England manager Gareth Southgate gave an honest account of his penalty line-up after a shootout defeat to Italy in the Euro 2020 final.
Gareth Southgate has suggested that Mason Mount and Kieran Trippier would’ve taken a penalty in England’s shootout against Italy had they not been substituted.
The Three Lions boss accepted responsibility for the 3-2 shootout loss to Italy in the Euro 2020 final, having seen Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho, and Bukayo Saka miss their respective spot-kicks.
All three of the above-mentioned were substitutes. Saka replaced Trippier in the 71st-minute, while Rashford and Sancho came on for Jordan Henderson and Kyle Walker in extra-time respectively. Mount, meanwhile, came off for Jack Grealish, who didn’t take a spot-kick, in the 99th-minute.
The changes didn’t have the desired effect as England drew 1-1 with Italy before Saka’s miss condemned them to a painful defeat on penalties at Wembley.
“I chose the penalty takers based on what we’ve done in training and nobody is on their own,” said Southgate as per Sky Sports.
“We’ve won together as a team and it’s absolutely on all of us in terms of not being able to win the game tonight.
“But in terms of the penalties, that’s my call and totally rests with me.
“We had two [penalty takers] go off earlier in the game, so that’s why we made the changes that we did.
“We’ve tracked what they’ve done with their clubs over a long period of time and what they’ve shown in training as well so that’s the process that worked for us in Russia and the Nations League, but tonight, it hasn’t quite worked.”
Luke Shaw’s second-minute goal handed England a dream start in front of around 60,000 fans at Wembley on Sunday. Leonardo Bonucci, however, equalized for Italy in the second half. Neither side could find another goal even after extra time.
Despite initially gaining the upper hand in the penalty shootout, Rashford hit the post to help draw Italy back on level terms. Gianluigi Donnarumma then saved Sancho and Saka’s spot-kicks to hand the Italians victory.
Southgate added: “We were well prepared and started well, but unfortunately, the guys weren’t able to convert tonight.
“They can’t look at themselves in terms of how they practiced because they couldn’t do that anymore or any better.”
Be sure not to miss out on the latest news about England
Download our brand new App and follow your favorite players, clubs, and much more
