COLOGNE — Luke Shaw is finally fit to make an appearance in the last-16 game on Sunday in a massive boost to England’s chances at Euro 2024.
The defender has not played since February due to injury but England manager Gareth Southgate views the Manchester United player as so crucial to his team that he decided to take a “calculated risk” by including him in his Euro 2024 squad.
In Shaw’s absence – and without any other naturally left-sided defenders – right-back Kieran Trippier has had to play at left-back, and while he has defended resiliently his inclusion has destabilised England’s attack.
In England’s final group game against Slovenia – a goalless draw that meant England topped the group but were booed off the pitch – Phil Foden and Jude Bellingham, who have rotated between the left wing and central attacking midfield, were both seen shouting at Trippier for not finding them with passes down that side.
Shaw’s involvement in the team is as much about his attacking attributes as it is defence. He was one of England’s best players at Euro 2020, scoring in the final and assisting three goals as an attacking left wing-back. Equally, no England player created more chances than him at the 2022 World Cup.
The Football Association’s medical team had initially hoped Shaw could play some part in England’s second group game against Denmark, with the view being that he built up minutes and was fully fit for the knockout stages.
Southgate then thought Shaw, who had been training with the rest of the squad in Germany, could come on from the bench in the first game, but, while unconfirmed, he appeared to have a setback and did not make the bench for the second game.
After the Slovenia match, asked whether he was fit Shaw replied, “Next game,” indicating he believes he can still feature in the knockouts.
How quickly Shaw will be able to get back to optimum levels remains to be seen. The 28-year-old played only 15 games last season, missing three months at the start of the season with a muscle injury and another month at the start of the year with a hamstring problem before the injury in a game against Luton ended his season.
Southgate, meanwhile, has taken the blame for all the negativity and criticism directed at the England team on himself.
A goalless draw against Slovenia in England’s final group game was enough to finish top of the group but did little to silence critics who are bored by the performances.
England were booed from the pitch and when Southgate walked up to applaud the England fans in the stands at the RheinEnergieStadion he had plastic pint cups thrown towards him.
“Our world is different at the moment and I feel that is probably because of me,” Southgate admitted. “I have to help the players as much as I possibly can because we brought the joy back into playing for England and we have to be very careful of where we head with it.”
The outside vitriol has leaked through to the players, despite Southgate’s best efforts, and in an attempt to help his players deal with it Southgate showed them images of other countries celebrating with their fans after qualifying for the knockouts, to demonstrate what it usually means.
“I have to keep the players right on track,” he said. “On the day of the [Slovenia] game I showed them pictures of Italy celebrating their qualification with their fans, of Hungary celebrating when they didn’t even know if they were through. Denmark celebrating a draw against us and they were on two points.”
England’s fans showed immense support to the players during the second half of the Slovenia game and Southgate urged them stick by the players, whatever their feelings towards him.
“The fans were brilliant with the team in the second half, absolutely brilliant,” he said. “That’s so important.
“Whatever the feeling is towards me, you’ve got to get behind the team, and that’s crucial. Players have loved playing England the last six or seven years, we’ve got to keep that — we have to keep that. I understand the feeling towards me, but back the players, it’s crucial the fans back the players as they did in the second half.”
Asked if he knew what he was walking into when he approached the England fans after the game, Southgate said: “I’m not going to hide from it. I’ve got to show my players the fearlessness we are asking of them on the pitch.
“So I will continue to do that. We are playing for big stakes, we are trying to do something that has never been done before and so we have to have a mentality that we are prepared to walk towards those challenges.”
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/puIswAd
Post a Comment