lacking, whether that is tactical or philosophical. They want to get that back.”
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England Facebook Twitter Pinterest The England team learn how to cook like a Royal Marine out in the field. Photograph: Royal Navy/PA The aim is to give the group some tactical flexibility, allowing them to switch from four at the back to three if required, as they have demonstrated under Southgate. Likewise, they need to mix between pressing high up the pitch when out of possession, or being able to sit deeper and look to counterattack. “And what are we doing with the ball?” said the assistant manager. “Are we obsessed with playing from goalkeeper to halfway line, or is that not so important? How are we going to get from the halfway line to make chances? Everybody has to be very clear about their roles and responsibilities. There is room for adaptation there, positionally, but I think that is the only way.” Advertisement All of which suggests a settled group will use international breaks, including the current two-game period, to familiarise themselves with Southgate’s demands and ensure that, come Russia next summer, England’s thinking is anything but muddled. Holland’s role is now full-time, his eight-year spell with Chelsea curtailed as a Premier League champion, with any fears rival elite clubs, Tottenham Hotspur among them, might have had over him gleaning inside information on players while on international duty presumably now allayed. “The job offered to me was not a ‘split duty’ job,” he said. “It was ‘come full-time or don’t come at all’, and I understand totally what that is. That is correct. I can see why people might have thought there were issues. “I had the Chris Doleman Authentic Jersey best eight years of my life at Chelsea, incredible experiences winning the Champions League and Premier League, so I am grateful to them. But it was not a wrench joining Gareth here. I’m 46 and I’ve never seen England in a final. My eldest son is 18 and he’s never seen England in a semi-final. When you can try and affect that, working with an England team that delivered success, that opportunity was impossible to reject