Mourinho Sends Crucial Message to Southgate Ahead of England’s Euro 2020 Semifinal vs Denmark

Mourinho Sends Crucial Message to Southgate Ahead of England’s Euro 2020 Semifinal vs Denmark

Oluwatomiwa Babalola
updated at April 12, 2023 at 7:46 PM
  • Jose Mourinho has given Gareth Southgate a heads up ahead of their Euro 2020 semifinal encounter
  • The new Roma manager said the England boss cannot afford to field three players at the back against Denmark
  • Mou added that the Danish team will be difficult to break except the Three Lions are able to score in the early minutes of the game

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New Roma boss Jose Mourinho told England coach Gareth Southgate not to deploy three central defenders for their Euro 2020 semifinal clash against Denmark.

The Three Lions will be hoping they can reach their first-ever final of the European Championship this summer, having been grinding out results since the start of the tournament last month.

Southgate played a 4-3-3 formation against Ukraine and they recorded a 4-0 victory at the end of their quarterfinal encounter.

Jose Mourinho warns Gareth Southgate over change of formation for England against Denmark
Gareth Southgate appreciating the fans after England's triumph over Ukraine at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome. Photo by Nick Potts/PA Images
Source: Getty Images

However, Mourinho believes the 50-year-old must maintain the formation, adding that the Danish national team will be difficult to break except if an early goal destabilises them.

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Jose Mourinho warns England boss ahead of Euro 2020 semifinals

The former Chelsea and Man United manager was quoted by Metro UK while speaking on talkSPORT ahead of the crucial game on Wednesday, July 7, saying:

"I don’t see a reason for that.
"I saw a reason for that against Germany because they’re still a powerful team, they’re still a team that was going to be very strong on the wings with [Joshua] Kimmich and [Robin] Gosens.
"They don’t score a lot of goals but [Thomas] Muller is still Muller and [Timo] Werner is a dangerous player, [Kai] Havertz, all these players playing from the inside."

The former Real Madrid and Tottenham Hotspur boss added:

"It made sense to play with three, made sense to be consistent and in control, not just of the depth but also of the width.
"I felt they needed to do that against Ukraine, in terms of the positional diagram very similar, but the quality was not for that so they could come back to four.
"Tonight, I would consider in terms of potential, Denmark in between Ukraine and Germany, but I don’t think you need that because they’re going to be difficult to break unless something happens very, very fast."

Meanwhile, Mourinho expects Denmark themselves to play three central defenders and two holding midfielders, with the wing-backs also focussing on their defensive duties rather than bombing on.

Roma fans trooped out to meet their new boss Jose Mourinho

Legit.ng earlier reported that Jose Mourinho stormed the city of Rome to resume his duties as manager of top Serie A club Roma as he was unveiled to the fans, Instagram.

The Special One was appointed manager of the club a few months after he was sacked as boss of Premier League side Tottenham.

The Portuguese gaffer signed a three-year deal with the Stadio Olimpico outfit and is expected to at least challenge the Scudetto in the coming season.

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