Gareth Southgate has warned that England will not have a “procession to Berlin” for the Euro 2024 final as he opened up on the difficulties he faced after naming a provisional 33-man squad.
The headline items were the omission of two of his stalwarts – Jordan Henderson and Marcus Rashford – while Ben Chilwell was also overlooked. There was no recall either for Eric Dier. Southgate accentuated youth with first call-ups for James Trafford, Jarell Quansah, Adam Wharton and Curtis Jones. The uncapped Jarrad Branthwaite was retained from the squad for the March friendlies against Brazil and Belgium and Eberechi Eze given an opportunity.
Southgate will trim the squad to 26 after the warm-up game against Iceland at Wembley on 7 June. England play Bosnia and Herzegovina at St James’ Park on 3 June. They get under way at the finals in Germany against Serbia on 16 June.
It was difficult to ignore the inexperience of the squad; only 16 of those picked have 10 or more caps. Or the principal areas of concern: the lack of cover for Declan Rice in the No 6 role and the situation at left-back, where Southgate’s preferred pick, Luke Shaw, has not played since 18 February because of a muscle injury. Southgate said Shaw was “working with the medical team” at Manchester United, making it sound unlikely he would be involved in the FA Cup final against Manchester City on Saturday. He admitted Shaw was a “long shot” in terms of the Euros. With Chilwell not selected, Southgate will count on Kieran Trippier, who is more at home at right-back. He namechecked another non-specialist left-back – Joe Gomez – as someone who could do a job there.
Southgate was asked whether the lack of cover for Rice could leave him exposed. Kalvin Phillips had faded from the picture before the exclusion of Henderson.
“Yes, no question,” Southgate replied. “I’ve talked a lot about numbers and players and people don’t want to hear it because we’ve got so much talent in certain areas of the pitch. But the impact of those numbers is clear in certain positions. We’ll just have to do that differently. We don’t have another Rice-type profile of player. “In the last few months I’ve been thinking: ‘Declan with who?’ And: ‘Who if without Declan?’ When everyone is saying we have a procession to Berlin, they’re the things I have to worry about.”
Southgate made the point that there were “very few [English] left-footed left-backs playing”. He did not select the left-footed centre-half Levi Colwill, of Chelsea, who has filled in at left-back. “We feel Trippier, Gomez have performed as well in those areas or better than the others, even though one or two might be left-footed,” Southgate said.
Goalkeepers: Dean Henderson, Jordan Pickford, Aaron Ramsdale, James Trafford.
Defenders: Jarrad Branthwaite, Lewis Dunk, Joe Gomez, Marc Guéhi, Ezri Konsa, Harry Maguire, Jarell Quansah, Luke Shaw, John Stones, Kieran Trippier, Kyle Walker.
Midfielders: Trent Alexander-Arnold, Conor Gallagher, Curtis Jones, Kobbie Mainoo, Declan Rice, Adam Wharton.
Forwards: Jude Bellingham, Jarrod Bowen, Eberechi Eze, Phil Foden, Jack Grealish, Anthony Gordon, Harry Kane, James Maddison, Cole Palmer, Bukayo Saka, Ivan Toney, Ollie Watkins.
“Some of the biggest clubs in our league have had to adapt without a natural left-back. You’ve just got to change the way that you build and work out how you can be as unpredictable with the ball as possible even though you’ve not got a left-footer there. There isn’t another player like Shaw who can build and come and play off the outside of his foot with that sort of craft.”
Southgate’s decision on Henderson follows his phasing out of Raheem Sterling – two of the players he described as the “tribal elders” of his squad at the previous Euros, in the summer of 2021; the others were Harry Maguire and Harry Kane.
Southgate wants to move away from a defined leadership group and have some of the younger players, albeit ones with plenty of caps and big-game experience such as Rice and Jude Bellingham, step up.
There was no doubt the manager had to make a tough phone call to Henderson, who must bitterly regret his decision to move to Saudi Arabia from Liverpool last summer. Henderson changed tack in January, going to Ajax, but a seven-week injury lay-off from mid-March further undermined his catch-up mission in terms of England.
“The determining factor is the injury he picked up around the last camp [in March],” Southgate said. “He just hasn’t been able to get to the intensity in the games since then. Clearly with Hendo we’re going to miss a leader, a great person … yeah, that’s been a really hard call because he couldn’t have done any more to get himself to where he needs to be.”
On Rashford, Southgate said he “did talk a bit with him in March about his season … [and] others who have been playing very well in that area of the pitch”. It sounded like a warning to a forward who had been struggling sorely for his best form. Since then, Rashford has failed to score in seven appearances for United. Before the Cup final, he has eight at club level for the season plus one for England.
“He will be hugely disappointed,” Southgate said. “But again [as with Henderson], he was really respectful. I said to him: ‘You’ve got to go and score a couple of goals at the weekend now and put things right.’”
Southgate moved to allay fears over the fitness of Kane. The England captain’s manager at Bayern Munich, Thomas Tuchel, had revealed last Friday that Kane had a “complete blockade in his back … it’s got worse and bothers him in everyday movements”.
Tuchel was criticised for substituting Kane in the Champions League semi-final second-leg defeat against Real Madrid on 8 May but said it had been a “borderline decision” to play him because of the injury. Kane then missed Bayern’s final two Bundesliga games.
Southgate said: “Our understanding of it is that it is something that is pretty much clear now. Back problems can just happen … travel, whatever else. But it is not something we are concerned about.
“On a personal level, it won’t be nice for Harry [that he did not win a trophy with Bayern this season] and I am sure he will be aware of what people will say about that. But his love for this challenge [at the Euros] and desire to make this work has never wavered.”
