The Warm-Up: England win again, but it felt like it didn't matter
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Updated 26/03/2019 at 08:04 GMT
Plus: Scotland reach rock bottom, and if anyone knows the Andorra goalie, give him a big hug from us.
Gareth Southgate
Image credit: Getty Images
TUESDAY’S BIG STORIES
England win again, but it feels like it hardly mattered
England are frankly so good these days that them absolutely hoying Montenegro 5-1, never really looking in trouble even when they were 1-0 down, now feels normal. It’s a strange sensation, but as Raheem Sterling, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Ross Barkley were tearing Montenegro a new one last night, you sat there, watched and thought ‘Yep, this feels entirely normal.’
And yet, by the end, the sense of deflation was such that the result of the game felt utterly meaningless. The racist abuse suffered by some England players was as clear as it was depressing, with Danny Rose seeming to suffer the brunt of it but others clearly the target too. After the game Raheem Sterling said:
It is 2019 and there should be a real punishment for this, not just for the few people being banned. You can fine people but what’s that going to do? It needs to be a collective thing. This stadium holds 15,000 and I think the punishment should be that, as a nation, if your fans are chanting racist abuse, it should be the whole stadium can’t watch it.
Even then, you wonder whether it will do any good. Will that ultimately just end up creating a bunker mentality, where the guilty fans think they are being victimised themselves? Stadium bans, even points deductions are worth a try, but – and the Warm-Up unfortunately has no better ideas – the fear is it will change nothing.
Gareth Southgate said after the game:
Sanctions are worthless if there is nothing alongside that to help educate people…I’m not sitting here just criticising what’s happened tonight. We have the same issue in our country, we’re not free of it. You can sanction clubs, but that won’t stop one or two people who are of a mindset to do what they want to do. I just think it’s a really sad evening. I’m reflecting on: ‘Should I have done more?’ In the end, I think I tried to protect my players as much as I possibly could. I’m not the authority on the subject. I’m a middle-aged white guy speaking about racism.
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England's Raheem Sterling celebrates scoring their fifth goal
Image credit: Reuters
Scotland at ‘rock bottom’, says Robertson
Noted philosopher Tyler Durden once mused that it’s only when you lose everything, that you’re free to do anything. By that logic, and according to their best player, Scotland are in a position of fantastic opportunity.
After being thumped by Kazakhstan and squeaking past the minnow’s minnow in San Marino, Liverpool’s Andrew Robertson has painted a bleak picture of the state of the Scotland national team.
The only way we do that is by winning games and playing a lot better. The country is at rock bottom just now in terms of football and we need to pick it back up.
This is in contrast to his teammate Ryan Fraser, who said over the weekend that Scotland were ‘heading in the right direction.’ Still, when you’re at the bottom, there really is only one direction you can head.
Cardiff to declare Sala deal ‘null and void’
The saga over the status of Emiliano Sala at the time of his death continues, with reports claiming that Cardiff are set to claim his transfer was ‘null and void’ because of a paperwork technicality, in order to avoid paying the £15 million fee to Nantes.
This apparently stems from a clause in Sala’s contract that the FA rejected, and the plan was for him to sign a different one before his plane crashed on January 21, killing the striker and pilot David Ibbotson. Nantes claim they did everything they should, a club spokesperson telling the Daily Telegraph:
FC Nantes has completed all the required paperwork to complete the Emiliano Sala transfer. Thus, Fifa registered the international transfer certificate on 21st January 2019 at 5.30pm. Nantes is fully compliant with Fifa rules. As for Emiliano Sala’s registration in the Premier League, FC Nantes has no information about it. And if it could be a problem for Cardiff, it is not a problem for Nantes.
We obviously have no real idea about the technicalities involved in a saga like this, or the ins and outs of the paperwork. But at the very least it’s an abysmal shame that a man who died so tragically is being bickered over in such an undignified manner.
IN OTHER NEWS
Oh no. Oh no no no no. Poor guy. If anyone is around to give Josep Gomes a hug, hug him extra tight for us please.
HEROES AND ZEROS
Hero: Olivier Giroud
Hats off to the big man for, with his goal in the 4-0 win over Iceland, going third on France’s all-time scoring charts ahead of some…well, some very good players. Is he the most underappreciated player of this generation? Are we bored of asking that question yet? Will he go home and dry his salt tears about not being rated by assorted howlers on the internet on his World Cup winners’ medal?
Zero: Montenegro’s answer to Comical Ali
Nothing to see here. Absolutely zero. Racist chanting? Who said anything about that? I didn’t hear it. Did you hear it? That must have been something else. We don’t have racism. We don’t even know what racism is! Kanye West is very popular here…
HAT TIP
On a spreadsheet full of facts and figures about some of England and Germany’s brightest talent, it feels rather apt that the outfield player in Stefan Kuntz’s under-21 squad who has completed fewer minutes than anyone else this season is with a Premier League club. Abdelhamid Sabiri’s lack of time on the pitch with Huddersfield fits the story that Germany, not England, is the place to be for those trying to find their way in a game that is running out of pathways.
The always excellent Stuart James takes a look at the differences between Germany and England’s Under-21s teams as they prepare to face each other this evening.
RETRO CORNER
A very happy birthday to Kevin Davies. Before he was a Bolton target man, he was a twinkle-toed young whipper-snapper who was one of the most sought-after talents in England. Here he is scoring a hat-trick against Bolton at the start of Chesterfield’s extraordinary run to the FA Cup semi-finals in 1997.
COMING UP
While we would not expect you to cancel any plans to watch some of the games tonight, there are a few interesting little encounters. Norway v Sweden perhaps? Switzerland v Denmark maybe? Malta v Spain perchance? And then there’s England v Germany in the U21s, and a couple of decent friendlies too, with Brazil travelling to the Czech Republic and Argentina facing Morocco.
Tomorrow’s Warm-Up will be brought to you by Ben Snowball, who will watch every single minute of all those games. Promise.
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