Coach Gareth Southgate said his plans for the England squad for the European 2024 qualifiers against Malta on Friday and North Macedonia three days later have changed due to the absence of several players through injury.<\/p>\n
Having secured qualification for next year\u2019s finals in Germany after last month\u2019s win at home to Italy, Southgate\u2019s concern turned to the missing players and how to adjust the squad.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou always have to adapt. We\u2019d maybe have written two possible teams for the (next) two games but you never really know what\u2019s going to come your way,\u201d Southgate said in a press conference on Thursday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have lost more players than is normal and there\u2019s some long-term injuries amidst that, which is a big shame for the players themselves, but then there\u2019s always opportunities for the players coming in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Southgate faces England\u2019s final games of the year without key players like Real Madrid\u2019s Jude Bellingham and Chelsea\u2019s Levi Colwill, both out with shoulder injuries.<\/p>\n
The coach added that due to the absences, it is important as a manager to find the balance and be able to make the tough decisions, after he was questioned over the absence of Chelsea striker Raheem Sterling.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a player, you never agree with a manager\u2019s decision to leave you out, but you just hope you do it in the most respectful way possible, with constructive points so they can go away and work on things,\u201d said Southgate.<\/p>\n
The 53-year-old also spoke of how, despite England leading Group C with 16 points after six games, his priority is to prove they are a top team that wins games, despite facing constant criticism.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe most important message revolves around our day-to-day standard on the training ground,\u201d said Southgate. \u201cWe aspire to be a top team, and we\u2019ve been consistent for a while, and that comes from everything you do and the things no one else sees.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nComments\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Having secured qualification for next year\u2019s finals in Germany after last month\u2019s win at home to Italy, Southgate\u2019s concern turned to the missing players and how to adjust the squad.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":8831,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football-sport-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baysidesports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baysidesports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baysidesports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baysidesports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8830"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/baysidesports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8830\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baysidesports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baysidesports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baysidesports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baysidesports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}