Southgate warns players against slacking off on Euro trail

England manager wants intensity in training, too Clubs asked for help to keep pressure on squad

Gareth Southgate has warned every England player that they cannot “take their foot off the gas” from now until Euro 2020 if they want to feature in that tournament.

The season starts this evening for England, in a qualifier at Wembley against Bulgaria, knowing that the dream is to play in the same stadium in 309 days’ time, on July 12 2020, when the final takes place.

Southgate knows the growing sense of optimism, the way it can develop into euphoria, especially with the competition effectively being a home one – with both semifinals also at Wembley – and while he said he cannot worry about “beer sales” and outside circumstances, he is well aware of the responsibility. And dangers.

Allied to that, England have just eight games before Euro 2020 kicks off – barring catastrophic failure – which sharpens minds as to the time available for manager and his assistant Steve Holland. Southgate revealed he had telephoned Premier League managers to ask their advice as to how to keep his players on their toes. The response was simple. “I was talking with a couple of the club managers about this – in the end, competition for places is a pretty good motivator and is probably the best,” he said.

“If you know there are people that can come into the team, that we’ve got lots of decisions where you know one player or the other and form and fitness, mentality at any given time can determine who gets in. Some of the younger guys now are after the older ones, the older ones are still proud and courageous and want to stay in as well, and that’s a really healthy situation for us.”

The promotion of young players does not mean they will be automatically elevated into the team with, in fact, his selection to face Bulgaria being (relatively) conservative and leaning towards experience with, for example, Kieran Trippier expected to be chosen ahead of Trent Alexanderarnold at right-back.

“That it is important because we’ve had a lot of credit for picking young players and that has been the right thing to do,” Southgate explained. “But the most important thing we’ve done all the way through is win. What we haven’t done is just pick young players for the sake of picking young players to buy ourselves time. Inevitably, when we’ve done it, it’s given people a different focus, but those guys have got to earn the right. It shouldn’t just be the case of players thinking that because they are young, they are going to get an opportunity naturally.”

Southgate also revealed that he keeps a kind of “batting order” of where the players rank in his squad with himself and Holland sitting each Monday morning and reviewing the club performances. The pair have – yet again – shown a willingness to shake things up and bring in new, younger, players as their latest selection proves.

Southgate suggested that process

might slow a little this season, as he gives the likes of Jadon Sancho, Mason Mount, James Maddison and Aaron Wan-bissaka the opportunity to prove themselves and the manager will not be afraid to change things when it comes to facing Kosovo in the next qualifier in Southampton on Tuesday.

Hard work; intensity. They will be what he demands even more than ever, which has been reflected in longer and more pressurised training sessions at St George’s Park.

“We need to keep ramping up the pressure in terms of how we work every day,” Southgate explained. “We know we won’t have as many high-pressure experiences in the next eight months or so, unless we start to make problems for ourselves with qualifying.

“So, we have to bring that intensity to every training session, and we’ve decided we need to challenge everybody more and more, and not accept any taking the foot off the gas in any shape or form. The players understand that challenge; they want the challenge.

“Our guys know the experiences they’ve had in the last couple of years – they’ve won big matches, they’ve got close in some other big matches. So, they know, I don’t need to tell them, to repeat it to them, what’s possible for them and what they’re capable of. But if at any point we think we are carried away with where we are then that would be dangerous. For now, I think that’s the key message.”

That, Southgate said, includes goalkeeper Jordan Pickford who he praised for his “incredible impact” over the past two years and his growing maturity, but warned should not take his place for granted.

“Even for him we’ve got two other goalkeepers [Nick Pope and Tom Heaton] that are … we’ve got more than two that are performing well, but the two that have been with us this week have been outstanding,” Southgate said.

“So, he knows what he’s got to do but he’s also … his ambition should be to go on from where he is.” That holds for the rest of the England squad and for Southgate himself.

Having won their opening two Group A qualifiers, scoring five goals against the Czech Republic and another five away to Montenegro, they should win the group.

With Uefa altering the seeding system to place the emphasis on qualifiers, it is imperative that England do so and also guarantee they play their group games in the finals at Wembley.

Not that Southgate is getting carried away. “Somebody’s got to be in control of what we’re doing and making sure we’re on the right path,” he said.