England urged to stay patient
Southgate rejects call for all-out attack against Ukraine and sees ‘fantastic challenge’
Gareth Southgate has railed against the notion of England simply turning up in Rome to defeat Ukraine and will tell his players to ignore calls to go for all-out attack in their bid for Euro 2020 glory.
The England manager has admitted he is worried the euphoria of eliminating Germany could take away his players’ edge ahead of tomorrow morning’s quarter-final against Andriy Shevchenko’s team.
Southgate’s side are overwhelming favourites to win at the Stadio Olimpico but he is concerned the deluge of congratulatory messages could affect his team’s mindset.
He has also spoken about the need to stay patient rather than listen to calls for more attacking and risk becoming tired on a weekend in Italy where temperatures are expected to be high.
“There is a perception that all we have to do is turn up and we’re on our way. We have to prepare for the game in the right way and our mentality is critical,” Southgate said.
“The messages and congratulations are great, but they are also dangerous, as they can take an edge from you and we’ve got to have that edge to get ourselves in that performance state that we were against Germany.
“I said to the players [after the Germany game], this is now a fantastic challenge for us. We have to go away from Wembley, potentially a hot climate with hardly any England fans in the stadium, maybe not a big crowd and an opponent where we have to learn a lot quickly compared to Germany, where the players knew individually their direct attributes.”
Southgate has also praised his side for “blocking out the groans” of the Wembley crowd for their slow build-up play in their four games in the tournament. England have scored just four goals but Southgate is adamant his team will keep playing patiently from the back rather than falling into the trap of previous generations.
“We are looking deeply at tactical things and sometimes that will frustrate supporters. I know when the team doesn’t play forward, that we’re trying to be a team with that patience to retain the ball.
“I played for years with England when we kept giving the ball away and had to chase in the heat. It was a big problem. The players showed great resilience to be mature enough to block out those groans when you don’t go forward and to be brave enough to pick those moments. Giving yourself a breather, defensively, is important.”
Southgate said the crowd at Wembley would be a huge factor should they make it past Ukraine. He revealed he could hear the noise of spectators from the dressing room as the players warmed up.
He also discussed the tournament as being “in the battle zone” for every minute as a manager. Players who did not feature against Germany trained the morning after the game and Southgate has been impressed with the spirit among those who did not make the starting line-up.
“These are highly-trained competitive animals, the players are racehorse thoroughbreds and that isn’t an easy dynamic. It’s very difficult to get to the end of the week and not have the game you want. So it’s huge credit to them and the respect they have for each other.”
Ukraine striker Roman Yaremchuk is hoping England buckle under the pressure of being favourites.
“For us, it’s very good England are favourites. They will feel pressure for sure, because it’s a famous team,” Yaremchuk said. “I can see the players have confidence in each other. It’s a big chance to go to the next round.”