- Gareth Southgate has identified the two areas England need to improve after the draw
- He took the blame for a poor performance and thinks his team ‘cares too much’
- Listen to It all starts! Why are England already being instructed about ignoring the noise from outside the camp?
Gareth Southgate took the blame for England’s abysmal performance as England were booed after Thursday night’s Euro 2024 tie against Denmark.
Prince William, who attended the match, spoke to the players in the dressing room after the final whistle as Southgate’s side came to terms with their latest underperformance here in Germany.
After taking the lead through Harry Kane, England were dominated for much of the match, while Denmark equalized through Morten Hjulmand.
The England players were jeered by their own fans and Southgate accepted responsibility for his team’s dismal performance.
‘The team did not function today. That is my responsibility, I have control over that,” he said.
Gareth Southgate admitted England were poor at pressing and retaining possession against Denmark
Prince William spoke to the English players after the match about the draw
‘I have to find solutions for that. The players give absolutely everything they have, if anything they show that they care too much and it is up to me to find better solutions than we have shown.
‘To talk about today we have to accept that we did not press the ball strongly enough and gave away possession too cheaply. When you do those two things, it’s hard to have control.
“It led to anxious performances the longer the match went on and we understand that this needs to improve if we want to progress to the stages of the tournament that everyone expects.
“We’re falling a little short and ultimately that’s my responsibility, I’m the manager. To achieve extraordinary things you have to go through some difficult moments.
‘The challenge is to do something that has never been done before, so it couldn’t be bigger.
“We know we’ve had a lot of problems, but we are where we are now and we have to find the best way forward. “I have to lead the group in the right way, make intelligent decisions and be better without the ball so that we don’t have to defend certain periods of the match like we do now.”
To boos, Southgate said: ‘I think we have to accept that this is the environment we’re in, we’re in the environment of winning on the biggest stage and if we don’t reach the level we have to accept what comes our way comes.
“We need the fans, they were brilliant in the stadiums and I can understand their frustration with the way we played, but these boys are not lacking in effort.
‘The players are absolutely giving everything they have, if anything they show they care too much’
Southgate took the blame for the performance after the crowd booed the team
‘We have to find a better way of playing and more quality. I don’t think anyone would look at them and say we don’t care.’
Southgate has indicated he will make the changes for Tuesday’s match against Slovenia.
‘We have to look clearly. We are disappointed with the level of the two performances we had.
“We need to analyze that in depth and find some solutions to address the problems we have and we will spend a lot of time on that in the coming days. We know that the level must and can be higher.
‘Perhaps the most important thing is that we have to accept the environment around us.’