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Fail again. Fail better. Fail, at the very least, in a slightly more interesting way. As England’s final friendly eliminators fade from the memory, the forthcoming debate – and it is coming: you can hear it on the wind – over whether Dele Alli merits a place in the starting XI looks set to become one of the main irresolvable discussion points of the run-up to the World Cup. [Image: nike_chiefs_392.jpg]And not just because all England generations must have their irresolvable discussion points. This is an interesting debate in its own right, a question of talent and form but also of the kind of patterns Gareth Southgate wants his team to adopt in and out of possession. [Image: usa_152_76380647a5f0aaa2-180x180.jpg] Alli is an unusual figure in an unusually mannered England squad. In a group that lacks obvious stars, he is the most obviously starry presence, an attacking midfielder whose grace and impudent skill on the ball can take the breath away. But he can also look like an ill-fitting part in the current Team Gareth, a slightly chancy, difficult element in what has become a notably careful, systems-based team. Good Dele can terrorise the Real Madrid defence. Bad Dele can give the ball away; can foul and dive and lose his focus against a Juventus team specifically working on trying to make him lose his focus. Plus a part of http://www.detroitredwingsofficialonline.com/Adidas-Johan-Franzen-Jersey him just seems to play on the old England insecurities. When Alli glides between the lines, or nudges those lovely little passes, something in that seductively high-ceilinged talent raises the old, bruised hopes of an England team fit to take it to the best in the world. When he fades to the fringes, the muscle memory of talented but brittle tournament teams past starts to bite. There is a chance with the current group to move on from the old patterns, to shift away from this kind of celebrity individualism. In the last few months Southgate has emerged as a genuine reformer, ready to break the cycles of the past, imposing instead his Darren McFadden Jersey own quietly tenacious sense of order. There is a kind of beige-hued revolution in train here, one that might just take in the wider issue of Dele or no Dele. Make a list of the recurrent failings of England tournament teams and quite a few have at least been addressed head on. England have repeatedly looked ill at ease in possession, exhausting themselves chasing more technically skilled opponents around some sun-baked field. Southgate’s Latavius Murray Youth jersey England will at least keep the ball. England teams have lacked a guiding tactical system, often seeming to make it up on the hoof, or looking to individual inspiration from some wheezing all-star. Southgate’s anti-cavaliers, masters of the slow passing game, might fall at the first hurdle. But http://www.officialmarlinstore.com/Christian_Yelich_Jerseythey do at least have a plan. Similarly, there will be no hobbling superstars in this set-up, no convalescent A-listers pulling rank. Premier League celebrity does not butter Gareth’s parsnips. Instead fitness and athleticism are the basic minimum, to maintain the system and, as a point of stern-faced, winningly roundhead principle, Southgate has banned sugar, biscuits, sweets and orange squash. The machine has been streamlined, the fripperies scythed away. Fail better – Authentic Andrew Ladd Jersey and with no excuses this time. Or at least with a different set. Which brings us back to the most mercurial talent of the current non-mercurial generation. Alli would have made an Chris Mullin Jersey appearance against Italy had he been fit enough to complete England’s training sessions. This is in itself a departure. Many a half-fit star has http://www.footballsteelersofficialstore.com/Nike-Martavis-Bryant-Jersey.html been eased into the team in the past – and Alli is the most obviously talented midfielder, a player whose basic skills, the regal way he moves around the pitch, can be so alluring in isolation.http://consuelomurillo.net/oxwall/forum/topic/48134
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