Gareth Southgate believes England’s Euro 2024 rivals are not putting them “on a pedestal” as he suggested assessments of his team are more realistic abroad.
The England manager believes his side have earned the respect of teams across the continent with their progress over the last eight years, as they have reached a World Cup semi-final and European Championships final in his reign, but feels praise and criticism is more measured.
England begin their Euro 2024 campaign against Serbia but Southgate shrugged off their status as one of the favourites to argue that there are a number of contenders with high-class players.
He said: “Everybody recognises that we’ve got a dangerous team, but I don't think they go overboard about that. I think they feel we’ve progressed well over seven or eight years. Whenever I travel around Europe, you get a different view perhaps to the one I get at home. But I don’t think people are putting us on a pedestal.
“I think there are several countries that know they have good players and we’re aware of that. We’re a team that can win, but there are other teams that can win this and it’s about delivering over the period of a month and hitting and finding your best form and dealing with all the events that happen within tournament football. We’ve got some good experience of that, so we can help to guide the guys through it.”
Southgate sees the hosts as one of the potential champions and was not taken aback by their opening 5-1 thrashing of Scotland in Munich.
He said: “They didn’t surprise me one bit. Germany’s results over the last 18 months haven’t reflected their performances. They have got some outstanding players. They worked incredibly hard for each other and the way they played was no surprise. Those players are capable of doing that and they delivered a really strong performance.
“They are one of a number of teams with some really good young players. There are a lot around Europe. I know of course that out focus is always on ours but when you watch European football and the other leagues you are aware of how many good players there are and that’s why what we have done until this point and reputations doesn’t really matter.”
