Jose Mourinho Suggests Tactical Tweak That Could Help England Beat Germany At Euro 2020

Jose Mourinho has suggested Gareth Southgate could switch to a three-man defence for England's huge Euro 2020 clash with Germany.

The Three Lions will take on their rivals in the last-16 at Wembley next Tuesday.

Joachim Low's side have played a 3-4-3 so far this summer and a 4-2 win over Portugal proved how deadly they can be.

Mourinho told talkSPORT that Southgate could return to a back three to match that, after using it so effectively at the 2018 World Cup.

England reached the semi-finals of that tournament with Kyle Walker, Harry Maguire and John Stones playing.

"I keep saying when you have an option to take 26 players, you have to risk, gamble and take an injured player if the player deserves that," Mourinho explained.

PA

"Maguire is one of those players. He was confident, he was stable, he was intelligent [against the Czech Republic].

"He reads the game well and he has a good partnership with Stones.

"[Tyrone] Mings is doing a fantastic job, you could feel he was happy to come in for 10 or 15 minutes, he is a team player.

"I wouldn't be surprised if the next game is against Germany, the way they play with [Kai] Havertz, [Thomas] Muller and [Serge] Gnabry, three defenders and two wings backs - I wouldn't be surprised if England went with three at the back: Stones, Maguire and Mings."

ITV pundit and former England international Gary Neville believes Southgate should adopt three central defenders once again.

He tweeted a picture of his suggested line-up and added his reasoning for it.

No Jack Grealish or Phil Foden caused a stir and fans believe the best form of defence is attack.

Southgate has already hinted at tweaks now the group stages are over.

Set-pieces have been a clear weakness in England's first three games and it's something he wants to change.

The 50-year-old said: "Our delivery hasn't been good really. There was the one against Scotland where John Stones hit the post which was bang on the money and Trippier's delivery in the first game was excellent and we haven't matched that since.

"It's quite rare for us. We have gone four or five matches without a set-piece goal and that's an area we can improve upon."

Topics: Jose Mourinho, Euro 2020, England, Germany

Daniel Marland

Daniel is a journalist for SPORTbible and he has previous experience with Manchester United. He has spoken to some of the biggest names in sport including Rio Ferdinand, Peter Crouch, WWE COO Triple H and WWE legend The Undertaker. May or may not do a decent impression of Jamie Carragher.

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