Southgate: Negativity 'not healthy' for England players

By Sports Desk September 25, 2022

Gareth Southgate says the negativity aimed his way "is not healthy" for England's players as he urged supporters to get behind their side in Monday's clash with Germany.

England are winless in five matches – their worst such run since June 2014 – ahead of taking on historic rivals Germany at a sold-out Wembley in their final Nations League tie.

The Three Lions were relegated from Group A3 after Friday's 1-0 loss to Italy, which followed a 4-0 hammering at the hands of Hungary in their most recent home game.

Southgate was booed after both of those defeats, with fans also heard chanting "You don't know what you're doing" during the contest against Italy at San Siro.

But ahead of England's first game at Wembley since March, in what is their last outing before the World Cup, Southgate hopes his players are backed by those inside the ground. 

"We've got 90,000 people – the stadium is sold out – so people want to come and see this team play," he said at Sunday's pre-match press conference.

"That's because the players have done an unbelievable job for six years. 

"We were on the back of a difficult time in terms of the relationship with the fans at the start of that journey and slowly we've built with the finishes that we've already discussed.

"It is not healthy for the team to be having this noise around them. I fully understand that. But it is for me to take responsibility, it is for me to allow them to go and play. 

"I want them to feel freedom. They know we always talk about that around the training ground, on the training pitch, and I would urge the supporters to get behind the team.

"How they deal with me at the end or whenever, on the phone-ins or wherever else is completely different. 

"But this is their last chance to see the boys before they go to a World Cup and we are all in it together. We can only succeed if we're all pushing in the same direction.

"What happens to me is irrelevant, frankly. It is about the team. The most important thing is the team and the success of the team."

Across his six years in charge, Southgate has guided England to the 2018 World Cup semi-finals and Euro 2020 final, as well as reaching the Nations League Finals in 2019.

England have won just two of their seven matches this year, however, with both of those coming in friendlies, and have failed to score from open play in more than eight hours.

Indeed, the Three Lions are one of only two nations yet to score a single non-penalty goal in the 2022-23 Nations League alongside minnows San Marino.

Asked how he is coping with the recent criticism, Southgate said: "You're not going to have six years as we've had without a spell where you are going to have some tough results.

"You've got to show resilience to come through those moments. I'm not the first coach to go through a difficult time in terms of results and criticism. 

"This is part of the territory – for me, it's a great challenge to lead the team through a moment like this.

"The results haven't been at the level we want or require. So, no matter what job you have in football, that would be the case. 

"Of course, with the national team, that noise is going to be louder and more widespread, I understand that."

Related items

  • Chelsea 4-2 Gent: Veiga and Dewsbury-Hall off the mark in Conference League cracker Chelsea 4-2 Gent: Veiga and Dewsbury-Hall off the mark in Conference League cracker

    Renato Veiga and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall each scored their first Chelsea goals in a cracking 4-2 victory over Gent in the Europa Conference League on Thursday.

    Enzo Maresca decided to make wholesale changes in the Blues' opening match of the league phase of Europe's third-tier competition, but they were still a class above their Belgian opponents.

    Full-back Veiga headed Chelsea into a 12th-minute lead after Mykhailo Mudryk stood up a brilliant cross from the right and Dewsbury-Hall fired into the side-netting when he ought to have scored soon after.

    Despite their domination of the ball, it took the Blues until the 46th minute to double their lead when Pedro Neto took hold of Axel Disasi's long punt and fired into the roof of the goal.

    Some slack Chelsea defending was punished when Tsuyoshi Watanabe headed in from the cross of Andri Gudjohnsen, son of Blues great Eidur.

    Christopher Nkunku rifled home from just inside the area after Gent failed to clear their lines just after the hour and Dewsbury-Hall shot straight through the goalkeeper after Nkunku was tackled attempting to take a shot – with Omri Gandelman celebrating a late consolation for the visitors.


    Data Debrief: Dewsbury-Hall stakes his Chelsea claim

    This was a great chance for a few Chelsea players to stake their claim for more regular Premier League minutes and Dewsbury-Hall put in an industrious performance to do his chances no harm.

    Signed from Leicester City in the last transfer window, the centre midfielder had four shots in total, three of which were in the box, and scored from his one big chance. He also had an impressive 91.2% pass accuracy.

    Neto too had a very lively outing, creating five chances in total and finishing with a pass accuracy rate of 97%.

  • Porto 3-3 Manchester United: Maguire salvages point for 10-man visitors Porto 3-3 Manchester United: Maguire salvages point for 10-man visitors

    Harry Maguire's late goal spared Manchester United's blushes as they drew 3-3 with Porto despite Bruno Fernandes' red card in the Europa League.

    Samu Omorodion's double looked like it had secured Porto the win, but Maguire came off the bench to score in the 91st minute. 

    Galeno tested Andre Onana with a powerful first-time shot two minutes in, but Marcus Rashford would open the scoring five minutes later at the other end, cutting inside from the left to drill his low shot under Diogo Costa's leg.

    He then set up Rasmus Hojlund for their second in the 20th minute, and Costa again should have done better as the shot went through his hand.

    Porto showed their fight soon after, though. Onana sprung brilliantly to keep out Noussair Mazraoui's inadvertent header, but Pepe was alert, stooping to nod home from close range.

    Samu got his first in the 34th minute, taking advantage of some slack defending as he leapt high to thump his header over the goalkeeper, and got his second after the break, rifling a powerful shot into the top corner.

    It looked like United's hopes of a result were over in the 81st minute as Fernandes received a red card for the second consecutive match. He got his first booking in the first half, receiving his marching orders in the 81st for a high boot in the box.

    However, the Red Devils kept pushing for an equaliser, and it came from a corner, with Maguire guiding Christian Eriksen's cross into the top-left corner.

    Data Debrief: Ten Hag gets lucky

    It was a game that summed up United's season in some ways. They started the game on the front foot, getting two quickfire goals to put themselves in control only to drop their concentration.

    Since Erik ten Hag joined the club in 2022, no Premier League club has conceded three or more goals in a match more times in all competitions than United (24).

    In fact, they are winless in their last five matches in European competition (D3 L2) despite leading by 2+ goals in three of them. 

    Fernandes' red card against Tottenham may have been overturned, but this one will stand. Having not received a single red card in any of his first 241 appearances for United in all competitions, he has now received two in his last two.

  • Lee Carsley insists Harry Maguire's England omission not due to form Lee Carsley insists Harry Maguire's England omission not due to form

    Lee Carsley insists Harry Maguire's omission from his latest England squad is not due to form and he still has an important role to play for his country.

    Manchester United centre-back Maguire missed Euro 2024 for beaten finalists England due to injury but was involved for interim boss Carlsey's first squad since Gareth Southgate departed for the Nations League victories over the Republic of Ireland and Finland last month.

    However, there was no place for the 31-year-old ahead of this month's Nations League double-header against Greece and the return clash with the Finnish.

    Maguire was the fifth-most utilised player for England under Southgate, with only Harry Kane, Kyle Walker, Jordan Pickford and John Stones appearing more, and Carsley explained that the decision was just to take a look at other options.

    "It was a chance of having a look at other players. It's nothing to do with form. It's looking at the next two camps to look at other players," Carsley said.

    "The players left out all have a case but we saw the benefit in the last camp of the squad being fresh, feeling fresh and a lot of energy in it.

    "It's not just a copy and a paste, I want them to feel like they all have earned their place in the squad. People want to know where they stand long-term, I've told all the players this is a short-term situation.

    "Harry is a player I've worked with in the past. He was very positive in the conversation we have.

    "It was a case of talking to him about what my decision was, we have some really good centre-backs who we are keen to see play. Harry still has a really important part to play, not just in this squad but also in the campaign."

© 2024 SportsMaxTV All Rights Reserved.