Football news – “It’s totally my responsibility” – Southgate blames Euro 2020 penalty strategy

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Gareth Southgate took responsibility for putting Bukayo Saka on for the crucial fifth penalty kick in their Euro 2020 loss to Italy.

Saka was taking his first penalty in competitive football when other older players such as Jordan Henderson and Jack Grealish were not required to step up, which raised questions about Southgates’ decisions.

However, speaking to ITV, Southgate explained that the order had already been agreed with the players.

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We prepared for it as best we could, and it is my responsibility. I picked the guys to shoot at the end, we couldn’t finish the game in regulation time, he said.

Italy has shown how exceptional it is. Our players are proud of them. Everyone was exceptional the first time we were in the final.

Disappointed not to go further.

Southgate rallied his players the day after their loss, and explained what he had said to the group.

Just that no one is alone in this situation. We decided to make these changes as soon as the game was over. We win and lose as a team. We have been tight all along.

It’s my decision to dive [Saka] this penalty. It is totally my responsibility. It’s not him or Marcus [Rashford] or Jadon [Sancho]. We worked on them in training. This is the order we came to. This is my calling as a coach.

The coach then assessed the teams ‘tactics and noted where they had failed to maintain control of the game after an exceptionally promising start from Luke Shaws’ opening goal.

We started well, our system worked very well, our wingers overloaded well, he said.

They had to come back, they had exceptional players. We didn’t keep the ball well enough in this first half in the second half. We changed the shape to try to have a little more grip. It was our lack of composure in possession that changed the game. We were defending OK.

It’s hard to think about this moment because the disappointment is huge for all of us. This group of players has made themselves proud. I hope everyone will remember what this band gave them.

I think I gave everyone fantastic nights and we wanted to give them one more, and it’s hard for me to put that into words.

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