Angelo Ogbonna and Paolo Di Canio are disappointed by England’s performance against Serbia despite a 1-0 win and the former striker insists that Gareth Southgate cannot motivate his players: ‘Antonio Conte is different.’
England secured a 1-0 win over Dusan Vlahovic and Nikola Milenkovic’s Serbia on their EURO 2024 debut on Sunday, but their performance was not entirely convincing, at least according to Di Canio and Ogbonna.
Both West Ham icons were the Sky Sport Italia pundits commenting on the game and were far from impressed by England’s performance.
Ogbonna and Di Canio disappointed by England: Southgate ‘different’ from Conte
“I think Serbia respected England too much. England played well in the opening 30 minutes, but there was a clear drop after that. They were disappointing, especially in the second half,” said the Italian defender.
Di Canio, an ex-West Ham striker agreed with his compatriot and said more about Southgate.
“Absolutely, I agree. Some players are physically exhausted, and they don’t have a coach that motivates them and gives them five, seven or 10% more energy. Think about Antonio Conte, he’s a different coach in terms of focus and motivation,” said Di Canio.
“It is okay to catch your breath but not to get rid of the ball. This is a team that is not well-trained. The players go to the pitch and must find a solution.”
Conte has just been appointed as the new Napoli coach, signing a three-year contract at the Stadio Maradona.
“He [Southgate] is a young coach, but he’s old school. I had some of those, like Redknapp or others, at Sheffield Wednesday,” continued Di Canio.
“I had coaches who would tell me the position on the pitch and say, ‘Now it’s up to you.’ They didn’t give many instructions. England are a talented team, but they didn’t do well [against Serbia] after minute 30.”
England are now the Group C leaders, as Denmark and Slovenia drew 1-1 in their afternoon meeting.
During England’s win over Serbia, Juventus winger Filip Kostic suffered a suspected muscle injury and was forced off the pitch before the break.