England manager Gareth Southgate would not divulge whether he planned to make changes for Tuesday’s game against Slovenia at the European Championship amid media reports of a midfield shake-up, instead keeping his cards close to his chest.
While England top Group C on four points and have secured a last-16 spot thanks to Albania’s 1-0 loss to Spain on Monday, Southgate’s men are eager for a decisive win after their sputtering start and there has been speculation that Conor Gallagher will start in place of Trent Alexander-Arnold in midfield.
“Well, I’m clearly not going to go into detail when the opposition are listening,” Southgate told reporters on Monday. “I can sit here and talk as much as I like but it’s irrelevant until we go onto the pitch and perform.
“Of course, it’s important to answer the (personnel and tactical) questions as thoroughly as I can. But ultimately, I’m going to be judged on the way the team play and I understand that and I’m comfortable with that.”
Much of the criticism levelled at England has been around Southgate’s “experiment” of slotting richly talented Liverpool defender Alexander-Arnold alongside Declan Rice in midfield.
Southgate, who is not known for making hasty changes, sent Gallagher on in place of Alexander-Arnold nine minutes into the second half of their ragged 1-1 draw with Denmark last time out. But the 25-year-old was far from the squad’s only issue.
“We’re very clear on where we need to be better,” Southgate said. “We haven’t hidden from that … so the route forward was pretty simple to highlight.”
When asked for his perception of troubles in midfield, Rice said the effort cannot be faulted.
“I’ve seen players that have given everything even though it hasn’t gone the way we’ve wanted to so far,” he said. “I think that’s a non-negotiable when you put on an England shirt.
“Of course, we want to dominate the game more. But you’re coming up against world class players now all the time,” he added.
“A lot of people think because we’re England we should go out there and win games 4, 5-0, and the reality of it is you play a Denmark team that got to the semi-finals of the Euros three years ago, the Serbia team have got Champions League, Premier League players.”
HARSHEST CRITIC
Former England forward Gary Lineker, now a television presenter and pundit, has been perhaps England’s harshest critic, using an expletive to describe the team’s play.
“A few years ago, I would have read things, would have listened to things and it would have taken energy from me,” Southgate said. “Now I have to cut myself off from it. Because you lose focus and you lose what’s important.”
While Slovenia have no Premier League players and are not so well known to England, Rice watched their first two group games and was suitably impressed.
“They’ve actually been really good, a lot of strong players, really fast, obviously the main talking point in (Benjamin) Sesko. The boy has been a massive target for clubs around Europe,” added Rice, whose club Arsenal were linked to the Slovenia striker before he signed a new deal at RB Leipzig.
“When you play teams like Slovenia, you know what you’re going to get. They’re going to come at us, they’re going to want to win the game, they’re going to want to shock the world.
“(Tuesday) is a chance for us to bounce back, and that’s the beauty of football that you always get another chance to go again.”
While England defender Luke Shaw, who has not played since February due to injury, trained with the squad on Monday, Southgate said he was not quite fit to face Slovenia.
