Luke Shaw may not be fit to play for England at Euro 2024 until the knockout stages, it is feared. The Manchester United fdefender missed training on Wednesday ahead of the Denmark game and may also struggle to face Slovenia next week.
But Gareth Southgate is adamant that there has been no setback for Shaw, and claims England were already prepared for him not to be ready until the latter stages of the tournament.
The England boss said: “Firstly everybody bar Luke is available for the game and he is continuing with his own programme. That’s why he didn’t train with the rest. He will have rest days when they are training. That’s just how that worked out.
“We are very clear on the messaging we give to the players and what the mindset of an opponent might be and what motivations they might have.
“I think it’s an important part of psychologically preparing our team so we are always well aware of that narrative and preparing the players for it if they weren’t aware of it anyway. Luke is progressing as we thought he would.
“There was a moment last week where we thought he could be a couple of days ahead of schedule but more realistically we are looking to the back end of this week and early next.
“We are not unhappy with that progress at all and we are still positive he can make a contribution as we move forward.”
Southgate is remaining calm, and insisted he couldn’t care less what people think of his team selection or tactics. He said: “During the course of a tournament there’s obviously millions of opinions in different directions.
“Whilst I’m not reading a thing, or listening to a thing, you become aware of these things because they get sent to you.
“I accept everyone’s going to have different views – and I’m really calm about that.”
Southgate has thrown his support behind “exceptional” Manchester City attacker Phil Foden, despite him being criticised for a lack of real impact in the 1-0 win over Serbia.
Former England greats from Alan Shearer to David Seaman have been lining up to give their verdict on Foden, who despite being outperformed by Bellingham, covered more ground than any other England player – 13.2km.
Southgate, however, has given Foden a significant vote of confidence ahead of England’s showdown with Denmark.
He said: “The first thing to say would be that I thought Phil did an exceptional job for us on Sunday. Other players grabbed the attention, but the way he worked for the team, defended the spaces, real intelligence in how he played.
“Towards the end of the game retained the ball for us in really crucial moments. He had a half chance in the first couple of minutes where a slightly better touch and a shot away on goal we could be talking about something very different.
“He linked the game well in that opening period with the others. There was a lot going on in the game, a lot tactically to solve. And we were happy with what Phil did.”
Southgate also pointed out that after every match, one player often becomes the centre of discussion and this time it’s Foden’s performance that has garnered the most attention.
Foden, who was named the Football Writers’ Association Footballer of the Year after City’s fourth successive Premier League title triumph, has found it challenging to replicate his club form on the international stage.
Southgate added: “There’s going to be a narrative, a player, a couple of players, after every England game. This is a different world to the one you experience at clubs. The players as a collective recognise that now after the last couple of days.
“We talked with them about it. It’s very rare at their club they’d win a game and experience what they’ve experienced over the last couple of days.
“I have to make sure I can guide them through that, let them understand it and recognise it’s the reality of our world but that we shouldn’t be thrown off track by it.
“We’re in a good position, we know we want to play better, there are lot of things we did really well and we move towards tomorrow’s game.”
