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Southgate’s ‘explosive options’ Skipper keeps faith CAPTION: dfjgfj gfkfg and insists wake-up dfghgfh fgh fdghfdh dfhgfd fgdhfgdh call can rouse team
GARETH SOUTHGATE has urged England fans to get behind his young team at the Euros. The Three Lions are trailing Group D leaders Czech Republic on goal difference heading into Tuesday’s clash at Wembley, where only a win will secure top spot and retain their home advantage in the Round of 16.
And Southgate (left), who revealed he may freshen things up by including Jadon Sancho, says England fans need to back – rather than boo – his team.
“The important thing is everyone gets behind the players,” said the England chief.
“They’re going to need to feel that support and warmth.
“This is a relatively inexperienced group.we have the third-least caps in the tournament. For a lot of them, Friday was an experience they’ve not faced before. They just about survived it. We know there are some very good players in there.we know they can perform better and we’ve got to help them to find that level.we’ve got some explosive options.
“Jadon is in that mix. He’s trained well the last few days and we have those decisions to make.”
Looking to find a higher level is captain and leading striker Harry Kane.two games, no goals is hardly the return anybody in the England set-up would have expected from their talisman.
He managed just 19 touches before being substituted on 74 minutes in the drab 0-0 draw with Scotland and Southgate conceded it is down to him, as the coach, to get his prolific hitman finding the net again.
The Three Lions chief, who also hooked his skipper late in the 1-0 win over Croatia, said: “In terms of Harry’s performances, in the end centre forwards rely on the service of the team as well.
“We’ve got to make sure of that in every aspect of the game and the performance.we haven’t got into those areas and we haven’t created those chances for him yet.
“I always look at myself first and, when you have a result like Friday, I understand there’s going to be criticism.that’s perfectly acceptable.
“We want to be better and that’s what we’re going to work through in the next few days”
If Kane had a frustrating time against Croatia, it was nothing compared to his redundant evening leading the line against the Scots.
Apart from one diving header he never looked like adding to his England goal tally. As for doing the inconceivable – taking off Kane twice in back-toback games – Southgate said: “Of course it’s always difficult when it is your captain.
“But we were running up against a solid defence and the first solution wasn’t working.
“We felt with Marcus Rashford, with that speed to get down the side of them and make different sorts of runs, we could pose them a different problem.”
HARRY KANE is refusing to panic about England’s Euro ambitions on the back of one sloppy, disappointing display.
The knives have been out since Friday’s goalless draw with Scotland punctured belief that this could be the time for the Three Lions to lift their first trophy since the 1966 World Cup.
However, Kane (below) reckons that pessimism is premature and argues the poor result against the Scots could prove a blessing in disguise.
The England skipper, subbed in both Group D games, views it as a potentially positive kick up the backside.
Kane, still to get off the mark at the finals, said: “There are things we can improve but I feel like we still have enough ability and togetherness to go very far in this tournament.
“We’d have loved to have won the first two games, beat Czech Republic, be on nine points and cruising.
“Sometimes you get a hit back down to earth if beaten in the early knockout stage because you
think everything is great and you might have missed one or two things you need to work on.
“So, a result like Scotland wakes you up a bit, maybe opens your eyes to areas we do need to improve because obviously the later we go in this tournament the tougher the teams you face.
“In a way, it could be a good thing what happened, so we work on what we might have missed if we’d won.”
With Belgium, France, and Italy seemingly in decent shape, England’s pre-finals billing as second- favourites suddenly seems far-fetched.
When asked about the country’s chances of going all the way, Gareth Southgate claimed his youthful squad is still a work in progress. That may be true but Kane, 27, remains convinced they possess the class to be one of the main threats to the big boys.
“Yes, that’s definitely the belief amongst us,” he went on. “At the last European Championship, Portugal didn’t win a group game but ended up winning the tournament.”
As for the disgruntled supporters at Wembley who booed England off on Friday, Kane’s message is equally clear. “Just to be patient, to be calm,” he said. “Obviously we’re not going to play perfect every game. But no one’s panicking here, thinking we’ve got to change the way we do stuff.”
Kane’s thoughts on his own form and getting the hook twice are the same.
The 2018 World Cup Golden Boot winner explained: “We’ve learned over past tournaments about trying to peak at the right time.
The best time for peaking is in the knockout stages.
“Maybe in Russia, towards the quarters and semis, I wasn’t as sharp as I wanted to be. We didn’t get to where we wanted – maybe partly for that reason.”