Gareth Southgate has claimed England’s heroes are ready to “die for each other” on the pitch.
Southgate believes the “phenomenal” spirit in the squad is the reason why England never know they are beaten and can carry them to World Cup glory this summer. The Three Lions boss admits that some of his players are running on empty but their never-say-die attitude is their greatest quality even after achieving so much together in the past few seasons.
England lost in Hungary last weekend but refused to accept another defeat in Germany and carried on battling to get a draw and nearly snatch an unlikely victory in Munich. Discussing his players, Southgate said: “So many of them, when picking the team, you look at it and they've been to a World Cup semi final and Euros final, so it's not only the quality and experience of playing in an environment like that, but the spirit they've got and the fact they're going to die for each other on the pitch.
“They can barely walk in the dressing room. It's a phenomenal effort they've given, particularly after some of them having to play longer than we'd hoped on Saturday in Hungary, at this stage of the season. So yeah, it's a mixture, because we felt in the first half the game was there, but some of the quality of our passing when we had the chance to break wasn't what it might have been.
“We then conceded, when we were a little bit passive for that period leading up to the goal, but then the response was excellent from all of them.” Southgate took England to a World Cup semi-final in 2018 and then only lost the Euros final to Italy last summer on a penalty shootout.
The Three Lions will be among the favourites in Qatar when the World Cup begins in November but, even when facing other heavyweight opponents, Southgate believes the spirit in the camp means they believe they can get a result against any nation.
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Adding to his confident declaration about his players, the 51-year-old insisted he can handle any criticism as he looks to manage expectation levels ahead of the winter tournament. Southgate is determined to rest and rotate his players through the Nations League fixtures on the back of a long, hard, gruelling season.
That will inevitably put him in the firing line as even Southgate admits that England are expected to win every game and few other jobs in football can turn on one result. Despite the weight of expectation, the manager needs to experiment in these fixtures because there are no friendlies before Qatar. The Three Lions have two more games this month and another two in September, so he is hoping for a bit of understanding.
Southgate said: “I know what I wanted from these games. I know the emphasis I put in my head and I also accept that with England you are going to be judged and you have got to win every match. You will be judged solely on that.
“But I’ve got to think a little bit differently to that and accept that if there is criticism then, fine, I have got to get on with it and 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 that’s something I am not going to be successful with.”
Southgate has done so much to reconnect with England fans during his six years in charge but it does not always feel like that after one bad result, such as Hungary last weekend. Suddenly Southgate is painted as too negative, too conservative and unable to change games with his substitutions.
His future becomes a national debate but the reality is that perhaps England have had a reality check in these two games. The defence is still a big issue, his defensive kingpin Harry Maguire is suffering with a lack of confidence and sometimes a team’s 'sweet spot' only lasts for so long.
England have got good players but they are tired. Southgate has lifted and improved performances with this squad rather than failed to get the best out of them. Being realistic, they will need another fortunate draw to progress to the World Cup final but, having raised expectation levels, Southgate is almost his own worst enemy.
However, Southgate insists that he will carry on changing the team, promising to ring the changes again on Saturday against Italy. He said he will give another 'keeper a chance in the next two games and added: “I think we will [rotate] because I think you have seen right across Europe – France changed 10, Spain changed eight, Portugal changed seven.
“So 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. So, strategically it’s a bit of a unique situation and I think you are seeing it right across Europe.”
