England manager Gareth Southgate has revealed that one of his substitutions in the Euro 2024 last-16 clash against Slovakia left a player unhappy. The Three Lions fell behind early on in a tense encounter but managed to turn the tie around thanks to goals from Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane.
When England needed attacking firepower, Southgate opted against introducing striker Ivan Toney earlier, instead bringing him on in the 90+4th minute, with less than a minute of regulation time remaining. This decision clearly did not go down well with Toney, who admitted afterwards that the late call-up made him feel ‘very uncomfortable’. However, with England ultimately winning 2-1 to advance to the quarter-finals, any tension between the pair has since dissipated.
Southgate explained: “Ivan Toney was very unhappy about coming on so late in the game, there was a little bit of a disagreement between us but it’s settled now. He played a part in creating the second goal as well.”
Southgate continued: “When you bring a player on at that moment, it’s almost a gamble, he might not even touch the ball. I totally understand how he felt, because it’s a difficult position for a player to be put in. But we felt that he could make a difference by disrupting their defence.”
As it turned out, despite his limited time on the pitch, Toney played a crucial role by heading the ball towards Kane for the latter’s game-winning goal in extra time. Southgate also pointed out that Toney might not have touched the ball at all if Bellingham hadn’t scored the equaliser late in the game to take the match into extra time.
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