Are Southgate players ‘too tired to press’?

In an interview Three Lions head coach Gareth Southgate revealed that his footballers are not in a condition to press the opposition in the best way possible.

“We are not pressing at the proper level, with enough intensity,” England manager claimed. “We have limitations in that aspect of the game because of the physical condition. We can’t press as high up the pitch as we showed during the qualifications, for example.”

Are the English players too tired to press properly? Did they spent too much time on the pitch in the past campaign?

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In a chart from Opta that compares total club minutes played by team we can see that Three Lions are in the 3^rd place behind the host nation Germany and Portugal. In another chart that compares only the starting 11, we find England again 3^rd but that time behind France and Portugal.

Given the stats, Southgate excuse raise a lot of questions.