Former England midfielder Frank Lampard has explained how the Three Lions can beat Italy in the Euro 2020 final tonight.
Lampard played a considerable role in constructing the side that currently reigns as European champions at club level.
Gareth Southgate might be tempted to take notes from his former England teammate, even if his time as Chelsea boss did end in disaster.
Lampard, like every other Englishman, will be dreaming of football coming home tonight, and he’s provided insight into how Southgate can make that happen.
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He’s quoted by the Mirror saying:
“We’ll play Harry Kane and obviously Harry is very adept at coming into that false nine area among that aggressive Italian midfield.”
“They want to jump and press, almost play like a four and then a six in front of them in terms of the wingers and frontmen.”
“And if we can play well enough and get through that press, and then try to use our speed and energy against their back line, which is clearly ageing…”
“You imagine the speed of a Sterling, a Saka, a Sancho, Mount, Foden, all of our attacking players. We can cause them a lot of problems defensively.”
“But we have to be careful because of the counter-attacking they do.”
“If we play four at the back, which is what I imagine they will do, we have to be really careful as they have some really good players — Federico Chiesa looks a really good player, doesn’t he?”
“They have options who can come off their bench, they have power and strength throughout their team. It will be fascinating to watch it.”
Southgate does have an uphill task to out-maneuver Roberto Mancini this evening, but considering how he made Joachim Löw look like a Sunday League manager in the first knockout round, perhaps England fans ought to fancy their chances.
Mancini is a shrewd tactician with a strong squad at his disposal, but can that not also be said for England?
Southgate has steered the nation to a World Cup semi-final followed by a European Championship final, and perhaps if he heeds the advice from Lampard, he’ll have his hands on the trophy at the end of it…
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