England’s biggest problem is the press. Here’s why it’s not working

Gareth Southgate and Declan Rice attempt to explain why England have struggled both off and on the ball at Euro 2024

Gareth Southgate says England do not have the “physical condition” to “press as high” as they would want, as he admitted he must show “firm leadership” to “find better solutions” following the 1-1 draw against Denmark at Euro 2024.

Declan Rice meanwhile added that the team’s “connections all over the pitch” have been lacking, with the press not right.

A difficult night against Denmark did put England into the last 16, but with the tepid nature of the performance putting huge pressure on the side. Southgate said he’s “not going to hide from the realities” as he spoke in detail about how fitness issues have ensured he is working under “limitations”.

“It’s because we are not pressing well enough, with enough intensity,” the manager said. “We have limitations in how we can do that with the physical condition. We can’t press as high up the pitch as we might have done in the qualifiers for example.

“And we are not keeping the ball well enough. It is as simple as that. We have to keep the ball better and build with more control. Then we will be defending less and we’ll have more confidence.”

Southgate specifically pointed to the example of Harry Kane, who was taken off along with the rest of the frontline in Phil Foden and Bukayo Saka in the 70th minute.

While that initially suggested a shift from the manager in terms of being willing to make bold moves, he put it down to specific individual conditions.

“Harry’s only had one 90 minutes in five or six weeks. Given what the other game took out of us, given the heat against Denmark, we needed to press better towards the end of the game and it was always in our mind that all of the forward players need freshening at that point.”

Gareth Southgate consoles Harry Kane after bringing him off (Getty Images)

Rice went even deeper than that as he attempted to explain England’s performance. “I think it’s just connections all over the pitch,” Rice said. “You need to have your connections.

“We work on our pressing all the time. When you’re a back four, us 4-2-3-1, playing against a 5-2-3, the way you press is obviously going to be difficult because they always have an extra player at the back and we are outnumbered. It’s just about getting that balance.

“But again we have played against two back fives now, I think Slovenia… they’re a back five, so the teams are going to sit off us, try and do everything they can to stop our attacking talent and it’s obviously down to us on the pitch to go and perform.

“It's tournament football. I watched France the other night, Portugal changed to a back five, they're mid-block teams as well, they're not going out and pressing full throttle.

“Top, top teams, I've not seen them fully do it yet, so it's about getting that balance of when we can press and when we can not because the further it goes on, we're going to play against better opposition, more world-class players.

Rice was one of several England players who struggled against Denmark in the Group C draw (Getty Images)

“If you don't get your press right, which probably is the most important thing on the pitch, you're going to get picked off. In football, even at club, you build everything out of your out-of-possession stuff, then your in-possession stuff, it talks for itself.”

Southgate’s staff have been poring over England’s internal analysis, which is where his comments come from. The team are badly flagging in the second half of games, which was why the manager made a point of saying it isn’t for lack of effort.

“They are running, they are giving everything, but at the moment the emotion and the way we are playing isn’t calm in the moments we need it to be. To go to the stages of the competition that we want to end up in, that has to be better. We know that.

“I don’t think it is a lack of spark. At the moment, they ironically care too much and they need firm leadership at this time, in my opinion.

“It is my responsibility to find better solutions and it is my responsibility for the results and we have to work intelligently to find ways to press the ball better and keep the ball better.

“We have to guide through the difficult period that is coming but really stay on track and focused on this challenge ahead… we have to find a better way of playing to how we have so far.”

Southgate has put England’s disappointing start at Euro 2024 down to a lack of fitness (Getty Images)

It was directly put to Southgate how it can be that players like Foden and Kyle Walker can be so assertive in winning the title for Manchester City, but erratic for England. The manager deflected that.

“For me it is not about individuals. It is about the team and it is my responsibility to sort that out. This is a different environment to anything else and I know that over the years. I have to guide the fellas through that. And it is simple - we have to play better than we are at the moment.”

Rice was meanwhile willing to analyse his own display. “I'm honest with my performances now, I'm at a stage where I've played so many games well, I've had bad games, tonight I wasn't probably the best I could be,” the Arsenal midfielder said.

“It was about keeping my head, trying to still be that middle man in there and be secure. I feel like it's a fluidity thing, we need to keep moving the ball, keep shifting it, an the spaces will open up.

“It comes back to when we play against them back fives, no one gives you the space. Everyone expects you to get the ball, and think you can play a piercing ball straight through the middle.

“It's not like that, it's completely different picture on the pitch, being patient in the moment, and then the space will open up. We'll be fine, we'll recover well, and we've got one more to go.”