Gareth Southgate insists he is trying to ‘avoid reading or listening’ to criticism sent to him after England’s unconvincing 1-0 win over Serbia on Sunday.
England, who sit at the summit of Group C heading into Thursday’s clash with Denmark, edged out a narrow victory in their Euro 2024 opener after Real Madrid superstar Jude Bellingham netted his first of the tournament in the 13th minute.
Several ex-players, pundits and fans have criticised England’s performance on Sunday, with both Trent Alexander-Arnold’s display in midfield and Phil Foden’s lack of impact in attack coming under fire in particular.
Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag, who is now staying at Old Trafford after an end-of-season review, delivered his scathing assessment of Southgate’s ‘vision’ after the win over Serbia, accusing the Three Lions of relying simply on ‘moments’.
Southgate revealed on Wednesday that he had been ‘sent criticism’ after England’s win, but urged he is blocking out the noise in an effort to keep a clear head.
‘During the course of a tournament there’s obviously millions of opinions in different directions and so whilst I’m not reading a thing, or listening to a thing, you become aware of these things because they get sent to you,’ the England manager said ahead of Thursday’s game with Denmark.
‘There was a moment where we weren’t in as much control of the game on Sunday as we would’ve liked, and we felt that was a good moment for Conor Gallagher to come into the game. He did the job.
‘I think there are different moments, different flows of games, moments where you’re in control and you can push forward, moments where you’ve got a different problem to solve. Every coach would reflect on that. I accept everyone’s going to have different views and I’m really calm about that.’
Doubling down on his decision to include ‘outstanding’ Shaw in England’s 26-man Euro 2024 squad, Southgate also issued an update on the left-back’s fitness.
Kieran Trippier deputised at left-back in place of Shaw who, having not played since February, is still recovering from his hamstring injury and missed Three Lions training on Wednesday.
The Newcastle full-back fell to the floor in the closing stages against Serbia and appeared to have injured himself too — but continued on after regaining his feet and stretching out his cramp on the advertising board.
‘Luke won’t be involved tomorrow,’ Southgate admitted. ‘He’s actually on track for where we thought he would be originally. We were hoping a couple of days ago he might accelerate that bit but he needs a bit more volume work.
‘He didn’t train with group today (Wednesday) because there are days when he needs to do more than the rest of the group and days when he needs to recover when the others are pushing. He is still in and out from the others but operating on his own programme as well.’
‘Luke’s an outstanding player, that’s why we took the decision to bring him although he is not played for so long. We were hopeful that can be as soon as possible.’
