England manager Gareth Southgate highlighted the pressures that come with such a high-profile role, and implied there will be some changes to the starting-11 in the next couple of Nations League games.
The Three Lions are coming off a 1-1 draw away against Germany, and will now prepare for fixtures against Italy on Saturday, and Hungary on Tuesday.
Harry Kane netted his 50th international goal in that last fixture, and while he is clearly the first-choice striker, the rest of the team is relatively unsettled.
England is currently sitting last in the Nations League's League A Group 3, and Southgate insisted there will be some experimentation as they try to find their optimal starting group ahead of the World Cup.
"You have seen right across Europe – France changed 10, Spain changed eight, Portugal changed seven," he said.
"This is quite a unique set of games where teams are thinking about player welfare to a degree, freshness, but also they are preparing for a World Cup, because they know what’s coming and what they haven’t got in terms of friendlies ahead of the tournament.
“Harry [Kane] is… a phenomenal professional, the way he looks after himself. I’m not saying he’s going to get his desire to start all four games, by the way, because there’s also Tammy [Abraham] that we want to see perform as well."
Southgate went on to discuss how demanding of a role he has, and that it feels like "you have got to win every match".
"I know what I wanted from these games," he said. "I also accept that with England, you’re going to be judged, and you have got to win every match.
"But I’ve got to think a little bit differently to that and accept that if there is criticism, fine.
"I have got to make the right decisions for the players, for the team, to try to improve the team and if that means criticism, then so be it.
"If my decision-making is affected by that, then it’s something I am not going to be successful with."
Stuart Attwell named in VAR team for Euro 2024 amid Forest controversy
Stuart Attwell will be one of the VARs at this summer’s European Championship in Germany, with Anthony Taylor among the on-field referees.
The news comes two days on from the pair being on duty for Nottingham Forest’s 2-0 loss at Everton, after which the officiating was attacked in a social media post from the visitors that referenced Attwell being “a Luton fan”.
The post said there had been “three extremely poor decisions – three penalties not given – which we simply cannot accept”, adding: “We warned the PGMOL (Professional Game Match Officials Limited) that the VAR is a Luton fan before the game, but they didn’t change him.”
On Monday, Forest said they had submitted a formal request to PGMOL for audio of discussions between Attwell and Taylor in relation to the three incidents to be made public.
They also called on PGMOL to change its rules on officials’ allegiances “to account for contextual rivalries in the league table’, not just local rivalries”.
Three Forest members of staff – boss Nuno Espirito Santo, referee analyst Mark Clattenburg and full-back Neco Williams – have been asked by the Football Association for their observations following comments they made after the match at Goodison Park, while the Premier League is examining the club’s social media post.
As well as Taylor, with assistants Gary Beswick and Adam Nunn, Michael Oliver will be the other English on-field referee at the Euros, assisted by Stuart Burt and Dan Cook, UEFA said on Tuesday. The other English VAR alongside Attwell will be David Coote.
Harry Kane hits 40-goal landmark as Bayern Munich storm to victory
Harry Kane scored his 40th Bayern Munich goal of the season in a 5-1 Bundesliga thumping of Union Berlin.
After reaching the Champions League semi-finals in midweek, Bayern took a step towards securing second place in the league with an emphatic victory.
Leon Goretzka opened the scoring and Kane curled in a free-kick just before half-time to take his league-leading tally to 33.
Thomas Muller scored twice in the second half, either side of a goal from Mathys Tel, with Union limited to a late consolation effort from Yorbe Vertessen.
Fourth-placed RB Leipzig needed a late winner from Lois Openda to claim a 2-1 victory at Heidenheim.
Benjamin Sesko put the visitors ahead late in the first half but Nikola Dovedan levelled before Openda secured the points five minutes from time.
Robin Hack’s hat-trick was not enough to prevent Borussia Monchengladbach from falling to a 4-3 defeat at Hoffenheim.
Hack thought he had earned a point for the visitors when he scored twice late on after Hoffenheim had taken a 3-1 lead with goals from Wout Weghorst, Grischa Promel and Ozan Kabak.
But Anton Stach found the winner for the home side in the first minute of injury time.
Koln’s hopes of survival were dealt a major blow by a 2-0 loss to bottom side Darmstadt, who appear doomed to relegation, while Bochum remain in trouble after a 1-0 loss to Wolfsburg.
Girona’s 4-1 victory over relegation-threatened Cadiz in LaLiga ensured they will be playing European football next season.
Early goals from Eric Garcia and Ivan Martin set the tone, with Artem Dovbyk and Portu making sure of the points in the second half.
Real Betis boosted their hopes of joining Girona with a 2-1 victory away at Valencia.
Ayoze Perez scored twice for the visitors – who sit eighth, two points behind Real Sociedad – either side of a Pepelu penalty.
Celta Vigo went behind at home to Las Palmas but responded brilliantly to claim a 4-1 victory that lifts them six points clear of the bottom three.
Juanma Herzog opened the scoring but Iago Aspas netted twice for Celta along with one each from Williot Swedberg and Anastasios Douvikas.
Rayo Vallecano also eased their relegation fears, Pep Chavarria and Isi Palazon scoring in the final 10 minutes in a 2-1 win over Osasuna.
In Serie A, struggling Empoli stunned defending champions Napoli 1-0, Alberto Cerri scoring the only goal in the fourth minute.
The big match at the bottom had a dramatic finish as Diego Coppola struck in injury time to earn Verona a 1-0 win over Udinese.
Rennes kept alive their hopes of sneaking into the European places in Ligue 1 by beating lowly Nantes 3-0 but they remain four points behind Lens, who defeated bottom side Clermont 1-0 thanks to an early penalty from Florian Sotoca.
Cole Palmer has nothing to prove to City, says Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino
Mauricio Pochettino believes Cole Palmer will go into Chelsea’s FA Cup semi-final with Manchester City on Saturday with nothing to prove to his former employers, insisting he is the right manager to help the 21-year-old continue his stunning ascendancy.
Palmer, who left Chelsea’s Wembley opponents in a £42.5million deal in the summer, is joint top scorer in the Premier League after his four goals in Monday’s 6-0 demolition of Everton moved him level with City’s Erling Haaland on 20 for the season.
He has netted an incredible seven times in the team’s last two home games, including a hat-trick in the breathless 4-3 win over Manchester United when two of his goals came in the 10th and 11th minutes of stoppage time.
He previously scored from the penalty spot in the fifth minute of added time to snatch a point in a 4-4 draw when City visited west London in November.
Palmer has previously stated his decision to leave the champions – for whom he scored twice in August in the Community Shield and UEFA Super Cup – was based on the belief he would get more first-team game time at Chelsea.
That decision has been thoroughly vindicated, with his performances for Mauricio Pochettino’s frustratingly inconsistent side placing him in the reckoning for the PFA Player of the Year award.
His odds on winning the award have been slashed by as much as half with some bookmakers since his Everton haul.
But his manager said there was no possibility the England international would face City with an axe to grind.
“It’s his first consistent season playing, we need to be careful because he’s still young, he’s growing,” said Pochettino.
“He’s already played twice (against City) in the Premier League. He’s very grateful for Manchester City, with Pep Guardiola. He always talks very highly of them.
“He’s not the type of player that has something inside (to prove). He understood perfectly that for different reasons he wanted to prove himself in another club.
“He’s not the type of person to wants to prove something against his former club.”
Prior to joining Chelsea, Palmer had played only 19 senior league games spread over three seasons, and had not scored in the Premier League.
Yet he is now a genuine contender to deprive his former team-mate Haaland of the Golden Boot won by the Norwegian last season.
There is also the growing prospect of his being selected in Gareth Southgate’s squad for Euro 2024 in Germany this summer.
“He has to absorb the pressure to play in the Premier League consistently,” said Pochettino, who previously enjoyed success at Tottenham stewarding young talents though their early years, including England captain Harry Kane.
“It’s about the demands in his private life. He is top scorer. He maybe needs to pay attention to different things than before. That’s going to have an influence on how he is going to prepare himself, how he’s going to rest and going to sleep, how he spends his energy.
“We need to be careful. We have the experience to manage this type of thing, when a young kid becomes a big star. Why is he not performing in a few months? Because his life has changed. He needs to learn from this experience that is completely different to the past.”
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