GARETH SOUTHGATE has to be the first man off the team bus tonight to lead his troops.
He has to be the first one on the pitch to make the players feel he’s happy to be there.
⚽ Follow ALL of the latest news and updates from Euro 2020 with our live blog
Because, in spite of their experience, they will be looking at him for this final.
When players have doubts, they look at you, as a manager, they analyse you.
They see how you behave, how you react.
There has been a war of the coaches between Southgate and Italy’s Roberto Mancini before this final, as they think and work and analyse. The midfield battle will be crucial as both sides are so strong there.
Italy’s midfield is super talented — Jorginho, Marco Verratti, Nicolo Barella, with Manuel Locatelli and Bryan Cristante incredible solutions from the bench.
It was a big decision for England to stick with Kalvin Phillips and Declan Rice — a very strong statement which said, ‘We are not here to entertain, we are not here to be an amazing football team’.
It’s a big lesson for some people who think the most important thing in football is to be beautiful. In the end, we realise what this country wants most is to win the Euros.
If everyone was expecting Rice to start, it was not even 100 per cent sure that Phillips would be in the squad. But he has become fundamental to England.
⚽ ENGLAND vs ITALY EURO 2020 FINAL BETTING SPECIAL ⚽
Then, Jordan Henderson shows what a captain is. A captain of Liverpool, he does not need an armband to be a captain for England. He’s there to come on when the team needs fresh legs and stability.
It’s not easy to stop Italy playing but it’s easier to stop them creating, by being compact, having a lower defensive block.
What is difficult is to control possession. If Jorginho is playing for Chelsea and your No 10 presses him, it’s difficult for them.
But if you do that to Jorginho with Italy, he moves away, takes the opponent away and leaves space for Verratti — and Verratti is as good as Jorginho in that position.
Spain created problems for Italy in an unexpected way. They played without a striker and Dani Olmo in midfield, so when Spain had the ball they had four midfield players and that was difficult for Italy.
Harry Kane can do the same. He can drop and go into areas where, instead of Jorginho being focused on Mason Mount, he is divided between Mount and Kane.
It’s more difficult for Italy’s central defenders Leonardo Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini when Raheem Sterling is making runs and attacking inside spaces, than for England to have a target man there.
Bonucci and Chiellini are master centre-backs. You look at them the same way you looked at John Terry and Rio Ferdinand. They know everything about the job.
The easiest thing for them is to have a target man, where one can press and the other can cover.
If nobody is there and an extra man is floating around, it’s more difficult and you can create superiority in midfield.
Sterling is playing very well and the more freedom he has to attack spaces, the better. This will be a tight game where players have to suffer. And Italy know how to suffer. It belongs in their spirit.
At the same time, the DNA of this team is to have the ball and play with that fantastic triangle in midfield.
Maybe they don’t have a super special talent like Francesco Totti, Alessandro Del Piero or Roberto Baggio — but they are a very good team, a complete team.
I can’t see any team changes for either side. The players need stability now.
And this will be tougher than the Denmark semi-final, because while the Danes were running out of gasoline and bringing on Championship players, Italy’s bench is as strong as England’s.
I’m in Rome now and while it must be different to London — where you’ve had the semi-final and everyone is anticipating a first final since 1966 — here you can see all the flags in the windows. In the streets they are selling T-shirts, flags and scarves.
They are building an atmosphere and they believe in the team. The team had a fantastic record even before the Euros.
They believe in the Italian team, in the experience and know-how of their players.
English football has been successful, with different clubs winning the Champions League and the world looks to the Premier League as the most exciting in the world.
But, until now, the national team has not matched the passion for football in the country.
So now it’s the biggest game of all and England are missing just one thing — a trophy…
WHEN Gareth Southgate took off Jack Grealish in extra time, having introduced him as a sub against Denmark, it was the move of a coach with great belief in himself.
He had decided the team is more important than anything and the emotional consequences of his decisions don’t matter.
I think he could have taken another player off, and not a fresh Grealish, and maybe bring on a fresh Marcus Rashford to kill off Denmark.
Because after England went ahead, I never sensed any danger from the Danes.
I did something similar once at Wembley — it was Manchester United against Leicester in the 2016 Community Shield.
I played Juan Mata as a sub and we scored late on and in the last couple of minutes, I took Mata off to secure the result because I was feeling danger from Leicester.
Mata was not happy and I had to explain my decision — and it is easier to persuade the player when you win.
⚽ Read our Football live blog for the very latest news from around the grounds
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
