5 months ago
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HARRY KANE had a “worried” chat with England manager Gareth Southgate before Euro 2024, reports say.
Captain Kane and boss Southgate walked away with runners-up medals after a heartbreaking loss to Spain.
AFPSouthgate’s squad selection and tactics came under questioning throughout the tournament in Germany.
But even before a ball was kicked – when he had to whittle his squad down to 26 – eyebrows were raised.
The likes of Harry Maguire and Jack Grealish – regulars in major competitions under Southgate before – were not chosen.
Maguire was still nursing a calf injury but hoped he would be fit for the knockout stages.
Whereas Grealish endured a tough season with Manchester City despite helping them to a third consecutive Premier League title.
According to The Athletic, the decision made by Southgate to omit the experienced pair confused senior members of the England squad.
It is claimed Kane went for a walk with Southgate at Tottenham’s training ground before pre-Euros friendly games.
There, Kane was “worried” after Marcus Rashford, Jordan Henderson, Maguire and Grealish were all left out.
This felt like our time... but keep Gareth's culture and we can win it in 2026 instead, writes Jack Wilshere
IT will take a while for me and every England fan to get over this, writes Jack Wilshere.
To come so close to winning that trophy, only to be beaten in a second Euros final in a row, is a huge disappointment.
Especially when it really felt like this was our time.
It seemed that everything was coming together for us to end the long wait for a major title.
But Spain deserved it. They were the better team in the final and the best team of the tournament.
We will all — supporters, players, coaches, the FA — have to move on and go again.
Because English football is still in a good position.
Gareth Southgate has taken us to two finals, a semi-final and a quarter-final in four tournaments. We have never produced a run like that before.
The challenge now is to maintain this level of competitiveness and make England even better.
Southgate and his staff have done a fantastic job in changing the whole environment and narrative around the national team.
Whether Gareth carries on or not, the wider culture he has put in place must be preserved.
This tournament was the biggest test of that culture the team had to go through.
They overcame the problems and went all the way, only to fall at the final hurdle.
But there is every reason to believe we can challenge at the World Cup in 2026 and beyond.
We’ve got a really good group of players, many of them young, who can go on playing and performing for England for years.
Jude Bellingham, Kobbie Mainoo, Bukayo Saka, Phil Foden and Cole Palmer — to name just five — have plenty more tournaments in them.
This tournament will also be an inspiration for the next generations of players. Unfortunately there isn’t the trophy lift to take that to a completely different level.
But England have delivered moments in Germany that will be replayed forever.
The Bellingham overhead kick and Ollie Watkins’ semi-final winner will be recreated in playgrounds and cages up and down the country.
What I would like to see now is England continuing to develop, to become a team that can consistently dominate opponents and can give a real identity to English football.
We now have players who are comfortable on the ball and technically very good.
The biggest disappointment of the tournament was that we didn’t see that as often as we would have liked. That leaves us with a ‘what if?’ feeling.
England must not lose that old-school mentality of finding a way to win even when you’re not playing well — that never-say-die spirit which got us through this Euros more than once.
But the next step is to allow other qualities to shine through, to give the players that our system is creating the platform to show everything they can do.
The job for me and for other coaches is to keep producing players that are comfortable on the ball and understand how to perform under pressure at a high level.
English football is in a good place but we need to keep going. Then we will finally get over the line.
Real all of SunSport columnist Jack Wilshere’s Euro 2024 columns…
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The Bayern Munich striker looked for answers from Southgate to better understand his reasoning.
Grealish was still in the England camp when he was told the news and was also shocked by Southgate’s decision.
Team-mates were said to have visited him in his camp bedroom to console the City star.
It is believed members of the Three Lions squad felt Grealish’s experience in big games and moments would have been key.
Grealish regularly spoke to the likes of Declan Rice throughout and joined Maguire in publicly wishing the team well.
But it ended in similar heartbreak from three years ago when Grealish and Maguire were part of the losing final team against Italy on penalties.
This time, the game was decided in 90 minutes as Spain ran out 2-1 winners to cancel out Cole Palmer’s stunning equaliser.
Southgate’s current contract runs out in December and the FA – who had always wanted him to stay on – will now give him time to make a decision.
Graham Potter – who has not managed since being sacked by Chelsea in 2022 – is favourite to take the job if Southgate chooses to move on.
Newcastle’s Eddie Howe is another candidate while SunSport revealed former Blues boss Thomas Tuchel is keen on the job after leaving Bayern Munich.
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