Gareth Southgate must combat Germany’s agents of chaos – but first, pick a shape | Jonathan Wilson

How to counter Joshua Kimmich and Robin Gosens is one of a string of conundrums the England manager must solve

Nothing in football is ever straightforward. There are few rights and few wrongs; almost everything is contingent. But even within that context, England’s game against Germany on Tuesday is hard to pin down. There are few certainties for either side; rather this is two swarms of questions buzzing into each other.

At least with Germany, there is relative certainty about the shape. Joachim Löw has vacillated between a back three and a back four since the World Cup debacle before finally settling on a 3-4-3, in which the real strength is the attacking prowess of the wing-backs, Joshua Kimmich and Robin Gosens. Other than replacing the injured Thomas Müller with Leroy Sané, Löw stuck with the same personnel for all three group games, so it seems reasonable to assume there will not be major changes.

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