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Pragmatic England approach could wreck confidence of Euros squad, warns Rio Ferdinand

Pragmatic England approach could wreck confidence of Euros squad, warns Rio Ferdinand

Rio Ferdinand has warned that England's pragmatic approach at Euro 2020 will sap confidence from Gareth Southgate's squad.

The Three Lions were desperately lacking in creativity during their 0-0 draw with Scotland at Wembley on Friday night, offering little threat despite the array of attacking talent available.

England were slow and rigid going forward and captain Harry Kane once again struggled before being hooked with his side in need of a goal.

The point leaves England second in Group D with the Czech Republic to come in their final game at Wembley on Tuesday night - and Ferdinand has warned that another stodgy display could ruin confidence with no time to restore it at a tournament.

"It's about getting momentum," Ferdinand told BBC Radio 5 Live.

"Be pragmatic, get a result like we got yesterday and get a performance that we've got yesterday from a pragmatic style and a pragmatic mindset and you look at confidence and you look at what that does to self-esteem.

"So that's the other thing you have to weigh up.

"I think you can all say that, ‘Yeah, be pragmatic’ and actually agree with the manager, but at the same time those players are walking around, all of them looking at social media, all of them looking at the negative press coming out of the media. That for confidence isn’t great so I feel that adds more pressure going into this game.

"I feel personally sitting here from being in a squad that were quite pragmatic, that was quite conservative at times, were very rigid.

 (Getty Images)
(Getty Images)

"I know what that does to confidence, and I know what that does to self-belief and self-esteem within a tournament.

"If you lose a little bit of self-esteem and a little bit of confidence in a tournament, there isn't much time to get it back. You haven't got three games to try and build confidence, you've got to get it back immediately.

“That's why I don't side on that side of being pragmatic at all, because I just feel that it can have very negative effects and domino effects on other areas."

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