Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Mount needs to get on a role
PLAYMAKER SWITCH HARD ON MASON
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England beat Bulgaria 4-0 last month but since then their defence has looked leaky.
There were enough warning signs for Southgate in the 5-3 win over Kosovo and they were underlined on Friday by the Czech Republic.
But Pickford said: “I don’t think it is a concern. We all play well for our clubs and we get picked for England because we play well for our clubs.
“Everyone is here. Everyone is fighting for positions.
“Yeah, we are disappointed at what happened. We have conceded two goals but we knew it was going to be a tough game. Now we have to put it right.” MASON MOUNT has admitted he found it tough playing in an unfamiliar role in a difficult full England debut against the Czech Republic.
England coach Gareth Southgate bizzarely chose to play Chelsea starlet Mount in a playmaking No.10 role in Prague on Friday night – and the move backfired.
Mount, in sensational form this season for the
Blues with four goals in eight Premier
League games, looked out of sorts having been switched from his usual leftflank position.
And even though
Southgate switched tactics to a more familiar
4-3-3 system at the break, it was not enough to prevent a worrying
2-1 defeat, the first of the
Three Lions’ qualifying campaign for Euro
2020.
It made for an unsatisfactory full debut for the
20-year-old, after two substitute England appearances for Mount – but he is certain to get another chance. Too often left stranded upfield in Prague, Mount said: “I am more used to playing off the left and coming in. It was not too much different – but obviously I was a bit more central.
“A couple of days before the game, we were working on shape and how we wanted to play – me being central, but Jadon Sancho coming in as well off the line and trying to combine. But the Czechs made it difficult for us.
“It is something you learn from. We will look back on the game and take a lot of negatives which we can improve on, but we will also take some positives.
“I like to play anywhere in midfield or attack. I am quite versatile – I can play on the left or in midfield, and that is what I base my game around.”
Admitting England only had themselves to blame for slumping to their first qualfying defeat in a decade, the Chelsea star added: “It was a difficult night.
“Prague is a difficult place to come to, Czech Republic are a good side and had a lot of momentum. The crowd was behind them.
“We knew what we were coming into and probably did not deal with it as well as we could have.
“We gave them so many chances. It is difficult to come back into the game after that. “There is massive experience to be gained from these games, you learn so much as a team. In the game against Bulgaria, we need to turn this into a positive.”