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Danny Murphy: Axing Sterling for Montenegro may backfire for England

  /  autty

Job well done, England. They've qualified for Euro 2020 with Sunday's game in Kosovo to spare and you can't be more emphatic than booking your place with a 7-0 win.

It's just a pity the achievement has been overshadowed by the fracas and subsequent fallout from Raheem Sterling v Joe Gomez. On Thursday, Sterling was banned from facing Montenegro and Gomez was booed by some fans at Wembley.

On Sunday it's roles reversed, Sterling is in action in Prishtina while Gomez is back on Merseyside for a reported knee injury. Gareth Southgate hasn't made many mistakes as England manager but I wonder if he'd deal with an incident like this differently next time.

I can see the intention behind punishing Sterling for one match but it's only kept the issue bubbling when it could have been closed down in 24 hours. Altercations between players aren't unusual.

If Sterling and Gomez had sorted out their differences, and it appears they had, move on. Whatever Gareth's motives, and he said he wanted to move forward quickly from the canteen row, it hasn't really worked because people have talked of little else.

I've got some experience of player bust-ups. At Fulham, two of my team-mates had a proper fight in the showers. I was part of the reconciliation process as captain. Nobody was banned from playing.

We don't know all the conversations within the England camp but I fear the punishment to Sterling has turned out self-defeating. The camp has been based on harmony, now you've got a star player who may be slightly resentful towards the manager, and a younger player wrongly targeted by fans that might cause further upset. It was all avoidable in my opinion.

Let's be clear, what Sterling did was wrong, and the incident was more than handbags so had to be dealt with. Even so, another punishment would have been more apt, as long as both parties went along with it.

I am a bit sceptical about the notion this decision was taken by a leadership group. I think it would have to come from the manager. Put it like this, if Sterling hadn't been stopped from facing Montenegro, do you think an England player would have knocked on Gareth's door unhappy? I don't.

I've had other former England players texting me to say they disagreed with how it has been handled. It smelt of a decision based on how it played out in public rather than designed to help the dressing room.

Now it's been dealt with, Raheem has apologised and he's back in the side. I think he'll be even more determined to show Gareth what he brings to the team, a polite two fingers if you like. The irony is that a few years ago Sterling was the fans' scapegoat. Now he's so popular and integral, Gomez gets the blame from supporters even though he is innocent.

I hope the controversy doesn't impact on our Euro 2020 preparations. I don't think it should. In every dressing room, there will be players who don't get on but club rivalry is overplayed in my book.

When I was with England, I used to get on with a lot of the Manchester United players; Nicky Butt, David Beckham, Phil Neville. I know some of the Liverpool lads didn't think much of Gary Neville celebrating in front of our fans but it didn't stop Steven Gerrard passing to him in an England shirt.

From a football perspective, Southgate's attention will turn quickly from a fantastic qualifying campaign to next summer's finals. He'll know England have a great opportunity with group games and the final at Wembley.

We know England have great attacking options with different players able to contribute. If it's not Harry Kane, it's Sterling or Marcus Rashford, who has got his mojo back. All very encouraging.

But, and there is a but, you can only gauge so much from qualifying. With respect to Montenegro, it's not Spain or Italy in a big quarter-final.

Playing against teams that can't test England defensively has allowed Gareth to commit men forward and score goals in qualifying. But some kind of compromise will have to be found at the finals.

If everyone bombs on, you can't be as solid defensively. The key to tournament football is changing the setup and personnel against better teams. If Gareth goes with a back-four, that could mean asking the full-backs to be more careful or having a second midfielder that can do the combative stuff.

Questions have been raised about Harry Maguire and John Stones as international centre-halves but it's not just about them. Every defender at this level needs protection or they will be exposed. If Virgil van Dijk joined Arsenal, they'd still concede goals unless the whole team was set up right.

Gareth is blessed with great firepower but he'll be working on the other end of the pitch. England's World Cup was a celebration but don't forget we lost to the three best teams we faced; Belgium (twice) and Croatia. If that happened again next summer, it wouldn't be success.

He's an intelligent coach and will want a plan with flexibility at the heart. I followed the Rugby World Cup and noted that Eddie Jones left out George Ford against Australia and brought him back against New Zealand. England won both.

Interestingly, Eddie has also said since losing the final against South Africa that his biggest regret was not freshening the team up again after beating the All Blacks. It reminded me of England's World Cup semi-final against Croatia. Kane was the tournament's top-scorer but dead on his feet — he should have made way for Jamie Vardy during the game.

The midfield against Montenegro was perfect for such modest opponents. Mason Mount and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain's instinct is to go forward. Full-backs Trent Alexander-Arnold and Ben Chilwell had license to join in as well. But if you play like that facing Kylian Mbappe, you will have problems.

I wonder if he'll do a u-turn with Kyle Walker. England are blessed at right-back with Trent, Kieran Trippier and Aaron Wan-Bissaka.

But personally I think if you're Leroy Sane running out for Germany against England in a semi-final, Walker is the last person you'd want to face one-on-one.

Jordan Henderson was the holding midfielder at the World Cup. He's played more advanced for Liverpool this season and I think if Gareth plays Harry Winks as the holder with Henderson a bit further forward, you have two players with the tenacity and awareness to restrict the best teams.

Winks has had criticism this season because of Tottenham's form but he's suited to that role for England.

He has great feet and a tactical discipline. Importantly, he is confident at receiving the ball in tight situations. Maguire can feel confident playing a pass into him to build a new attack.

Protecting the back-four is more about fitness and anticipation than flying into 50-50 tackles. Michael Carrick did the job superbly for United. Xabi Alonso also liked to put his foot in for Liverpool and Spain but Winks is tenacious enough too.

Gareth will just want as many of his players to stay in form and injury-free over the coming months. He's built this team relatively quickly and has so many options now.

Look at how well James Maddison is playing for Leicester and still struggling to win an England place. I'd like to see Chelsea's Callum Hudson-Odoi start against Kosovo. He's just turned 19 and one of the best young talents I've seen in years.

People will rave about his ability to run past defenders with ease, on either side, but I'm as impressed with his match awareness. He can spot team-mates for a pass even when going at top speed. That is rare in a player so young — it's a gift that Mbappe also has.