He has been preparing a plan to fight France for the past two years
After beating Senegal 3-0 in the round of 16, England have 5 days to prepare for the quarter-final against France. But according to assistant coach Steve Holland, "Three Lions" have been preparing for the past two years for the upcoming match.
Tim Dittmer - a former goalkeeping coach who is now head of the coaching staff of the English Football Association (FA) - has been assigned to monitor all of France's activities over the past two years to prepare for the possibility of meeting this opponent in a tournament. big tournament. And this expert just gave a presentation to the entire team on the morning of Monday, December 6 at the headquarters of the "Three Lions" in Qatar - Souq Al Wakra hotel - about what he has collected.
Holland said: "The expert is not only talking about what happened in Qatar. He talks about the choices of the coach, the opponents of France over the past two years." According to head coach Gareth Southgate's assistant, 5 days of preparation is still too little, with a huge amount of work, but it is important that the player believes in the plan.
Holland thinks England will play a tight match against France. The former assistant at Chelsea feels that England is wiser after reaching the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup and the final of Euro 2020, so no one wants the 2022 World Cup journey to stop only in the quarterfinals.
"When you've played both the final and the semi-final, it's a failure to get to the quarterfinals," Holland said. "I'm not arrogant. We want more."
The match at 2am on 11/12 Hanoi time will be England's third time facing France at the World Cup. In the previous two times, "Three Lions" won their neighbor 2-0 in 1966 and 3-1 in 1982, respectively. However, in the last 8 matches in all competitions, England won only one and lost to France to 5. battle.
Holland admits France now is different from the opponents England have met in the past. He thinks this is a balanced match and must be wary of stars who can change the game like Kyllian Mbappe - the striker is leading the scoring list in the 2022 World Cup with 5 goals. "Both teams have players who can change the outcome from zero," he said.
The assistant born in 1970 has worked for England since 2016 and is now Gareth Southgate's right-hand man. He assessed the head coach as a good person, an ambassador for the country. More importantly, Southgate is very good at managing players.
"It takes a lot of energy to manage a team," says Holland. "When you pick 11 starters, 15 others will be disappointed. But Southgate works systematically and the players respect that."
Holland's experience is not to let the main squad feel comfortable and know they will play regularly. Players must feel the trust of the coach and also the competition in the team. "If conflict is not handled well, it spreads like cancer," Holland said. "Southgate does it the best it can. We're lucky to have top experts for this."
