England trio ‘led crisis talks without Southgate’ ahead of Germany tie

Southgate heaps praise on Bellingham after England draw with Germany

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England manager Gareth Southgate has revealed that a trio of senior stars led crisis talks with the rest of the squad after last week’s defeat to Italy. Three Lions fans were desperate for a reaction against Germany on Monday and they got their wish, giving the squad a much-needed confidence boost ahead of the World Cup. 

Southgate was booed at the San Siro last week as England lost 1-0 to a weakened Italy side. It was England’s fifth match without a win amid growing concern that form would not peak in time for the Qatar World Cup, which kicks off in less than two months. 

Although they couldn’t snatch the elusive victory, Southgate will undoubtedly be pleased with the reaction against Germany at Wembley as England battled from 2-0 down to come within a whisker of winning the game. A second-half flurry from Luke Shaw, Mason Mount and Harry Kane cancelled out Ilkay Gundogan’s penalty and a Kai Havertz brace as the game finished 3-3. 

It meant little in terms of the UEFA Nations League table with England rooted to the bottom and relegated regardless, but the home side showed spirit. That may have been due, in part, to crisis talks which the Evening Standard claim were driven by Jordan Henderson, Harry Maguire and Kane. 

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“One of the things was they asked could they have a meeting on their own to talk things through,” said Southgate. “I think, for me, that was a positive sign. They talked through what they wanted to do. For me, the best football teams of course need outstanding leadership from the coaching team and everything else, but the best teams have a real core of players that drive things.

“There’s more of those sorts of conversations go on across the week where they are eating, where they are having treatment, where they are interacting where you can’t be involved as a staff. To have the right sort of messages filtering through to all members of the group to keep people on track is crucial. That’s one example of how we dealt with it well.

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“Not tactical messages, just keeping people on track: ‘We’re on board with what we’re being asked to do, we need to stay calm, we’ve been through moments like this before.’ We’ve got players who have experienced moments like this with England but not so many now, which is why I think they are all learning together.

“I think we’ve got to stick with what we believe. The players took that on board and the senior ones recognised that actually we are only a few months away from the World Cup. I have to say, we’ve been hoping that type of thing would happen.

“You can talk about team spirit when things are going well but in actual fact the true test is when there is a bit of adversity because it can be a bit superficial. Having difficult conversations, whether that’s me with the players and the team or amongst themselves, that’s far more important.”

All eyes were on England’s performance against Germany with Southgate’s men not taking to the field again until their group-stage opener against Iran in November. Fans will hope for a third successive deep tournament run after the Three Lions reached the World Cup semi-finals in 2018 and the Euros final three years later. 

Southgate’s future has divided opinion with some suggesting that he should make way if England fall short of expectations in Qatar. Aside from Iran, tough games against the USA and Wales are on the agenda in Group B. 

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