Gareth Southgate makes "bang average" England admission and reveals Switzerland plan

Gareth Southgate still holds up Euro 96 as the great example of gloss being put on a tournament.

That is now painted as the summer of love, heady days at Wembley and Southgate’s penalty shoot-out heartbreak after he missed in the semi final defeat to Germany. But, as Southgate recalls, England were “bang average” at times during the tournament but in football no-one remembers how you got there. Just that you made it through.

England were pretty woeful in Italia 90 with Gary Lineker and Co - they drew with Holland and Republic of Ireland before narrowly beating Egypt in the group - before reaching the semi final and they came home as heroes.

That is the reality now for England in this Euros. They have not played well for four games and yet somehow find themselves in a quarter final with Switzerland on Saturday.

Jude Bellingham ’s incredible last gasp overhead kick can be the catalyst just as David Platt’s spectacular winner to beat Belgium in Italia 90. Or David Seaman’s heroics in the shoot-out to beat Spain in Euro 96.

You need moments to galvanise a squad. Bellingham might have provided it for England ahead of Switzerland. And if they can go all the way then everything that went before will quickly be forgotten.

Southgate said: “Everybody now, 30 years on, looks back at 96 that I played in in a different way to how it was at the time.

“We were bang average against Switzerland, we were the same against Scotland. Scotland missed a penalty at 1-0. Spain should have beaten us in a 0-0 draw. 1990 was similar so you do go through these moments in tournaments.

Gareth Southgate has drawn comparisons with England's current campaign with their one at Euro 96

“Yeah, David Platt, of course. I don’t know what to think at the moment because I know how everything will have been pitched at 99 minutes or however long we were before Jude scored.

“We know we should be better than we’ve been but I’m saying that … we’ve ended up with a lot of young players in important positions and trying to solve problems right the way through the four weeks of the camp.

“But the stand-out is the way the players are dealing with it. Their togetherness, their spirit. You could see the boys that went on but also the boys that came off and the way that they were up and supporting the group. So that is giving us a chance.”

That is the beauty of a tournament. Back in Euro 96, Alan Shearer could not quite bring it home. The same for Lineker in Italia 90. Those teams are cast as heroes now. But it was far from it at the time. It is all about fine margins. And moments of luck.

England manager Gareth Southgate speaking to ITV Sport

Southgate also insists it is about the squad. He insists the 26 players are all in it together and that was underlined by the substitutes making an impact against Slovakia and the squad players giving everything in training.

Southgate added: “I have to say they're all impressing me, that group that hasn't played yet, Joe Gomez, Lewis Dunk, Ezri Konsa before Slovakia, Ivan Toney, they're all playing a part in preparing the team, and it's so important.

“If you've got any sort of fracture in the camp at a tournament you're in trouble, and those guys, they're training well, they're with the group, they're socially good. I can't speak highly enough about all of them, and it was great that another couple of them got onto the pitch against Slovakia.”

Southgate is giving the squad a day off on Tuesday to recharge before the preparations begin for Switzerland. There were tired legs and cramp after Slovakia. But he says they will be ready.

Southgate added: “Yeah, we'll definitely need that. We'll have to assess everybody, these are nights where players walk off you don't know exactly what they might physically have picked up, that will take a couple of days to get through, but the good thing is we've got time.

“We've got a plan in place, we've got to look at that, extra-time and everything else, but I don't think many of them will do much over the next couple of days, they don't need to, just refreshing will be enough.”

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