Roma boss Jose Mourinho has backed England manager Gareth Southgate to learn from the Three Lions’ penalty shootout defeat to Italy in the Euro 2020 final at the weekend.
Mourinho says he is qualified to give Southgate advice on the matter, given that he describes himself as “a specialist in failure” when it comes to the lottery of a spot-kick showdown.
The Portuguese lost each of his first seven penalty shootouts as a manager in England, from defeats with Chelsea in the League Cup (to Charlton and Stoke), Champions League (to Liverpool), Community Shield (to Manchester United) and Super Cup (to Bayern Munich) to losses with Manchester United and Tottenham.
He finally secured a victory when Spurs beat Chelsea 5-4 on penalties in the League Cup last season, giving Mourinho the confidence to snipe at Gareth Southgate and more senior England players for not taking a spot kick in the Euro 2020 final.
Mourinho also said that was a scenario Southgate will learn from, bringing on Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford late for specific shootout purposes when Italy had a corner.
“All coaches are learning all the time. Gareth Southgate did amazing work – work to be praised, to be trusted in a way where we say: ‘Come on, keep going Gareth and a happy day will arrive’ – but I am sure he is also learning,” Mourinho told The Times.
“More even than with the penalties – because I am a specialist in failure at those – we can look at the Italy corner right near the end, when Gareth takes off Henderson and Kyle Walker to bring on Sancho and Rashford.
“It left England exposed in the air and England were lucky not to lose from that before it went to penalties. It’s a basic thing and I don’t think he does that again. We learn.”
Mourinho also saw similarities in how England played in the second half to how his Tottenham team reacted during his tenure.
“I don’t believe that the English coaches told the players in the second half: ‘Don’t leave the low block, we don’t need to counterattack, we don’t need the ball, just defend for 45 minutes and we are going to be champions.’ I don’t believe that.
“We had this at Tottenham, when sometimes people thought we wanted to be in a very low block and it wasn’t true. It’s simply what happens sometimes in games when you are pushed into situations. England were deep for too long and Harry Kane isn’t a striker for that, not a guy who is going to sprint behind, attack spaces and be very dangerous on counterattacks. With a striker like Harry, you need the ball.
“We can analyse a lot but I think it is about fine margins. When England were leading 1-0, there was an incident with Raheem Sterling in the box that for me is more of a penalty than the one given in the semi-final. We could be talking about a very different story.
“In the second half Italy kept the ball, moved the ball, hid the ball. They have the talent for that, especially with taking off Ciro Immobile and having an extra midfielder in Bryan Cristante. The confidence levels go up for one team and down for the other and then the equaliser comes from an unexpected situation of a set piece, where England had been very dominant.
“I think Italy benefit from a certain status, know-how and capital of accumulated experience.”