Gareth Southgate and Trent Alexander-Arnold preview England v Malta
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00:00 [SIDE CONVERSATION]
00:17 OK, good evening, everybody, and welcome to this pre-match media
00:20 conference ahead of tomorrow's UEFA Euro 2024
00:23 qualifier with Malta at Wembley, with Gareth Southgate and Trent
00:26 Alexander-Arnold.
00:27 Before we get underway, just a brief note of housekeeping,
00:29 if we can limit it to three questions per person initially,
00:32 just to help with the flow of the conference.
00:34 And if you have got more questions
00:35 and we've got the time, we'll certainly come back to you.
00:38 So Rob, if you want to get us started.
00:39 Hi, guys, good to see you.
00:41 Gareth, if I could start with you,
00:42 I reckon there are 10 players that would consider themselves
00:45 among your core group that you've not got available,
00:48 mainly because of injury.
00:49 Because of that, have you changed your plans
00:51 around this camp and what you want
00:53 to assess over these two matches?
00:57 Well, you always have to adapt.
00:59 We would have had a-- definitely 10 days ago,
01:02 we might have written down possible teams for the two
01:05 games, but you never know really what's going to come your way.
01:09 So we have lost more players than is normal,
01:14 but there are some quite long-term injuries amidst all
01:17 of that as well.
01:18 So that's a big shame for the players
01:21 themselves as much as anything.
01:23 And then there's always opportunities for other players
01:26 coming in.
01:27 So in terms of the selection of the team,
01:32 then we're looking at what's the right balance, what
01:35 are the different qualities of the players
01:37 that we can put together so that we have the best
01:39 possible attacking output, but also
01:42 with the right structure and balance behind that.
01:46 And there are some reports today that Scotland
01:48 want to draft Anthony Gordon into their ranks.
01:51 We talked to you a lot about dual nationality players
01:54 and how sensitive that can be.
01:56 But are you keen to send him a message right now
01:58 and say you'd like him to remain patient
02:01 and wait for a chance with England?
02:04 Well, yes.
02:05 I mean, I would do that personally rather than--
02:07 Yeah, via me.
02:07 --with respect through you.
02:09 But no, he's a good player.
02:13 He was very good with our under-21s last year.
02:18 He's very close, I have to say.
02:21 I like his attitude.
02:23 I like the way he works so hard for the team.
02:27 Of course, I'm sure he was hoping
02:30 to get a call at this moment.
02:31 But there are good players playing well
02:35 in that position on the field.
02:39 But I think, like a couple of others,
02:41 they've always got to think a little bit further ahead
02:44 as to opportunities that can come up.
02:46 And I think for somebody like Anthony,
02:50 that's eminently possible with us.
02:53 Good man.
02:53 Thank you.
02:54 Trent, two years ago, England used you
02:58 in midfield for the first time.
03:00 And your manager at the time had some choice words about it
03:03 and said, why would you make the best rightback
03:05 in the world a midfielder?
03:06 Things have changed a bit from then.
03:09 But there were kind of so many midfield roles, isn't there?
03:12 There's the holding midfield role.
03:13 There's a number eight.
03:14 There's a number 10 a little bit further forward.
03:16 When you're playing midfield, what
03:18 do you consider your best of those options?
03:20 I mean, I would say probably a mixture of everything.
03:27 I think there's different ways of playing.
03:32 There's different systems.
03:34 It's not specifically about a 6, 8, or 10.
03:37 It's about how they combine together, how they interchange,
03:42 and how you link with the rest of the team.
03:47 So I would say the role I've been given
03:50 is more of a freedom, kind of on that right side,
03:57 go where the space and where you feel is best.
04:02 And I think just trying to get on the ball as much as possible.
04:07 Still early days.
04:08 I haven't had too much experience in there.
04:10 So I would still learn on the job
04:11 and try and pick up as much as I can
04:14 when I do spend time in there.
04:17 Obviously, with the club, I spend a lot of time in there
04:19 with the ball as opposed to without.
04:23 And here, it's a little bit of a different role.
04:26 So it's exciting.
04:28 I enjoy learning.
04:29 I enjoy having that kind of understanding of the game,
04:40 trying to understand different roles and positions,
04:43 and admire what people are doing out there.
04:49 And I would say I get that from playing
04:52 in the middle of the pitch.
04:53 Good one.
04:54 Thank you.
04:56 Hi, Gareth.
04:57 What's the messaging been this week playing two teams you
05:01 beat well two camps ago and qualified?
05:04 What have you said to the players to keep the levels high?
05:09 Well, firstly, we need to win games.
05:11 So not only to make sure that we're
05:14 one of the top seeds next summer, but with England,
05:17 you always have to win matches.
05:20 But then the bigger message is just around our standards
05:23 every day on the training pitch.
05:25 If we're to be a top team--
05:28 and I think we have been consistently for quite a while--
05:33 then that stems from everything you do every day,
05:35 the things that nobody else sees.
05:37 Because we do have cameras watching us all the time,
05:43 actually, in our own--
05:45 but not externally.
05:48 And you've got to have good habits every day.
05:50 And there's never a day off.
05:52 If you're a top player, you've got
05:55 to have those standards about your life all the time,
05:58 not just while you're training, but when you're away
06:01 from training as well.
06:02 Maximize the opportunity you've got.
06:04 It's a short career.
06:06 So be a good professional.
06:08 And we're fortunate that our senior players, in particular,
06:13 set a great example.
06:15 But we also have, like Trent alongside me,
06:18 lots of young players who have great habits
06:21 and who turn up in the right way for every session.
06:25 Thank you.
06:25 And to Trent, I know he's sat next to you.
06:28 But what has Gareth said to you about your midfield role
06:30 and future in that position for England?
06:35 Yeah, just initially that there would be opportunities in there
06:39 for me.
06:39 And then it's on to me whether I take them or not.
06:45 So that's all I can really ask for.
06:48 And that's all that any player really wants.
06:49 And yeah, I speak to, obviously, the manager and Steve.
06:58 Like I do at a club, we sit down.
07:00 We talk about football.
07:02 We watch clips.
07:03 We go through games.
07:05 And I try and get the best kind of understanding
07:09 of what I'm asked to do and how I can help the team win games.
07:15 That's all any player ever, ever wants,
07:19 is to try and help the team win games
07:21 and being as effective as possible on the pitch.
07:23 So I try and do that to the best of my ability.
07:26 And the messaging I've got from the manager
07:28 is to go and do that in the best way possible
07:32 and get on the ball and do that.
07:34 And last time out against Malte, he had the number 10
07:37 on your back and the score.
07:38 But just how much does it excite you,
07:40 the prospect of that new journey and being
07:42 a midfielder for England?
07:44 Massively so.
07:47 It's something that I think about often.
07:49 It's something that motivates me when I'm here,
07:55 when I'm not here.
07:56 I'm constantly thinking about trying
08:00 to get into the team for the summer, how I can do that,
08:05 and how I can take the opportunities that I'm given
08:08 and make sure that I'm part of the plans for the summer.
08:14 And a big part of them plans, specifically,
08:17 it's a target I've kind of set for myself.
08:22 And I think with the help of the manager, the staff,
08:29 the analysts, the guys that help players,
08:35 and the conversations, and learning as much as possible,
08:40 I think it's something that I can go and do.
08:42 Hello.
08:46 Gareth, watching England players in club football recently
08:51 has been very exciting.
08:53 But it's not a coincidence you saw the vision of what
08:56 could happen at England.
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13:41 you can learn more from the difficult situations
13:43 you go through in life, and also as a football player.
13:46 It's a hard time to teach you the best lessons,
13:49 and there have been difficult moments throughout,
13:55 but you persevere to get them opportunities,
13:59 and it's always been an honour and a pleasure
14:05 to come to England and to be able to play games
14:09 for my country and represent my country.
14:12 It's the biggest honour that any player can have.
14:15 It truly is, and I feel that every time
14:18 I step onto camp, and I think definitely
14:20 since we spoke, me and the manager in the summer,
14:26 about a midfield opportunity and trying to see
14:30 if we can make it work and how that could potentially look,
14:34 there's been a definite newfound excitement for me.
14:37 It's a huge opportunity, and it's one that
14:41 I'm grateful to have, but also want to make sure I take it.
14:49 So, those opportunities are very good for me.
14:54 Gareth, you mentioned to Rob about long-term injuries
15:00 in certain positions, maybe Ben, who's played
15:03 two times in the last two years, and Luke,
15:06 three times since the World Cup.
15:07 Is left-back a concern for you moving forward?
15:10 And secondly, just in respect to tomorrow,
15:13 these two games, what options do you have
15:16 at left-back other than maybe Kieran?
15:19 Yeah, well, we've got centre-backs that can slide across,
15:23 which is obviously, you'd like to have natural full-backs,
15:29 but the reality is even if you look in the league,
15:33 Dan Byrne is a centre-back playing at full-back,
15:39 Ben White is a centre-back playing at full-back,
15:41 so teams do take those options.
15:44 Germany had to do that when they won the World Cup in Brazil.
15:49 Howardes played at left-back.
15:51 So that is an option.
15:53 It, of course, limits or alters how you might play with the ball.
15:58 You've got to find different sorts of solutions.
16:00 But there are a vast number of English-qualified left-backs
16:07 who are injured at the moment throughout the league,
16:09 so we feel that the defenders that are here
16:13 give us the best option of covering that at the moment.
16:16 Of course, there's a couple that have played regularly
16:19 that you've mentioned to come back.
16:21 But there are different ways to solve those problems,
16:24 and City are another team that are playing centre-backs
16:28 in that area of the pitch as well.
16:30 So I think only one in ten people are left-handed.
16:34 Presumably that's similar numbers on left-footers,
16:37 so you're always going to have a slightly smaller pool.
16:40 So I guess the message would be if you're a parent,
16:43 get your kid using their left foot.
16:45 They've got a great chance in life.
16:47 Have you spoken to...
16:48 Ben's had a particularly tough time with injuries.
16:51 Do you speak to him out of camp?
16:53 Yeah, I mean, over periods of time,
16:58 yeah, it's tough for players like Ben, like Rhys James,
17:04 who've missed a lot of football.
17:06 They both missed the World Cup.
17:08 So for both of them, it's not a situation
17:11 where it's an overload of what they've had football-wise.
17:15 And, yeah, of course for us, you need players now.
17:21 If we can only take 23 players next summer,
17:24 then that physical robustness is a consideration
17:27 because we won't have the option to take as many chances
17:32 as we took in the last couple of tournaments.
17:35 You know, the last Euros, we took Calvin Phillips,
17:38 who popped his shoulder, had a bit of time to come back in.
17:41 Harry Maguire, for the Euros, missed the first couple of games.
17:45 We're still recovering.
17:46 Kyle Walker in Qatar.
17:48 That's a bigger gamble next time around
17:51 that we'd have to consider on each individual case,
17:54 but those parameters do alter your thinking a bit on the squad.
18:00 Hi, Gareth.
18:04 Will Marcus Rashford be available to start tomorrow?
18:07 And do you have to speak to him about his issues at club level?
18:10 He seems rejuvenated when he's here.
18:12 I think, firstly, yes.
18:15 I mean, he hasn't actually missed any training with us.
18:18 He trained on Wednesday.
18:20 We weren't able to train as a team on Tuesday.
18:23 We had that many players who'd had tough games Sunday,
18:27 still recovering, little injury issues,
18:30 so we did a minimal amount on Tuesday.
18:33 So he's basically trained as much as everybody else.
18:37 Noah--I mean, of course we talk with all the players
18:41 about how things are at their clubs,
18:43 but I think he's scored five in ten for us,
18:47 and he's only started four of those.
18:50 So he's in a good vein of form.
18:52 He enjoys his football with us at the moment.
18:55 Of course he's not scoring freely at the minute with the club,
19:00 but that will come.
19:02 And, yeah, we're looking forward to working with him again this week.
19:08 I didn't expect to be asking about Bulgaria-Hungary tonight,
19:11 but I understand that has an impact on the permutations in terms of top seed.
19:16 Is it your understanding that you can get the job done
19:20 near enough tomorrow in terms of top seed?
19:23 I think so, but I'd like to check it with our analysts,
19:26 who are better at maths than I am.
19:28 So, yeah, it would look that way,
19:32 but I think there'd still be a goal difference to bear in mind
19:35 or goals scored, so, yeah, I wouldn't trust me on that just yet.
19:40 And finally, is it a chance to say goodbye to Bobby Charlton?
19:44 Obviously you were at the funeral on Monday
19:46 and there's been a lot of touching tributes to him,
19:50 but a chance for Wembley to say goodbye?
19:53 Yeah, I mean, a big part of what we've wanted to do with our players
19:57 is to talk about our identity as a team,
20:01 and part of that is knowing the history of our team
20:05 and having an understanding of how special some of the players
20:11 that have been England internationals before are,
20:14 and we've had the chance to do that this week.
20:17 We showed some footage of Sir Bobby to the players the first day we arrived,
20:22 a reminder that, of course, even a Liverpool man,
20:28 given Sir Bobby's performances with England,
20:32 can relate to his importance for English football
20:35 and you can have a fabulous club career and an international career,
20:40 and at times those things can come into conflict
20:44 because club managers, of course, have got to look after their own roles
20:49 and responsibilities and that can put players in difficult positions
20:53 with all international teams, frankly,
20:56 but your international team will always be there as well
21:00 and if you can win something with your international team,
21:03 it's probably bigger than anything else you're going to experience.
21:07 So there were lots of messages within that for all of the players,
21:11 but most importantly an incredible player, an incredible man.
21:16 I thought the occasion on Monday was brilliantly handled
21:20 by everybody at the cathedral and by Manchester United.
21:24 We wanted to go because we think we wanted England to be represented.
21:30 We hope we've been a big part of his life and his family's life
21:34 and we felt it was important to be there.
21:38 A question for Trent.
21:41 Trent, have you played in Isle of Mifilda?
21:43 Did you ever reach out to Steven Gerrard for advice,
21:45 just in terms of learning about the role?
21:47 And if not, have you reached out to anyone else for advice?
21:50 No, no, no, no, no, is the answer to that.
21:55 No, there's absolutely shared loads of footage on his games, on his career,
22:06 but I think football's changed since that era,
22:10 as quick as it has, maybe talking 15 years ago.
22:14 But football's changed, it's a completely different game.
22:18 I study football, I watch a lot of football.
22:22 I have a deep love for the game and a thirst for knowledge surrounding it.
22:29 It's an obsession for me, I love watching it, I'm intrigued by it.
22:34 I watch every game that's available on the TV and I study it.
22:43 It's probably a different era now, but you always appreciate the greatness
22:51 that players like him and others gave to the game.
22:56 He probably changed the game at the time and helped it move forward in a way,
23:02 in its physicality and the way it was perceived from generation to generation.
23:10 He was a big part in moving it forward for players like me to go and express myself.
23:16 Gareth, there's a lot of competition for places, not just for the Start XI, but for the squad.
23:22 More recently, how tough have you found it,
23:24 given players the bad news that you won't be part of the England squad?
23:28 Well, it's always difficult.
23:32 In actual fact, we haven't had to make too many decisions because of injuries and pull-outs,
23:37 but of course, once those injuries are back,
23:40 then you've got everybody that's here now and all those other players in the frame,
23:44 so there'll be more decisions to make.
23:47 But that's part and parcel of being a manager,
23:51 you've got to make difficult calls and difficult decisions.
23:56 I've been a player, so I know how hard that is to take that news.
24:01 And as a player, you never agreed with a manager's decision to leave you out,
24:07 but you can only hope that you do it as respectfully as possible.
24:13 And there's got to be a clear criteria for why you're making those decisions,
24:19 and clear feedback for players if there are things that you feel they need to go away and work at, for example.
24:26 So, yeah, we're blessed we've got a lot of depth in certain positions,
24:33 a bit less depth than others, but in certain positions on the pitch,
24:38 we have got depth and very, very good players throughout.
24:42 Last one from me.
24:43 There's been a lot of talk about equal pay for men and women's coaches
24:46 following the news that Emma Hayes is going to manage the US Women's National Team.
24:49 Just regarding managers like Emma Hayes,
24:51 how pleased is it for you that you've got women managers like that about to get equal pay
24:55 as men in football?
24:57 Well, I think equal pay for the same roles is important.
25:07 There's lots of economics behind that.
25:11 So, for example, if you're a CEO of a company and you're a male or a female,
25:18 it should be exactly the same.
25:20 I think within football, there's obviously the criteria depends on what the income is of the team.
25:28 So a League One manager wouldn't get the same as a Premier League footballer would get more than a championship footballer.
25:37 I think with the US, their women's team has huge economic power, has had success over a long time.
25:46 I think their shirt sales are one of the highest in world football.
25:49 So there's probably a closer alignment between what the team generates, female team and the men's.
25:58 So whether that's translatable for clubs or other national federations, I think is an interesting debate to have.
26:08 OK, we've got to get these guys to dinner, so we'll end it there.
26:10 Thanks for your time today.
26:11 Thank you.
26:13 Yeah.
26:14 Yeah.
26:15 Yeah.
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