Southgate exorcising ghosts in England's sputtering machine

LONDON - By dropping Wayne Rooney and dragging his players out of their comfort zones, England manager Gareth Southgate is attempting to jettison memories of the team's calamitous 2016 and propel it to the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

Humiliated by Iceland at Euro 2016, England then saw Sam Allardyce, Roy Hodgson's successor as manager, brought down by a newspaper sting after just one game in charge.

Southgate has done his best to steady the ship, initially on a temporary basis and now full time, and steeling his young players for adversity has been his top priority.

"The first thing is to recognize the performance in the Iceland game was not what everybody was expecting," Southgate's assistant, Steve Holland, said last week.

"Gareth has been very interactive with the way he has dealt with it. He's been asking the players what they thought and not necessarily telling them what he thinks.

"It's been driven by an ownership from the players. 'What did you recognize? What was right? What was wrong? How is it going to be different next time?'

"Part of that is off the training pitch. Leadership is a big part of that, recognizing and dealing with pressure."

In a show of Southgate's determination to rattle his players' gilded cages, he surprised them at the start of the current international round by hauling them away to a military training camp.

England's millionaire players had to erect their own tents, cook their own food and complete a grueling obstacle course, all in the name of teaching them how to think on their feet.

"In a football match, different stuff happens - people get sent off, you go 1-0 down - and it's about seeing how we can adapt to different situations," said striker Harry Kane.

"Being in the woods camping or doing different obstacle courses, it was about adapting to whatever was thrown in front of us."

New nucleus

Sidelining Rooney has been Southgate's biggest call so far and followed an embarrassing incident when the Manchester United forward was pictured looking the worse for wear at the team hotel.

Rooney, 31, was England's captain and remains its all-time leading scorer, but losing his first-team place at United has cost him his spot in the national team's pecking order.

Theo Walcott and his injury-cursed Arsenal teammate Jack Wilshere have also slipped from view.

A new nucleus is taking shape, based around a core of young Tottenham players in Kane, the dazzling Dele Alli, Eric Dier and fullbacks Kyle Walker and Danny Rose.

Southgate has awarded several new caps and given chances to players like Jesse Lingard, of Manchester United, and Southampton's Nathan Redmond, whom he trusts from his time as England Under-21 boss.

Burnley centerback Michael Keane has been promoted, while Jermain Defoe's goal-scoring feats for relegated Sunderland has seen him called in from the cold at the age of 34.

The quest for greater tactical flexibility saw England line up in a 3-4-3 formation in March's 1-0 friendly defeat in Germany, reflecting the system's growing popularity in the Premier League.

England is unbeaten in its six qualifiers to date and sits two points clear of Slovakia atop Group F after snatching a 2-2 draw against Scotland on Sunday.

A place at the World Cup in Russia is beckoning, and Southgate said he is already thinking about how he will avoid history repeating itself if and when England gets there.

"The challenge is, how do we become the best team in the world?" said the manager.

"We can only take small steps at a time and work as a team to improve every area, whether that's technical, tactical or psychological.

"We are identifying those areas and we'll keep working on them. You have short-term objectives, in winning individual games, but in the background we're starting to prepare for the finals.

"You can't take your eye off the immediate goal of needing to get there, but we also can't wait until next March before we start working towards things."

Agence France-Presse