Gareth Southgate revealed his frustration following England’s win over Switzerland admitting the element of surprise was lost after his tactical plan was leaked three days before the game.
The Three Lions ultimately booked their place in the semi finals, where they will play Netherlands in Dortmund on Wednesday, as his side demonstrated all their battling qualities to prevail in a tense penalty shootout.
England produced their most accomplished display of the tournament so far, but were still forced to come from behind to send an even contest into extra-time.
Southgate’s decision to switch to a 3-4-2-1 formation partially paid off, not least because it yielded a stunning display from makeshift wing-back Bukayo Saka who scored his side’s goal and converted his spot kick in the shootout.
Despite advancing to the third major tournament semi final of his reign, Southgate was annoyed that his decision to change systems had been made public, thus handing the Swiss and advantage.
He said: ‘We do a lot of things. As I said, we’ve won three out of four and a lot of our processes have been shared.
‘Our tactical plan for the game was also shared three days before. We live in an amazing world where it’s so difficult for us because any element of surprise you might have with the opponent is gone three days before. It’s quite incredible really.’
Southgate, meanwhile, lauded England’s streetwise spot-kick heroes and heaped special praise on Saka for exorcising his penalty demons against Switzerland.
‘There’s what we ideally want to be and then there’s how we’ve needed to find ways to win with all the obstacles we’ve had,’ Southgate said.
‘Going back to losing players a couple of months ago, losing players just before the tournament, different balance of the team, different challenges all the way through, really.
‘But as I said to the players, with England it was often start 25 minutes really well, ahead in games and then and then out in the early knockout rounds.
‘We weren’t savvy, we weren’t tournament wise. This group are different. They keep possession for longer periods.
‘We haven’t always got it right. The games we’ve ultimately gone out in people can always look back and highlight things.
‘But, in general, we’ve shown the resilience that the teams that win tournaments have had for years and years.
‘Italy, France, Spain, you know, it’s not all pure football. It’s other attributes that they’ve had and we’re showing a little bit more of that streetwise nature.
‘We want to always be competitive in tournaments. England should be competitive for the coming years. This is a young team – a lot of them are going to be around for a long time.
‘But, of course, now we want to deliver one. We’ve never been to a final outside of England, we’ve never won a Euros, so there’s two bits of history we’d love to create.’
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