England can harness pain of setbacks to overcome Italy, insists Gareth Southgate David Hytner please log in to view this image Gareth Southgate has called on his England players to harness the pain of the recent past to inspire a triumphant future, as he prepared to kick-off his fourth tournament campaign as the manager. England face Italy at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona on Thursday night in their opening Euro 2024 qualifier – the name of the venue alone enough to stir the demons. As the favourite son of Naples, where he drove the city’s team to their only two Serie A titles to date, Maradona’s image is everywhere. Southgate joked that he had better not talk about Maradona’s history with England but he did not hide from his team’s recent history with Italy, who beat them on penalties at Wembley in the final of the last European Championship. Motivation will not be a problem, Southgate said, as he reflected on the imperative to start from scratch at the beginning of another campaign, showing focus and humility – and especially not when he and the squad remember how their previous game had ended. That was the World Cup quarter-final against France in Qatar, when they lost 2-1. “Every disappointment is motivation, an opportunity to learn and to grow and, of course, the Euro final is additional motivation to us,” Southgate said. “I am not going to deny that. “Is it harder to refresh for a new cycle? No. The way we played in Qatar and then the disappointment of losing in the quarter-final, that generates motivation in itself. I was enthused by the reaction of the players when they arrived this week. You see their excitement at coming back together, their enthusiasm for everything again. “It is one of the greatest challenges anybody could have, trying to get England a trophy. That’s pretty straightforward. The hard part is that you have to wait 18 months to get to the point where you will actually be judged. We have to make sure we get the qualification right. We can’t take anything for granted.” Italy (4-3-3): Donnarumma; Di Lorenzo, Tolói, Acerbi, Spinazzola; Barella, Jorginho, Verratti; Berardi, Retegui, Pellegrini England (4-3-3): Pickford; Walker, Stones, Maguire, Shaw; Phillips, Rice, Bellingham; Saka, Kane, Foden ","credit":"","pillar":2}" data-gu-ready="true" data-reader-unique-id="31" style="max-width: 100%;">Quick Guide Italy v England predicted lineups Show
Unfortunately I can't see us winning in Italy. Hopefully we can get a draw but I wouldn't be surprised if we lose a cagey game 1-0
Should be a good litmus test of where we are after our spineless display in the World Cup. Nothing seems to have changed; an unimaginative squad selection and let's carry on regardless. We have the talent but will continue to flatter to deceive until there's some significant changes. That said, I hope we hammer the swarthy, cheating mofos.
Never thought they were very good anyway. Huge missed opportunity for us last time and we'll never get a better chance. Saying that I think they'll be too "savvy" (I.e. a set of cheating bastards) tonight, with the home crowd behind them at a ground named after a cheat
Italy never been the same since Chiellini retired from international games, but think they'll have too much for England...but here's hoping for a positive start to the campaign.
Italy win that if they play properly. Can never write England off completely, but if Italy didn’t beat England at home they would be gutted. I’d back England to beat them at Wembley though.
I'd say that on paper they look significantly weaker than us. It rarely goes as simply as that, of course, but I think it's strange to say that if they play properly they beat us, given the players at each side's disposal.
I just think the likes of Berardi, Tonali, Barella etc will have too much for the England midfield. Of course, the great thing about England is that they always have a chance of beating anybody. They just happen to have the magic ability to lose to anybody too.
I have no idea how the game will go, but I maintain that it's strange to talk about that team or that midfield as if it's far better than ours on paper, when ours is Rice, Bellingham and Foden/Phillips/Henderson.
Haven’t won in Italy since the 60’s and only beaten them twice in 17 games. I liked what Southgate just said - in a nutshell this is the type of game we have to start winning.
