England’s defensive performances at Euro 2020 have been undervalued and have put them on course for a first major tournament final since 1966, the former Liverpool midfielder Ray Houghton believes.
The Three Lions are yet to concede a goal during the tournament, despite both Scotland and Germany coming close to scoring against them.
Gareth Southgate’s side topped Group D with wins over Croatia and Czech Republic. There was also a goalless draw with Scotland.
Victories against Germany and Ukraine in the knockout rounds have set up a favourable semi-final against Denmark on Wednesday. A final against either Italy or Spain awaits should they overcome the Danes.
England’s attacking stars have impressed, with Harry Kane and Raheem Sterling scoring three goals each. But Houghton, who played at four tournaments for the Republic of Ireland, believes that Southgate’s defence has provided the foundations for their success.
“To have that run of five games without conceding a goal, you have to be doing something right,” Houghton told Express Sport.
“I was looking at their record just before the competition and I think they had something like 14 clean sheets in 19 games. It was a stat that was very impressive.
“A lot of people have been critical of the defence [and saying:] ‘how will they cope?’ but the reality of it is that the defending isn’t actually that bad.
“They don’t concede many goals, so it was more about what they could do as an offensive team. They hadn’t been scoring lots of goals until they played Ukraine but they had scored enough and had defended well enough.
“They’ve had a little bit of luck occasionally, which you need. If Thomas Muller’s shot doesn’t go wide and goes into the net then it’s a completely different match [against Germany].
“Gareth has picked different sides, he’s not afraid to change the formation and he’s done well enough so far.
“It will be interesting to see how if they concede a goal first and go behind, how they will react. That’s obviously something that we don’t know yet.”
Houghton was briefly a team-mate of Southgate’s at Crystal Palace.
The former Ireland star joined the Eagles from Aston Villa in March 1995.
Southgate, who had been named club captain aged just 22, headed in the opposite direction a few months later following Palace’s relegation but he helped Houghton settle in at Selhurst Park.
“He was at Palace with me for a while. He was a great lad,” the 59-year-old recalls.
“I was injured one away game and I had to get into training for treatment at 8:30 in the morning. He said: ‘you should come and stay with me’.
“That just about sums him up. He’s an accommodating lad, has a heart of gold.
“To get England to back-to-back semi-finals, in the World Cup and now the Euros, it’s a great achievement. There have been plenty of others who have tried and failed.
“He’s done that now and he’ll be hoping to go one better on Wednesday by getting a win against Denmark and getting England to their first final since ’66.
“There are a lot of good omens, with the clean sheets through the group stage like they did in ’66. It just looks to me like the players are getting a lot more confident game by game.”
Ray Houghton was speaking to Express Sport on behalf of Outlaw Pro, who are launching a six-part mini-series where Houghton will join fellow ex-footballers in being trained by multi-world champion anglers on BT Sport next year.
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