World Cup 2018: England boss Gareth Southgate plays down 'leaked' team sheet drama

'I don’t expect the media to be supporters of us in the way they work, they want us to do well, that’s been clear throughout the tournament'

Gareth Southgate has moved to play down the fallout from England’s ‘leaked’ team to face Panama and says the line-up photographed will not be the side to play in Nizhny Novgorod.

The build-up to England’s World Cup Group G clash has been overshadowed after photographs emerged of assistant boss Steve Holland carrying a sheet of paper with an apparent line-up written on it.

Southgate went on to discuss the role of the media covering the national side which sparked a frenzied debate between journalists and former players.

However, before the whole media for the first time since the incident, Southgate apologised if those who follow England for a living have suffered abuse as a result and said there were no issues as the photograph merely showed a training group.

“I made quite a balanced observation yesterday which I’m told gathered quite a bit of momentum,” he said. “My view is I totally understand the media have a role to report news – my only observation which I probably haven’t worded properly is it’s a definite advantage if the opposition know the other team.

“I don’t expect the media to be supporters of us in the way they work, they want us to do well, that’s been clear throughout the tournament. I’m relaxed, the team came out three days before the first game and I didn’t say anything because it’s something we can’t control.

“There’s no drama. The picture the other day wasn’t even the team so it was even less of a drama, it was a list of runners and riders for the training session. I am totally relaxed. I understand a few of the guys (English media) have had a bashing on social media, sorry for that and I don’t wish that on anyone as I have had it myself.”

Southgate went on to compare being at the World Cup and travelling with a press pack like “being on holiday with your family.”

A victory over Panama would secure England a place in the knockout stages, but Southgate is not taking the clash lightly.

He said: “We’ve seen already the difficulty big countries in terms of rankings have had in breaking down lower-ranked teams. That’s been a theme right the way throughout.

“There’s no way there’s any complacency in the way we’ve prepared for the game.

“The situation in the group is obviously a healthy one for us, but we’ve got to focus on our performance.

“We want to show people an England team can play in a different way. We’ve got technically good players, we want them to get on the ball and express themselves and really attack the game like we did the other night.”