88
(^) Daily Mail, Friday, August 30, 2019
G
ARETH Southgate
is not one to bring
out the hairdryer,
but he delivered a
stern message at
Wembley yesterday.
The England manager cast his
mind back to the Under 21s’
European Championship horror
campaign earlier this summer —
in particular the 4-2 defeat by
Romania that all but sealed
their exit from a tournament that
had started only five days earlier.
Some of England’s players
emerged after the game to
suggest brazenly that they were
still among the best teams in the
finals. Southgate simply wasn’t
buying it.
‘There were good moments and
some not so good moments,
but that’s the development in
football,’ Southgate said. ‘You’ve
got to go through some of those
setback periods.
‘For me, the biggest reminder, in
the seniors, was that we must
always have humility.
‘We play a country like Romania,
I don’t know if we thought we
were better, but they had some
really good players.
‘I thought they were a good
team, they had a stadium full of
support. I didn’t like the fact that
our boys came off and thought
they were still the best team in
the tournament.
‘That can’t be the case. But
that’s a little bit down to their
age. They’ve got to recognise it
and learn from it.
‘In fairness, I’ve had 30 years in
football and those boys have had
three, so they’re not going to
know all of those things. They
were a bit misguided if that was
their thought process.’
It’s a point Southgate appears
keen to impress on his players.
The national team boss has one of
the most exciting generations of
footballers in Europe to choose
from. It is not often we can be so
positive about the English game.
Indeed, call-ups yesterday for
James Maddison, Mason Mount,
Aaron Wan-Bissaka — all part of
that Under 21 squad — and
Tyrone Mings are a case in point.
But it takes more than talent.
Egos need to be left at the door.
Keep your head down and graft.
At least, that’s what Southgate
will tell his players when they
report for training at St George’s
Park on Sunday.
With Euro 2020 qualifiers against
Bulgaria and Kosovo on the hori-
zon, you imagine there are a few
in the squad who believe that’s
six points in the bag. They are
probably right, of course.
Southgate, however, will not
stand for such arrogance.
‘We play Kosovo in the second
game here and they’re a good
team. They’ve got some really
good players and the pride of a
new nation,’ he said.
‘We can’t underestimate that
sort of game. They’re unbeaten in
12 to 15 matches, so we would be
naive to go into that thinking it
will be easy.
‘We breed young, confident
players now who have a lot of
belief in their technical ability.
But what makes a top player?
Technical excellence?
‘Yes, the ability to take on and
carry out tactical discipline, with
and without the ball. And mental
toughness — not just mental
confidence, but a real mental
toughness.
‘And then the physical attributes:
to be able to live with the game at
the speed it’s played now and
thrive at those high athletic
levels. So, there’s a lot that has
to come together for all of
these guys.’
None of which is to say South-
gate doesn’t want his players to
be bold. Of course he does. You
only need to look at the England
manager’s courage in selecting
another squad full of youth and
relative inexperience.
Yet Southgate does not doubt
himself for a second. He is secure
in his belief that it is the right
decision to omit 48-cap defender
Kyle Walker from his squad.
Southgate said it is important
to understand the rationale for
dropping a player.
‘It’s especially important that
the player understands why you’re
doing that — which Kyle does,’
said the England manager.
‘Over a long period, we’ve been
bold in some of those decisions
and we’ve got a lot of them right
and we would back ourselves. We
watch enough of the games and
do our due diligence. We know
where the team need to head.’
And if the youngsters coming
into the squad or those knocking
on the door were in any doubt
about how to get there, they
aren’t now.
GARETH FIRES
WARNING SHOT
England boss tells youngsters to keep their
egos in check if they want to stay in squad
by SAMI
MOKBEL
Football News
Correspondent
SLOPPY LIONESSES BLOW
EARLY TWO-GOAL LEAD
Southgate: No point in Kyle call-up
GOALKEEPERS: T Heaton,
J Pickford, N Pope.
DEFENDERS: T Alexander-Arnold,
B Chilwell, J Gomez, M Keane,
H Maguire, T Mings, D Rose,
K Trippier, A Wan-Bissaka.
MIDFIELDERS: R Barkley, J Henderson,
J Maddison, M Mount, D Rice,
A Oxlade-Chamberlain, H Winks.
FORWARDS: H Kane, J Lingard,
M Rashford, J Sancho,
R Sterling, C Wilson.
Saturday, September 7:
England v Bulgaria (Wembley)
Tuesday, September 10:
England v Kosovo (St Mary’s Stadium)
SQUAD FOR EURO
QUALIFIERS
rnold
NIKITA PARRIS
scored a penalty 15
minutes from time to
spare England’s
blushes in Leuven.
Playing in their first
game since losing in
the World Cup semi-
finals last month, the
Lionesses were two
up after 26 minutes
through Jodie Taylor
and Beth Mead.
But defensive errors
allowed Belgium,
ranked 15 places
below England in the
world rankings, to
come from behind.Keeper Carly Telford’s
own goal and Ella van
Kerkhoven’s header
levelled the scores,
and the hosts took
the lead after 55
minutes when Steph
Houghton cleared
straight to Van
Kerkhoven. But Parris
rescued Phil Neville’s
side after Janice
Cayman’s handball.as one of the best full backs
in Europe — has been a
mainstay of Southgate’s
plans. But the manager
explained: ‘We’ve got to
give some opportunity to
develop some other
players. Without getting
Trent’s head too big, too
quickly, he’s got to be one
of those we look to
integrate and give more
opportunity to. With Aaron
[we’ve got] a completely
different kind of player so
we’ve got Kieran as a bit ofcover and there’s no point
bringing Kyle in if the
intention is not to start him
in the games. He’s a senior
player and he’ll value the
rest and recovery as much
as anything.’
And Southgate has
warned Walker
(right) that there
are no guarantees
he will win his
place back.
‘We know
everything
about Kyle
reallyand, whilst I don’t want to
give the impression that we
are taking these fixtures for
granted on results, these
lads are playing at a high
level, week-in week-out and
it’s a good chance to help
them develop. Otherwise
we’ll get to a tournament
and they’ll still be stuck
on two or three caps,
and we have got to try
and get that balance.’
Dele Alli, John Stones
and Eric Dier are all
absent through
injury.From Back PageDAVID KENT88 EURO 2020 QUALIFIERS
Sinking feeling:
Wan-Bissaka puts
through his own net
as England Under 21s
lose 2-1 to France
this summer AFPBELGIUM 3
ENGLAND 3
HOW MINGS
MADE GRADE
Bath-born Mings joined
Southampton aged eight.
He was released at 16
and earned a scholarship
at Millfield boarding
school in Somerset.
Mings signed for Yate
Town before joining local
team Chippenham in 2012.
Ipswich bought him
for £10,000 and in 2015 he
went to Bournemouth
for £8m. He joined Villa
on loan earlier this year
— then signed for £20m.÷÷÷÷