England manager Gareth Southgate admits Ivan Toney was “pretty disgusted” with being sent on so late in the round of 16 victory over Slovakia but praised the striker for the impact he had on the game.
Toney played a crucial role in England’s extra-time win, setting up Harry Kane’s goal and winning several crucial fouls to relieve the pressure on the Three Lions’ defence.
But Southgate says the striker was left feeling frustrated with being given so little time to impact the game after coming off the bench, before Jude Bellingham’s stunning equaliser took the game to extra time.
Speaking to ITV Sport, Southgate said: “It’s strange but I never felt tonight would be the end of our tournament. Even with the long throw, you felt there was hope, we can cause some chaos and something might drop. I didn’t think the finish would be quite as it was.
“There’s no question that I think Ivan Toney was pretty disgusted when I brought him on with a minute to go and I think we’ve made up now, but he’s had a big impact, on the second goal as well.
“You put a sub on at that time, it is the last throw of the dice and he maybe doesn’t even touch the ball.
“I completely understand it. I don’t like putting a player in that position but we just had a feeling that he might be able to cause the bit of chaos that happened.”
England struggled in the first half and found themselves a goal down through Ivan Schranz’ strike and Southgate says he knows his side must improve when they play Switzerland in the quarter-finals.
“We know that in the first half we were too slow moving the ball and we didn’t create the openings that we needed to create but second half, we showed the composure to keep probing and keep moving the ball,” he said.
“I think it’s one of those classic England nights where we put everyone through the mill. They’re a good team and it took us a long while to work out how to get through their pressure.”
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