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Gareth Southgate believes Jude Bellingham’s goal against Slovakia can be a spark for England’s tournament, like Paul Gascoigne’s goal against Scotland at Euro 96, as he made a point of stating the legend of that tournament and the 1990 World Cup has made people forget performances were initially poor.
While Southgate accepted that his team have “got to be better”, he feels that the 95th-minute equaliser to eventually eliminate Slovakia showed a “togetherness” and “spirit” essential to any tournament. The manager also believes it will “give the whole group belief”, just like Gascoigne in 1996. Southgate feels that will be essential against an “excellent” Switzerland team in the Euro 2024 quarter-final.
“Well, there’s no question it will give the whole group belief,” he said. “The boys that came on and contributed that had a big impact on what we were doing: the togetherness and the spirit that you need.
“Everybody now, 30 years on, looks back at ’96 – that I played in – in a different way to how it was at the time. We were bang average against Switzerland. We were the same against Scotland. Scotland missed a penalty at 1-0. Spain should have beaten us in a 0-0 draw. 1990 was similar, so you do go through these moments in tournaments.”
Southgate did accept that actual consistency is now key, however. For all that England have progressed in terms of going through the rounds, there is an argument that performance has actually declined.
“We know we should be better than we’ve been, but I’m saying that we’ve ended up with a lot of young players in important positions and trying to solve problems right the way through the four weeks of the camp. But the standout is the way the players are dealing with it: their togetherness, their spirit. You could see the boys that went on, but also the boys that came off, and the way that they were up and supporting the group. So that is giving us a chance.
“And I know that we’ve got to be better and we’ve got a very tough team to prepare for, so I’m already onto that. But I am so proud of the players.”
Southgate stressed how impressed he was with the “character” England have shown, but added that Marc Guehi’s suspension gives him another tactical problem to solve.
“They’re going to take so much from what they’ve come through [on Sunday], so we're trying to solve lots of problems in the best way we possibly can, and with Marc being out now, we've got another issue to solve. We'll keep trying to find the best way of doing that, and what can’t be questioned is the togetherness of the group, the way they’re fighting for each other. And in knockout football, that can be as important as everything else.
“I have to say, they’re all impressing me, that group that hasn’t played yet: Joe Gomez, Lewis Dunk, Ezri Konsa before [Sunday], Ivan [Toney], they’re all playing a part in preparing the team, and it’s so important.
“You can’t... If you’ve got any sort of fracture in the camp at a tournament, you're in trouble, and those guys, they’re training well, they’re with the group, they’re socially good. I can't speak highly enough about all of them, and it was great that another couple of them got onto the pitch [on Sunday].
“When you win with all the top players on the pitch, that’s one thing, but when you win with all the guys that have gone in at a critical moment, that doesn’t half build a spirit in the group.”
The Swiss, however, have already given two major football nations real problems. They drew 1-1 with Germany in a battle for top spot in the group where they were arguably the better team, then eviscerated Italy 2-0 in their own last-16 game.
“I think they’re excellent,” Southgate said. “I’ve thought that for a few years, really. They have had some consistency in what they do for a long time. Their system is difficult to press, they’ve got good rotation. Once they’ve been ahead, they’ve been really difficult to break down.
“So, they are a very good side, as they showed against Germany and as they showed against Italy.”
