Glen Johnson Euro 2024 blog: 'England need to play without fear'

Former Liverpool and Chelsea defender Glen Johnson has said that 'England need to play without fear' in his exclusive blog with Coral ahead of the Euro 2024 quarter-final.

• The players will know they’ve not performed so far
• The world class players need to show their best form
• England fans are bored by the current team
• The draw has given England a massive chance of success
  

Former England defender Glen Johnson has given his verdict on England’s performances so far at this summer’s Euros, and says the team needs to lose the fear factor that is currently preventing them from showing their best form. Johnson, who won 54 caps for England, was speaking to Coral to celebrate the rebranding of their Coral shop in Wembley to ‘Sweet Coral-ine’ in honour of the England fans’ favourite anthem, also reckons the current displays are boring England fans, but that the draw has given Gareth Southgate’s side a massive chance of going all the way in Germany.   

“I was fortunate enough to play for England at major tournaments, and what I know from that experience is that all players are different when it comes to being able to block out all the outside noise, the media reaction, fans’ opinions. Personally, I never paid it much attention, I was able to ignore it, but others weren’t, and you could see it affected them. I’d say social media is even more of a big noise than it was when I played, and so that is another level of criticism some players will have to deal with, but first and foremost, these players will know that they’ve not performed well to this point. I knew when I’d not played well, when the team hasn’t played well, you don’t need telling. 

“You know what you’re doing right, what you’re doing wrong, in a tournament situation you’re only there for a short time, so really you can’t let the outside negativity get inside that inner circle that is the squad. For that to be the case the players need to show resilience, and stick together, but inevitably that won’t always be the case, some players will let that criticism get to them.  

“The biggest problem as I see it with the team right now is that they’re playing with too much fear, players are scared to make mistakes, and then if they do, they know they’ll get more criticism, so it’s a vicious circle. We’ve got world class players, who week in, week out, play attacking football for fun, and now they’re all sideways, backwards, looking scared to lose the ball, which in turn will bring on more abuse, that’s how it looks to me.

“We have Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden, the best in Germany, Spain and England last season, but they’re just not performing here yet. It can’t be the occasion, these guys play at the top level and can handle big occasions, and it’s not that they don’t spend that much time together, as top players don't need to, they should be able to gel together easily. They just look like they're playing with the brakes on, they need to go out there and not be afraid to lose the ball on occasions, not to be afraid to take on a player, try to go past him.  

“If it doesn't work, it doesn't matter, have confidence that your teammates will get the ball back, not everything you try will work, but if you try to drive forward, you'll get the team forward, you'll get the opposition on the back foot, you’ll win free kicks, corners, and you'll cause the opposition problems.

“No question, we've got the players that can do this, but at the moment every time these players are getting the ball, it seems like their first thought is to go backwards. I'd rather say to these players, every time you get the ball try to beat a player, and if it doesn't work don't worry, we’ll win the ball back and try again. They need to shake off this fear they have.  

“Ultimately Gareth Southgate is the manager, so it's all going to come back to him eventually, but we don't know what is being said inside the camp, and whether or not the players are delivering what the manager is asking of them. I understand it's easy to sit here and say just go and take the brakes off boys, you are the best players in the world, just go and play with freedom and every team will be scared to play you, but it's got to this stage now in the tournament where another bad performance will see them knocked out. But as I say we don't know if the manager is saying these things and the players just aren't delivering for him. 

“How would I rate the job Gareth Southgate has done overall as England manager? Well, if you ignore certain performances, you have to say he's done a great job. He’s got us to semi-finals, a final. In this tournament we've won our group, won our first knockout stage match, on paper it all looks perfect. So yes he's done a great job, but there is pressure now on him to deliver a tournament win, and if he can't do that, he at least has to have the team playing in a style that doesn't leave the England fans bored, and I honestly think that's how England fans do feel right now, it’s painful to watch.

“Now the flip side of that is, it is a tournament, it's all about winning, and if England keep winning it will be easy to forget the performances. 

 “In terms of changes, I would like to see Ollie Watkins given a chance. Harry Kane tends to drop deep, and having Watkins in front of him would give us something new from an attacking point of view. I think Cole Palmer and Anthony Gordon deserve a chance. No player is too big to be dropped, and these players I've mentioned are capable of running at defenders, causing them problems, they are quick and direct. 

“Some might say it's a risk to bring these players in now, but I would say it's not a risk because what we've been trying so far isn't working, and at the end of the day why were these players brought to this tournament if they weren't going to be given a chance

“Is Kieran Trippier playing in his best position? No, probably not, but is he the best option we've got at left back, yes he is. It's more natural to have a left footer on that side as it’s easier for them to stay wide, whereas a right footer will have a tendency to come inside and make the pitch narrower, but we just don't have options at left back. 

“I played left back plenty of times for Liverpool and actually it isn't that difficult. He's an intelligent player and he is more than capable of playing where he is. There will be occasions, for example when a long diagonal ball comes at you, that it might feel unnatural but at this level you adapt quickly and he can.

“I do think this team has looked tired at times, and this has meant that when they've tried to press it's happened too slowly, they look lethargic. Maybe the pitches haven't been perfect and that does make it harder to run, but that can't be an excuse as both teams are playing on the same pitch. The players have to be fit, but they just don't look it, and this again comes down to the weight it seems they’re carrying on their shoulders, the weight of this pressure, and that's what they need to shrug off. 

“Konsa will start at centre back I assume. Replacing Marc Guehi won't be easy as he has been England's best player, but let's face, it a couple of months ago who would have thought we'd be saying that, so who's to say Konsa can't slot straight in as well?

“Are there reasons to be positive? Absolutely. We're in the quarter-finals without playing well, and so we have massive room for improvement, which if we can find will make us very hard to beat. We have a terrific squad of players, the draw could hardly have been kinder to us, and it's not hard to see us getting to the final, and then anything is possible.

“Can we win it? Yes. After all, we've got this far by playing badly, and normally, if you play this badly, you'd be out of the tournament, but we're not, so if they can raise their game then absolutely they can win it. The flair players haven't performed yet, but if they do, we will scare the opposition, and we are good enough to turn this around.

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