IAN WRIGHT has singled out England’s defense as the trap that could see them miss out on European glory, but insists “our team is good enough” to emerge triumphant.
Gareth Southgate revealed his initial 33-man squad ahead of the European Championships this summer, and the lack of qualitative depth in the defensive area was obvious for all to see.
3
3
Speaking exclusively to SunSport, the Arsenal and England legend explained: “Obviously our defense is something he will have to sort out.”
Among the defenders listed in the squad, Harry Maguire, John Stones, Luke Shaw and Kieran Trippier have all struggled with injuries of late – with the two most favored defenders not playing football since the end of April.
Gareth Southgate was also not optimistic about Luke Shaw being fit for the tournament, admitting it is an “unlikely shot” to make the shortlisted squad next month, despite admitting the player is his “first choice” in that position.
This could see Trippier start at left-back, with Joe Gomez as his deputy, both right-handed and preferring to play on the other flank.
Despite this, Wrighty remained positive about the Three Lions’ tournament hopes, insisting that England have quality attacking talent and the best players in three of Europe’s top five leagues:
“When we look at the performance of some of our players – Harry Kane, Germany’s incredible top scorer, Jude Bellingham in Spain, Phil Foden and Cole Palmer, we see unbelievable football.
“So yeah, I’m always backing England, especially in the last few tournaments as semi-finalists, at least with what we’ve got, so I’m not going to give up on that – it’s not just because I want England to do it, our team is good enough. ”
Imploring that he would “love football to come home”, Arsenal’s second all-time top scorer highlighted the remarkable competition and named a strong nation that could stand in Southgate’s way:
“To be perfectly honest, you have to look at France as one of the favourites, but we are among them and what you need to understand is that when you go to a tournament, it’s not about playing unbelievably brilliant football, it’s about get to the next game and the next stage.
“What we want are experienced players who have been in that situation and who know how to play tournament football and we know now, we’ve been to finals and semi-finals in big tournaments, so there’s no real excuse for us.”
Meanwhile, Wright spoke at length about the importance of investing in grassroots football across the men’s and women’s game, and was presented with the inaugural FC Futures Hero Award, as well as a £10,000 donation to a football charity of his choice:
“It is an honor to receive the first FC FUTURES Hero Award and I am very proud to see the strides the initiative has made across the world over the past year.”
Ian Wright spoke at the one-year anniversary of EA Sports’ FC Futures initiative. EA has teamed up with Unicef and Soccer Aid to invest in grassroots football and grow the game for everyone.
This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
