Southgate admits England need to improve after underwhelming Denmark draw
20/06/2024
Frankfurt Stadium, Germany
20/06/2024
Frankfurt Stadium, Germany
Category
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SportsTranscript
00:00No, no, no, no. No, no. No, please. Sorry.
00:21Thank you. We'll go straight to the questions with Gerrit Southgate, coach of the English national team.
00:28Raise your hands, please.
00:31Start from here. Thank you.
00:34Southgate, good evening. After two games in the Euros, is England performing better than you expected?
00:43Worse than you expected? What is your impression so far after two games?
00:49We have to accept that, as we talked about today, we didn't press the ball with enough intensity and we kept conceding possession too cheaply.
01:04When you do those two things, it's hard to have control in the game.
01:08It led to an anxious performance the longer the game went on.
01:15We understand that's got to be better if we want to progress to the stages of the tournament that everybody is expecting and delivering what we need to deliver.
01:27Next question.
01:28You very rarely take Harry Kane off. I think it was Hungary in a World Cup qualifier was the last time you did when you needed a goal. Is he fit at the moment?
01:43We just felt the whole front line put a lot of work into the game the other day.
01:48He's only had 190 minutes in the last five or six weeks, so the other night took a lot out of him.
01:55We could have stayed with it, but we thought to get speed in the front line at that moment, to get energy, to be able to press, was important.
02:06That was the decision we took with all of the substitutes, basically.
02:12Thank you. The question over there.
02:15Pierre from L'Equipe. If we compare the game to Serbia, Kane dropped more and Foden played more centrally. Did you give them both more freedom for this game?
02:28We played more with the 10 today. That meant when Kane was coming low, we had players running past him, a little bit more in contact with him.
02:39We also pressed slightly differently, which meant that Foden was starting a little bit more infield.
02:45But our press wasn't intense enough and it meant that our back line had a problem with the players dropping either side of our pivots.
02:54That's something that has to be better. We know with the profile of players that we've got, we don't feel the way to press is really high up the pitch.
03:06I don't think that's the physical level of the team at the moment either.
03:10But we've got to find a way of being more compact and more difficult to play against than we've found in the last three halves of football.
03:19Another question over here.
03:21How do you feel the set-up has worked and the personnel has worked over the last two games?
03:35Is it inevitable there will be changes for Game 3 anyway and what will dictate those changes?
03:41We're disappointed with the level of the two performances we've had.
03:48We've got to go and analyse that in depth and find some solutions to addressing the issues that we have.
03:58Over the next few days we'll spend a lot of time doing that.
04:03We know the level has to be higher. We know the level can be higher.
04:08Maybe the biggest thing is we have to accept the environment that we're in and the expectations that are around us.
04:18We're going to have to walk towards that challenge. At the moment we're falling a little bit short of that.
04:25Ultimately that's my responsibility. I'm the manager and I've got to guide this group in the best way possible.
04:31To achieve extraordinary things you have to go through some difficult moments.
04:41Today was a difficult moment without a doubt, towards the end of the game especially.
04:45England have never won back-to-back qualification matches, I was told yesterday.
04:52There's a reason for that. We hoped to write a different story today. We haven't managed that.
04:59We understand what that will mean for the next few days.
05:04We have to stay calm inside the group and find good solutions to improving.
05:09Mike Keegan from the Daily Mail. I just wanted to get your thoughts on the pitch tonight.
05:15It seemed to be cutting up really badly. Is that a surprise to come and encounter something like that at a major tournament?
05:19Did it impact on the way your team could play tonight?
05:22Firstly, we can't be making any excuses for the level of the performance.
05:29We have to accept responsibility.
05:33We noticed this pitch did cut up the other day in the game we were watching the other day.
05:39I think it was Belgium played here.
05:41What I would say is, I've been a defender, when you play on a pitch like that,
05:45it puts you on edge because you're not quite sure of your footing.
05:49You're not quite sure when one moment, one slip could cost the team.
05:53But, as I said, we've got to look beyond that for the reasons for our performance.
06:01Gareth, Jacob Steinberg from The Guardian.
06:04You've got a lot of young, inexperienced players who are new to this.
06:07There are moments in the second half towards the end where you can hear boos from the fans.
06:12Is that unhelpful in that environment? Is it making it harder for them to relax?
06:16Look, I think we have to accept this is the environment we're in.
06:22We're in the environment of winning on the biggest possible stage.
06:26If we don't hit the level, if I don't hit the level that's needed,
06:30then we have to accept what comes our way.
06:34We have to find the best way to solve that.
06:38Of course, we need the fans.
06:41We need the fans.
06:43But I have to say, they've been brilliant.
06:45They've been absolutely brilliant in the stadiums.
06:47I can completely understand their frustration with the way that we played.
06:53But what I would say is these boys aren't lacking effort at the moment.
06:58It's not a case of they're not trying.
07:03But we've got to find a better way of playing.
07:06We've got to find more quality in what we're doing.
07:08I don't think people would look at them and say they don't care.
07:13If anything, at the moment, we care too much.
07:15We've got to find a way of getting that right balance.
07:21Hi, Gareth. Matt Lowe from the Telegraph.
07:23It's just sounded there, and a couple of things you said yesterday as well,
07:27that maybe some of the players are actually struggling to cope with the pressure a little bit.
07:31Would that be accurate?
07:33And also, do you have a problem with the balance of the team at the moment?
07:37Well, it's clear in terms of the balance of the team
07:40that we don't have our best left back available.
07:45So that denies you the opportunity for that balance.
07:50But I think Tripps has done an incredible job for the team.
07:54So his spirit, his organisation, his desire have helped us get over the line in the last two games.
08:02So that's in no way a criticism of him.
08:05But it's obviously going to be different with a right footer there than a left.
08:08We have been trying to find a solution in midfield for seven or eight years.
08:15If we hadn't had Declan Rice for the last few years, I don't know where we'd have been.
08:20Unfortunately, Calvin wasn't a possible for us for this tournament.
08:24Hendo the same.
08:26So we're trying to find something different.
08:28And some of that has worked, some of that hasn't worked so well.
08:33But over the years, that's been a consistent problem.
08:37We've tried to find the best way of solving.
08:39And we've got to do that in the coming weeks as well.
08:44We have to accept that we're in an environment where we have to deliver.
08:50This is the arena we're in.
08:52So we've got to walk towards that challenge.
08:54And I'm intending to walk towards it, whatever the reaction is.
08:59I'm not going to avoid going over to the fans at the end of the game.
09:03We confront it head on.
09:05What we've got to do is play better and show people what we're really capable of.
09:11We'll take the last two questions here up front, please.
09:17Hi, Gareth.
09:19You mentioned the lack of control potentially in midfield.
09:24How much is that linked to Trent playing in there and not having, in your eyes,
09:32a genuine centre midfielder who plays in that position every week?
09:37One of our biggest problems was we weren't pressing well enough as a team.
09:41So he had all sorts of problems to solve without the ball.
09:44And most of those he did really, really well.
09:48Clearly, you're going to see different pictures when you're in there every week.
09:54And he's had moments where he's played the passes that we thought he could.
10:00So we're looking at a team performance.
10:05I know and I understand you're always going to ask me about individuals.
10:09But the team didn't function today.
10:12That's my responsibility.
10:14I'm in control of that.
10:18I have to find solutions to that.
10:20The players are giving absolutely everything they have.
10:24As I said earlier, if anything, they're showing they care too much.
10:31It's for me to find better solutions than we've shown in the last couple of matches.
10:40Last question, please.
10:41Gareth, Paul Joyce, The Times.
10:43How big a challenge is this for you to turn it around now?
10:47Because you said after Iceland, similar problems that we've seen today.
10:51And that was going to be a wake-up call.
10:53It doesn't seem to have acted like that.
10:55So how big is the challenge you face now?
10:58The challenge is to do something that's never been done before.
11:03So it couldn't be any bigger.
11:05And we know that we've had a lot of issues to deal with in the lead-in to that.
11:10But we are where we are now.
11:12And we have to find the best way forward.
11:14So that's the responsibility I have.
11:18I've got to lead the group in the right way.
11:20Make intelligent decisions to find the best balance.
11:24To find more of a threat with what we're delivering with the ball.
11:28And to be better without the ball so that we're not needing to defend
11:33for the long periods of the game that we are at the moment.
11:36Thank you very much.
11:37Thank you, Gary. Thank you, everyone.
11:39Thank you.