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.

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.

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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 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 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 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 they 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 – 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 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 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.

But does he fit the system? Southgate has settled now on a back three. In this shape England have six defensive players on the pitch: three centre-backs, two wing-backs and the most defensive of the midfielders. This leaves four attacking positions: two mobile No8s in front of the defensive pivot, and two strikers.

Alli has the skills to be a real force as one of those advanced midfielders, or as the No 10-type role filled by Raheem Sterling at Wembley. It should also be said the idea he has been having a terrible season is slightly overblown. Like all young players Alli has been inconsistent. But even then he has still contributed, with 10 goals and 14 assists.

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On the other hand his flaws are just the kind most likely to mess with the system, to clog the gears of Total Gareth-ball. For all that brittle brilliance in reserve, he does tend to give the ball away. This is a notable sore spot. England are set up not to give the ball away, have set their face against exactly this.

He also tends to roam, in a way that asks questions of both the opposition and his own team. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Jesse Lingard may not have the same sheen of excitement. But they are more likely to keep the shape, to remember that Southgate is concerned above all with leaving no holes for the opposition.

There are shades here of Paul Pogba at Manchester United and the friction with José Mourinho’s obsession with controlling space. Talent is not simply tousle-haired self-expression. Talent is also discipline, understanding the plan and playing for your team-mates.

As ever this is a question of balance. The appeal of not picking Alli is in part a team-culture thing, the sense that by refusing to accommodate a difficult part Southgate is turning his back on the old vices, picking a side rather than a collection of celebrity parts. On the other hand there are issues of basic ability. Alli offers a degree of swagger in a team that may find at some late stage this is one quality it really lacks.

Two things will come into play. If Alli finds his best form for Spurs his likely contribution will outweigh the fear of a loss of control. And secondly, does Southgate have the confidence yet to take a chance with that newly tuned system, to add other gears? It is a question he can wait until May to answer. Keep on following the plan. Or find some room at the edges for something a little more raw, a little more risky.