‘We are in better shape than before World Cup’
Southgate hails impact of ‘exciting’ front three Manager warns Euros will be no easier to win
Gareth Southgate has claimed that England are in better shape than before the World Cup in Russia after securing top-seed status for Euro 2020.
England beat Kosovo 4-0 in their final qualifying game to finish top of Group A and enter the finals draw in pot one.
Goals from Harry Winks, Harry Kane, Marcus Rashford and Mason Mount took England’s final tally for qualifying to an incredible 37 in their eight games.
England reached the semi-finals in Russia last summer, but Southgate believes his squad are better equipped ahead of the next major tournament, in which they are guaranteed to play at Wembley at least three times.
“We’re definitely further ahead than we were heading into Russia, but we made massive strides when we went into Russia,” said the England manager. “So, we’ve got to make sure that to get the level of performance next summer, we’re going to have to improve in the way that we did over that spell as well. The team have belief, for sure.
“They don’t come into these matches worrying about what might go wrong, they’ve got the confidence to control games with possession and they know they’re going to score goals.”
On the significance of being top seeds, Southgate added: “We don’t know how important it is. But if we’d finished second and got a stinker of a draw, then we’d be getting pelters. So it’s better to win the group and control as much of our destiny as we can. The good thing is that whoever comes to play us knows they’re in for a tough game.
“We’ve got a lot to keep improving on, and we know that. So, none of us are complacent, we keep pushing the players for the fine details of the game all the time.
They’re hungry for that, which is a really good sign for us.”
Southgate has warned his players that the European Championship will be just as difficult as the World Cup to win: “To win the European Championship is no easier than the World Cup. The final four were all European, and you’ve got to add Spain, Germany, Portugal and all the others into that, so it’s a really high-level tournament.”
England were not always convincing against Kosovo, but there were plenty of positives. Winks and Mount scored their first international goals, Kane maintained his incredible record, goalkeeper Nick Pope kept a clean sheet on his first start and Fikayo Tomori’s international future is now tied down after he made a late appearance as a substitute. Raheem Sterling assisted two goals on his return from his one-game ban for attacking Joe Gomez and Southgate said: “Our forward players, I mean, Raheem [Sterling], Harry [Kane], Marcus [Rashford] are so exciting to work with. Then, with the younger ones that are supporting that.
“So, it’s clearly an area of the team that they thrive from each other, they create for each other, they are all scoring goals – which wasn’t the case 18 months ago, particularly for Marcus and Raheem, in the numbers they’ve been getting.
“Nobody in our squad can ever shirk the hard work because when your forward three create the way they do, score the way they do, but press and work for the team the way they do, it’s brilliant for the culture of how we want, and how we need to play.”
Winks has now started three successive games in midfield, while Alex Oxlade-chamberlain has started twice, scoring against Montenegro and assisting for Winks.
“Harry [Winks] has provided that connection that we know he can,” said Southgate. “We wanted to see him in a different role that gave us a double pivot at times and he was under more pressure in the receiving than in those previous two games, where we kind of walked the ball to halfway really. So, his value in that was good, but also his mentality to work for the team. A couple of times he had to cover counter-attacks.”