DOHA — England manager
Gareth Southgate is wrestling with
the biggest dilemma of his reign as he tries to plot a way to stop the
“sensational” Kylian Mbappe in Saturday’s World Cup quarterfinal.
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Southgate’s hopes of leading
England to a third successive
semi-final at major tournaments hinge on finding a solution to a problem that
has proved impossible for any team to solve in Qatar.
Just how do you subdue a player with Mbappe’s lethal
combination of electric pace, balletic skill, and clinical finishing?
Australia, Denmark, and Poland failed to come up
with an appropriate answer as Mbappe scored in his three starts on route to the
quarterfinals.
Poland defender
Matty Cash summed up the conundrum
posed by Mbappe after the Paris Saint-Germain forward’s brilliant two goals in
France’s 3-1 last-16 victory on Sunday.
“I didn’t know whether to drop off or go tight,”
Cash said. “When I went tight he just spun in behind. When he gets the ball,
stops and moves, he’s the quickest thing I’ve ever seen.
“He’s a different level. Speed, movement, look at
his finishing. He’s got everything.”
Four years after playing a key role in France’s
World Cup triumph in Russia, Mbappe is the tournament’s most feared player.
The 23-year-old already has five goals in four games
in Qatar, while his haul of nine career World Cup goals puts him level with
Argentina’s Lionel Messi and one ahead of Portugal star Cristiano Ronaldo.
Now it is Southgate’s turn to sit the daunting
Mbappe exam.
“Look, he is a world-class player who is always
producing the moments when they are needed. That is what those top players do.
That is the challenge we face,” Southgate said.
So what will Southgate do to combat Mbappe’s threat?
One answer would be to switch England’s 4-3-3
formation to a 3-4-3 or 3-5-2 system, which would allow
Kyle Walker to move
from right back to supplement the central defense.
Southgate’s concern is to avoid a situation in which
the pacey Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele can run at defender Harry Maguire and
exploit his lack of speed.
‘Burning my legs’
Moving Walker would give
Maguire help but it would also leave Southgate open to fresh claims he is a
negative coach more concerned with stifling the opposition than letting his own
stars express themselves.
Southgate was heavily criticized after his return to
a 3-4-3 formation in the Euro 2020 final against Italy produced a tepid display
that ended in a penalty shoot-out defeat.
Instead of changing his formation, Southgate may
take inspiration from Walker’s role in
Manchester City’s Champions League
semi-final first-leg win over Mbappe’s PSG last year.
City boss Pep Guardiola asked Walker to muzzle
Mbappe from right-back and he responded with a disciplined display that kept
the star from scoring.
“I can’t think of another right-back in the world
that I’d want to put up against him,” former England defender Gary Neville said
of Walker’s chances of subduing Mbappe.
“Kyle will go closer to him, he has more pace than
the Polish defenders. That’s not to say Kyle will mark him out of the game. This
is a sensational player, the new best player in the world.”
As well as Walker winning his one-on-one duels with
Mbappe, Neville believes it is essential to reduce his service from Olivier
Giroud and Antoine Griezmann.
“If they can stop the service to Giroud and
Griezmann in that central area, it means Mbappe’s receiving far less dangerous
passes,” Neville said.
But no matter how much
England plan for Mbappe, Cash
knows from painful experience that nothing can truly prepare them to face such
a unique talent.
“I spent the afternoon watching his clips, but I’m
watching the videos while lying in bed. In real life, he’s burning my legs,
that’s the difference,” he said.
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