Gareth Southgate says England should take wins a major tournaments for granted ahead of their second Euro 2024 game against Denmark.
The Three Lions began their tournament with a 1-0 win over Serbia courtesy of Jude Bellingham’s 13th-minute header but looked far from comfortable despite the victory.
Southgate insisted he is immune to the criticism his side have field since then but urged supporters to remember a time when opening-game victories were not such a foregone conclusion.
“I’ve been in this environment for eight years so I understand it all,” the England boss said ahead of tomorrow’s group game in Frankfurt. “It used to annoy me and now I’m ambivalent to it.
“Winning matches in tournaments is incredibly hard. In this tournament you’ve now got incredible support for all the teams in the stadiums as well which is a little different to the last two tournaments.
“We’ve had some good results over the years so maybe even we take results for granted, I should let the boys enjoy it more than they do. I hope they have a little bit longer than me!
“There should be more joy in it but it’s not my reality if I’m frank.
“My focus is to get qualified from the group, two tough opponents and two games to achieve that.”
“I thought Phil did an incredible job for the team on Sunday” 💬
Gareth Southgate has been speaking to @GabrielClarke05 ahead of England’s game with Denmark 🏴 pic.twitter.com/jiuEuGl3gc
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) June 19, 2024
‘England are better now than three years ago’
The Group C clash sees England face a side they beat in the semi-finals three years ago on their way to reaching the final.
Just as they were that night at Wembley, the Danes will prove a tough opponent but opposing goalkeepr Kaspar Schmeichel believes England have improved since then too.
He said: “I think England were a world-class side [in 2021] but look at the additions that have come in and the experienced gained and they are probably a better side than ever, at least in the time I’ve played against them.
“They have world-class talent throughout the side, we are going to have to be at the top of our game to beat them.”
