The Arsenal forward has played an extraordinary amount of football with little prospect of a rest as Euro 2024 begins Is Bukayo Saka a little burned out? After six years of almost always making himself available, is the Arsenal and England No 7 starting to feel the strain? Like so many overplayed youngsters before him, are these the first signs of a player whose body is starting to plead for a rest? Unfortunately that isn’t really an option this summer. England expects Saka to be ready for Euro 2024. England expects Saka, who has played 52 games for club and country this season, to be raring to go when Gareth Southgate’s side take on Serbia in their opening game in Group C on Sunday. England will have to look past the fact that Saka, at the age of 22, has made 259 appearances for club and country, the first in November 2018. Continue reading...

FA has not spoken to any potential successors – Mark Bullingham‘We will evaluate everything after the tournament, see how he feels’ The Football Association’s chief executive, Mark Bullingham, has insisted the organisation has a succession plan in place for the possible departure of Gareth Southgate after Euro 2024. Bullingham gave little away on the detail, preferring to reinforce Southgate’s line about the only focus being on success here in Germany, where England get under way against Serbia on Sunday night. Any discussion over what to do next in terms of Southgate’s future is to be parked until a post-tournament review. Continue reading...

Manchester City defender suffering from illnessDunk rejects idea that defence is vulnerable Gareth Southgate’s preparations for England’s opening game at Euro 2024 have hit another complication after illness prevented John Stones from taking part in the squad’s first defensive session in training on Wednesday. Stones is believed to have a sickness bug and was kept in his room away from his England teammates in an effort to stop any chance of the illness spreading. Continue reading...

Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his Manchester United advisers were minded to sack the Dutchman but in the end another trophy changed their minds The documentary of how Manchester United’s Sir Jim Ratcliffe-led season review ended with Erik ten Hag keeping his job as manager would show a forensic, painstaking process, according to a high-ranking club executive. The non in-house version might differ as it would show Ratcliffe and his advisers being minded to sack the Dutchman before a number of factors ultimately persuaded them that Ten Hag should remain in post. Ten Hag probably stopped contemplating clearing his United desk after Ratcliffe’s beauty parade of Thomas Tuchel, Kieran McKenna (who signed a lucrative new contract with Ipswich), Mauricio Pochettino, Roberto De Zerbi, Thomas Frank, Graham Potter, Gary O’Neil, Paulo Fonseca and Gareth Southgate as potential replacements ended with them all judged less handsome than the incumbent. Continue reading...

Spotlight on Arsenal winger following England’s Euro 2024 warmup defeat was an unwelcome reminder for black fans The response by sections of the English press to England’s 1-0 defeat against Iceland in their final Euro 2024 warmup game raised some uncomfortable issues, not for the first time. The best that can be said is that at least they emerged before the tournament and not after, and hopefully there will be some lessons (re)learned. England played poorly in a disjointed performance that lacked sharpness. Iceland scored in the 12th minute and despite having most of Gareth Southgate’s likely first XI on the pitch, England missed chances and could not find a cutting edge. Late substitutions further muddied the waters. Continue reading...

Winger and defender are recovering from injuriesSouthgate considering starting Trent Alexander-Arnold England were boosted by Bukayo Saka and John Stones taking part in full training as the team ramped up preparations for their Euro 2024 opener against Serbia. Gareth Southgate, who is giving serious consideration to starting Trent Alexander-Arnold in midfield, will have been pleased to see his squad put on an intense session at Ernst Abbe Sportfeld in Jena on Tuesday afternoon. Continue reading...

England have never enjoyed such an array of attacking talent – it may be a risk but Gareth Southgate should go for it All-out attack could be the way to go for England at the Euros considering the array of talent at Gareth Southgate’s disposal and the defensive uncertainty. Harry Kane, Phil Foden, Bukayo Saka and Jude Bellingham, to name a few, have all had incredible seasons at club level and if they can translate that to the international scene, it could make England one of the most feared sides in the competition. However, getting the balance right will not be easy. Continue reading...

Euro 2024 in Germany will be a huge moment for arguably the Three Lions’ greatest player who turns 31 next month Southgate in crisis. England in Euro flip-flap flop. Kane: My (in hindsight) Sad and Doomed Trophy Hopes. Plus ça change, plus c’est the same bleeding thing all over again. Whenever Harry Kane approaches a significant mark in his career it is always tempting to peer down the time tunnel in search of a poignant on-this-day-style comparison. Jump back 10 years and Kane, more so than any other elite footballer, is likely to have been on the bench at AFC Egham or scoring a hat-trick against Bogford Cheesedown in the Copydex Industrial Sealants 37th-tier playoff quarter-finals. Continue reading...

Lionesses legend Ellen White becomes the first woman to ever score at Soccer Aid as more than £15m is raised for charity.

Captain says he is ‘excited for another major tournament’Defends Southgate’s ‘tough decisions’ on Euros squad Harry Kane insisted he has put the personal horror of England’s 2022 World Cup exit behind him as he declared himself fighting fit for the European Championship finals and said the team are on the “right path.” The captain’s late penalty miss in the 2-1 quarter-final defeat against France in Qatar will always haunt him. But since then he has become ­England’s record goalscorer with 63 goals from 91 caps and has enjoyed a prolific debut season at ­Bayern Munich after his transfer from Tottenham last summer. Continue reading...

By the time the PA announcer had announced a “lap of appreciation”, with what seemed at the time to be viciously mocking levels of excitement, England’s players found themselves applauding a vast expanse of empty red plastic seats. One of the big fears with tournament football, among the better teams, is peaking too early. On that front, at least, England seem safe. Instead they took the nuclear option, the ultimate dial-back, booed off by schoolchildren having lost 1-0 to an Iceland team that is now ranked 72nd in the world. And not just lost, but lost badly, like a team playing through a notably gruelling migraine. Continue reading...

Gareth Southgate’s defence looked vulnerable and the midfield was too open during a shock defeat at Wembley Aaron Ramsdale Slightly ponderous on Jon Dagur Thorsteinsson’s early goal. Made good saves in the second half. 5 Continue reading...

England defender John Stones was only brought off as a precaution during the 1-0 defeat by Iceland, says boss Gareth Southgate.

It was a long way from being the triumphant Euro 2024 send-off for Gareth Southgate and his England players at a sold-out and increasingly fretful Wembley. Never mind the result because it was not the main thing, however much it stirred memories of you-know-when against Iceland. It was the performance that raised the difficult questions, the worst one for quite some time and at exactly the wrong time. The home fans, thousands of whom made for the exits before the end, were forced to watch the second half – from about minute 55 onwards – through the gaps between their fingers. And it had not been great before that. Continue reading...