Euro 2024: Gareth Southgate says England have been 'preparing quietly' for penalties
/dnl.tntsports.co.uk/sd/img/placeholder/tnt_logo_1x1.png){kind=logo}
Published 29/06/2024 at 22:17 GMT+1
Ahead of their Euro 2024 clash against Slovakia on Sunday, Gareth Southgate has discussed his side's "refined" penalty shoot-out tactics. However, the England boss refused to confirm whether he would substitute players specifically for penalties. Captain Harry Kane joined his manager in rebuffing disapproval of the team's performances, a week after hitting back at criticism from pundits.
‘Confidence is growing’ - Southgate positive going into last-16 clash with Slovakia
Gareth Southgate says England have “refined” their penalty shoot-out strategies ahead of their Euro 2024 last-16 clash with Slovakia on Sunday.
In his time as coach of the national team, Southgate has seen his England win two out of three shoot-outs, following a torrid run of six consecutive defeats stretching back to Euro 1996.
Southgate saw his penalty saved against Germany that night, and was criticised for substituting on Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho for England’s latest shoot-out defeat in the Euro 2020 final.
But the 53-year-old appeared assured talking to ITV on the subject of penalties, saying that he and his staff have been making steady improvements behind the scenes.
“We’ve had a way of working that we’ve always refined," Southgate said. "Obviously in the last tournament we didn’t use that.
“But we’ve still refined things that we felt could have been done differently since then. We’ve been preparing quietly for that for quite a while.”
Pressed on his thought process behind bringing on Rashford and Sancho, who both missed their penalties, specifically for the shoot-out against Italy in 2021, Southgate offered two examples of where it worked.
Southgate said: “It’s an interesting concept because [Paulo] Dybala came on in the World Cup final with a minute to go, took a penalty and scored.
“In the Europa League final a few years ago, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer put on Juan Mata and Alex Telles in the 122nd minute. Both of them scored. They lost. He [Solskjaer] got killed for not changing the goalkeeper.
“We’re in a world where the outcome determines the narrative.”
And asked whether he would repeat his decision from 2021, Southgate remained coy, saying: “We’ll have to wait and see.”
In the face of growing criticism over England’s performances, particularly regarding team selection, Southgate was steadfast in his belief that drastic changes are not required.
"A team is never quite as poor as people might think, and not quite as good as people think,” said Southgate.
“You are 5% off where you'd like to be, so you have to careful not to throw everything out of the window and lose continuity and confidence.
"You have to ignore external advice and be assured in what you are doing.”
Kane: Fans behind England
Captain Harry Kane renewed his belief in Southgate, a week after reminding pundits and former England players of their responsibility towards the current team.
"I think 99% of the fans are behind the team and manager,” insisted Kane. “Both as a player and coach you're going to have people voice their opinions. That's playing for England."
/origin-imgresizer.tntsports.io/2024/06/29/3995182-81079348-2560-1440.jpg)
‘We are a very strong group’ - Kane feels fans are behind England and Southgate
Southgate confirmed that Luke Shaw was not ready to start against Slovakia, though hinted that the Manchester United left back could see minutes on Sunday.
He said: "Luke wouldn’t be available to start, but we’ll have a chat with the medical team to see if he can play a part or will need a little more training first."
---
discovery+ is the streaming home of the Olympic Games, and the only place you can watch every moment of Paris 2024 this summer.
Share this article