‘Why would we change?’ – Gareth Southgate says England won’t alter for World Cup semi-final
The Three Lions will keep the same philosophy for the Croatia match
Gareth Southgate has told talkSPORT England won’t change the way they approach Wednesday’s game against Croatia, despite it being a World Cup semi-final.
The Three Lions’ manager was speaking ahead of what he declared will be the biggest night of his career, having previously represented the country as a player and now doing so as a manager.
“We have a good feel about us, we’ve got everybody fit and available which is great,” Southgate confirmed to talkSPORT’s Nigel Adderley.
“Our tactical preparation has been the same for every team we’ve played.
“We’ve not focussed more or less on particular teams because we respect all of our opponents.
England face by far the toughest, meaningful test of their 2018 World Cup campaign so far when they take on Croatia – largely due to the fact both teams had already qualified when they met fellow semi-finalists Belgium in the group stage.
“We’ve kept the flow as it has been for the seven weeks we’ve been together,” he continued.
“I think that’s really important because we’d have to say it’s been working to this point, so why would we change it too much?”
Much speculation has been made in the build-up to both the quarter-final and semi-final over whether Southgate would consider replacing goalless Raheem Sterling.
However, the manager appears to be in no rush to disrupt preparations ahead of England’s first World Cup semi-final since 1990, and so such a move seems unlikely.
talkSPORT will have LIVE commentary of England v Croatia: Wednesday July 11 – Kick Off 7PM BST