Manchester United defender Harry Maguire and City duo John Stones and Kyle Walker reportedly look set to make up England’s back three as Gareth Southgate prepares to change formation for tonight’s Euro 2020 clash against Germany.
The Three Lions need to get their tactics right for this difficult game, and it seems Southgate wants to operate with three centre-backs and wing-backs to try and counter the threat of Joachim Low’s side.
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This is according to the Daily Mirror, who name Maguire, Stones and Walker as the most likely back three for this evening’s match.
It will be interesting to see how this works out for England, with Southgate sure to be praised if he succeeds in neutralising the threat of Germany, while he’ll no doubt be in for criticism for being too defensive if Low’s side nick a win.
The Mirror also quote Southgate as playing down what the rivalry means to this generation of England players, many of whom are too young to remember some of their classic encounters of the past.
“I don’t need to demystify it,” Southgate said. “The history is an irrelevance for them.
“We’ve got boys born into the 2000s, which is obviously scary but it’s the reality of the group we’re dealing with.
“This team have put down lots of historical performances in the last couple of years, made their own history, made their own stories and this is how they should view this game.
“It’s an opportunity. We’ve only won one knockout match in a European Championship as a country, so they’ve got a great chance to go and be the first team since 1996 to do that.”