John Stones breaks silence on Gareth Southgate’s plan to switch to a three-man defence for crunch Euro 2024 quarter-final clash against Switzerland
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According to John Stones, switching to a three-man defence will not be a problem for England. Gareth Southgate will trial the switch before tomorrow’s quarter-final against Switzerland.
It was at the last European Championship three years ago that Southgate switched to a three-man defence for the 2-0 win over Germany in the round of 16, and he used it again in the final against Italy.
England have played with a 4-2-3-1 formation in Germany so far, but poor performances and suspended centre-back Marc Guehi have seen a change being worked on in training this week.
If so, Stones would become the central defender tasked with organising the new unit, but he doesn’t believe it’s as big a risk as some might think.
“We’ve done it before in previous tournaments,” he said. “Germany, I remember, at the last European Championship. Before that in 2018 (at the World Cup).
John Stones believes England will have no problems switching to a three-man defence against Switzerland
Gareth Southgate plans to tweak his squad for Saturday’s quarter-final in Dusseldorf
“I think it’s a great thing to have in the dressing room, when we have to play that system. It’s something that can’t be underestimated for us as a team, that we can do it so easily and seamlessly, and that it kind of clicks.
‘We have one more (training session) before the game and hopefully we can fine-tune some of the things we’ve been working on over the last few days and see where that takes us.’