Gareth Southgate hits back at accusations of England caution
Gareth Southgate has defended himself against suggestions that England have been too cautious at Euro 2020, insisting that he never tells his players not to attack.
England, who reached the last 16 after topping their group in controlled fashion, were criticised after scoring twice in their first three games and their manager has faced calls to make more of the attacking talent at his disposal before facing Germany at Wembley on Tuesday.
However the need for more invention is not lost on Southgate, who is considering starting Jordan Henderson in midfield and switching to a back three against Germany tomorrow, and he hit back after being asked if it is time to tell his team to play with more creativity and freedom.
“Those things are always our ambition,” Southgate told ITV. “We’ve played four attacking players in the matches we’ve played so far. We don’t say to
the players ‘Don’t play the ball forward’, ‘Don’t move the ball quickly’, ‘Don’t attack’.
“I don’t think you’d have found any of those messages in our preparation for any of the games, so very often the opposition dictate a lot of the things you’re allowed to do in football matches. We know that we want to be better with the ball and we want to move the ball more quickly and we’ve got to build on the solidity that we’ve shown already to this point.”
Although England were more threatening after bringing Jack Grealish and Bukayo Saka into the starting XI for last Tuesday’s victory over the Czech Republic, the duo could make way for Phil Foden and Mason Mount against Germany.
Southgate is yet to decide whether to hand Mount a recall. The midfielder and Ben Chilwell are isolating until midnight on Monday after being deemed close contacts of Scotland’s Billy Gilmour, who returned a positive Covid test last Monday, and have not been able to take part in any training with the team.
Mount started England’s first two games and was due to play against the Czechs before going into quarantine. Southgate was forced to tweak his attack and he decided that he could not risk Foden, who was a booking away from a suspension.
Foden is in contention to return against Germany and Southgate will leave it late before deciding whether Mount, who has maintained his fitness during individual sessions, is ready to start. Luke Shaw is likely to start at leftback ahead of Chilwell.
“There’s not only the training part but the psychological part,” Southgate said. “They’ve had to spend a lot of time in a room on their own. We’ve just got to make that decision as we as we progress.”
Germany used a 3-4-3 system during the group phase and England could match up with them after training with a back three in recent days.
England have adaptable full-backs – Reece James or Kieran Trippier could come in – and Southgate could look to counter the threat provided by Germany’s wing-backs, Joshua Kimmich and Robin Gosens.
“We’ve worked on numerous formations for the past year or two,” Henderson said. “It is about what we are going to do within the game. We still want to play with intent and the same composure in whatever formation the manager decides to use.”
Moving from 4-2-3-1 to 3-4-3 would force Southgate to drop an attacking player. Yet England have placed an emphasis on containment so far and they could lean on Henderson’s experience against Germany. The vice-captain, available after recovering from a long-term groin injury, made his first appearance of the tournament after replacing Declan Rice at half-time against the Czech Republic.
Southgate does not plan to talk to his young side about England’s history with Germany. “I don’t need to demystify it,” he said. “The history is an irrelevance for them. We’ve got boys born into the 2000s, which is obviously scary, but it’s the reality of the group we’re dealing with.
“This team have put down lots of historical performances in the last couple of years, made their own stories and this is how they should view this game. It’s an opportunity. We’ve only won one knockout match in a European Championship as a country, so they’ve got a great chance to go and be the first team since 1996 to do that.”