Southgate tells England to keep their edge in Rome
Gareth Southgate has been delighted to receive messages of support in recent days but is keen for England to keep their "edge" as they prepare for their Euro 2020 quarterfinal against Ukraine in Rome.
England travel to Italy looking to earn a place in the semifinals, which will be held back at Wembley - with the final also playedatthestadiumonjuly11.
A 2-0 win over old foes Germany on Tuesday evening set up the clash with Ukraine and earned Southgate and his players plenty of plaudits.
While the England boss is happy to hear from former team-mates and ex-internationals, he is keen for focus to remain on a quarter-final tie he anticipates to be a tougher test than many have suggested.
"There are some people who I have got huge respect for and I've had some nice messages from a couple of former internationals and people I hold in really high regard," he told the Official England Podcast.
"Thejobistocreateateamthat thenationcanrelatetoandcreate memories that last forever and we did that against Germany, the opening game was a great occasion against Croatia.
"The Scotland game is always a big occasion and I know the game didn't fulfil what we would have hoped but it was a crucial part to us qualifying.
"Nowwe'vegotaquarter-final which, again we've only been to onesemi-finalsincetheeuropeanchampionshipwasinatournament format, so a fantastic challenge for us again.
"But it's Saturday now for us,
the messages are great, the congratulations are great but they're also dangerous because it can take an edge from you and we've got to get that edge in our feeling now to get back into performance state before Germany."
Southgate insists his players will be well-prepared for
the challenge of Ukraine, who beat Sweden with a last-gasp goal at the end of extra-time to advance, even if their squad is not as well known as the Germanysideseenofflasttimeout.
He said: “We have watched Ukraine over the last year or so now but of course not as many oftheirplayersareplayinginthe
Bundesliga or Premier League, although a couple of them are.
"Then there is this perception that now all we've got to do is turn up and we're on our way. So we are just very clear, (we need) total focus on Saturday. Weneedtoprepareforthegame intherightwayandthementality is critical."