Gareth Southgate responds to Euro 2024 fan fury as Luke Shaw provides England injury update

Gareth Southgate has admitted that growing fan fury at his management has left his England players facing a harsher spotlight than their Euro 2024 rivals.

On Wednesday night, it was confirmed that the Three Lions will face Slovakia in their last-16 tie in Gelsenkirchen on Sunday, with left-back Luke Shaw confident of playing some part in what would be a significant boost to a campaign yet to catch alight, despite England’s smooth progress into the knockout stage.

Ahead of Tuesday’s drab 0-0 draw with Slovenia, Southgate showed his players images of holders Italy celebrating their qualification for the knockout stage the previous evening, in the hope of hammering home the scale of their own achievement after Luciano Spalletti’s side had needed a last-minute equaliser against Croatia to snatch the runners-up spot in Group B.

The scenes, though, could hardly have been more contrasting with those at full-time in Cologne, where England were booed off despite finishing top of Group C unbeaten on five points.

“I have to keep the players right on track,” said Southgate, as he again urged England fans to stick behind the team, regardless of their views on him as coach. “On the day of the 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.

“Our world is different at the moment and I feel that is probably because of me. 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.”

England’s supporters had been magnificent in their backing of the team during the Slovenia stalemate and much of their subsequent anger appeared to be directed specifically at Southgate.

The 53-year-old was also targeted by a small number of plastic beer cups thrown from the crowd and admitted afterwards that the narrative around his leadership had taken a downward turn.

Big boost: Luke Shaw hinted he could play some part for England against Slovakia (AFP via Getty Images)

"I’m not going to hide from it,” he added. “I’ve got to show my players the fearlessness we are asking of them on the pitch.

“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.

“I won’t be backing away from anything. The fans were brilliant with the team in the second half, absolutely brilliant. That’s so important. Whatever the feeling is towards me, you’ve got to get behind the team, and that’s crucial.”

Meanwhile, Shaw raised hopes of making a belated entrance into the tournament after telling mixed zone reporters he will be ready to play some part against Slovakia.

The Manchester United defender has not played since February because of a hamstring problem and his rehabilitation has clearly been complicated, with Southgate’s timeline on his recovery shifting several times since the provisional squad for this summer’s tournament was named.

Shaw returned to training ahead of the Slovenia game and was officially listed among the substitutes, though Southgate had already ruled him out of featuring.

The 28-year-old is the only specialist left-back in Southgate’s squad and England have struggled for balance in attack with the right-footed Kieran Trippier filling in throughout the tournament so far.

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