Gareth Southgate reminds his England players that the last two European champions didn’t start well in the group stages… with Portugal not winning a match until the knockouts in 2016
- England have picked up four points from their opening two matches
- They have only scored one goal and fans haven’t been too impressed
- Previous winners like Portugal and Spain also struggled in the group stage
Gareth Southgate has presented his players with a detailed analysis of nations who have won major tournaments after starting slowly, to help them overcome Friday’s disappointment against Scotland.
After an impressive 1-0 win against Croatia, England drew 0-0 with the Scots at Wembley.
But Southgate has moved quickly to quell negativity by showing his squad a statistical presentation of teams who stuttered during the group stages but still won a big tournament.
Manager Gareth Southgate looks on during England’s training session on Sunday
Portugal triumphed at Euro 2016 despite not winning a single group game.
Spain won in 2012 after accumulating four points from their opening two matches — the same as England’s current total.
Likewise, Germany lifted the World Cup in 2014 having taken four points from their first two matches.
England winger Raheem Sterling said: ‘It just shows that it’s still early days and we’ve got a lot to build on. We’ve got four points, it’s not the end of the world. We’ve just got to stay motivated.’
England are on course to make the last-16 but they haven’t looked particularly great