Gareth Southgate has hit out at media leaks in the run up to England’s matches, saying it makes success ‘more difficult than it should be’.
Southgate is feeling the pressure to guide England to Euro 2024 glory having gone into the tournament as favourites, however a penalty shootout win over Switzerland has seen them advance into the semi-finals.
While the Three Lions have been less than convincing, Southgate has not been helped by leaks in the media in the days leading up to their fixtures.
In recent weeks, these have included revealing information about his team selection, players coming in or being replaced and even the tactical system that England are planning to play.
By revealing the information ahead of kick-off, opposition sides theoretically hold an advantage due to being able to adapt their plans accordingly and building a strategy to nullify the likely threat that England could pose.
Asked how he can stop tactical information being leaked, Southgate told talkSPORT: “We can’t.
“We’re trying to win a football tournament and our own media are leaking tactical information two hours after we’ve walked off the training pitch.
“They’ll excuse it my saying that they’ve got it from within the camp and maybe they have, but how does that help the team?
“How does it help the team to give the Swiss – who might have been expecting us to play differently – three days to work out what we might do?
“I have to say it because it’s the environment that we’re working in. It’s difficult, more difficult than it should be, but we’re still going.”
Asked if he can stop the players from speaking to their agents, Southgate responded: “I don’t see that as being the problem.”
While England have advanced to the semi-finals, where they will face Netherlands, Southgate is still receiving criticism for the job being done as Three Lions’ head coach.
But while criticism is fair when balanced and measured, the England boss believes that some of the stick he’s received has gone too far.
He explained: “I took this job to try and improve English football when I first joined the Football Association and then taking the seniors we wanted to rebuild confidence and give people nights like tonight.
“I can’t deny that when things are as personal as they’ve been, on a human level, I find that difficult to come to terms with given that this is the third semi-final we’ve been in in four tournaments.
“I don’t think it’s normal to have beer thrown at you, but maybe people think that it is.
“There are bits that I’ve difficult but I’m going to fight and I think that I’ve maintained a really positive approach with everybody in the camp and we’ve got the players in the best-possible space to be able to deliver as they have and we’re still fighting.
“We’re in another semi-final and we don’t want the story to end there.”
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News Summary:
- Gareth Southgate addresses media leaks and says that personal criticism as England boss is ‘not normal’
- Check all news and articles from the latest Football updates.