Matthew Upson: Changing England culture will be Southgate’s legacy as manager
England kicked off their Euro 2024 campaign on Sunday with a solid 1-0 victory over Serbia to go top of Group C.
Much of the discussion heading into the game centred around the Three Lions’ potential defensive vulnerability, with John Stones’ preparation interrupted by both injury and illness and Harry Maguire, his long-term defensive partner, failing to make the squad.
However, former England centre-half Matthew Upson believes it was an encouraging evening for their makeshift defence and reserved special praise for its newest recruit.
“The clean sheet was the foundation of the performance,” says Upson in an exclusive interview with Lucky Block, “and to have a stand-out performance in the back four from Marc Guehi was really important.
“He had a lot to do defensively. He got really tight, he started off attacks two or three times by either nicking in front and winning the ball or forcing a mistake from Mitrovic or Vlahovic.
“I thought physically he looked very good. He won his aerial battles when the ball came in the box and he made some important headers and blocks.”
The former West Ham defender is no stranger to being thrown in at the deep at a tournament, having gone to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa as a squad player before injuries to Rio Ferdinand and Ledley King and a suspension for Jamie Carragher meant he was parachuted in for a must-win group game against Slovenia.
“It wasn’t the easiest thing to handle and navigate, and it wasn’t what you would probably wish for or expect,” admits Upson.
“It was a difficult tournament, to be honest. We had an unbelievable crop of players and qualification was superb, but it just didn’t come together at all for that tournament and we really underachieved.”
Upson won the first three of his 21 caps alongside current manager Gareth Southgate in the heart of defence, and credits him for changing the culture of club cliques that undermined previous England squads.
“I think he’s done eight tournaments now, four as player and four as a manager. He has a wealth of experience of how people are going to feel, where you’re going to be mentally, the highs and lows.
“That’s his biggest strength as a manager. The way he relates to the players in that sense is top-class and I think there’s a huge benefit there.
“I think that’s his legacy as England manager, if I’m honest, to have identified why the talent we had wasn’t pulling together and why we weren’t as successful as what this group of players have been in terms of getting to the latter stages of tournaments.
“He has spent a lot of time breaking down barriers of players, making people feel comfortable, making it feel like more of a family in terms of club football.
“That’s clearly not something that just happens naturally, and Southgate and his team have worked very hard to address that.”
Upson began his career at Arsenal during the era of Tony Adams, Steve Bould and Martin Keown and, at international level, played alongside stalwarts including Ferdinand, Sol Campbell and John Terry.
However, having now made more tournament appearances than any of them, Upson believes that John Stones should be considered an all-time England great.
“I think he ranks right up there. He’s got such a good all-round game. When he was younger, he was very much put to one side as a ball-playing centre-back and maybe overdid it in that sense a little bit.
“But, as he’s matured, I think that defensive side of his game has just got better and better. He has moments where he’s a proper centre-back, where he’ll just come through and power a header as opposed to trying to find someone all the time with the ball.
“Certainly in the last tournament, I thought he was absolutely excellent. To have that many caps just shows you how much of a top player he is.”