Ivan Toney was introduced as an extremely late substitute by Gareth Southgate in England’s dramatic win over Slovakia with the Three Lions boss since revealing he wasn’t too pleased
Ivan Toney was still ready to make an impact for England despite being left “disgusted” by Gareth Southgate ’s late substitution.
The Brentford frontman was left on the bench for the Three Lions and was introduced with seconds remaining against Slovakia. All looked lost for England, with an embarrassing exit just moments away.
Fortunately for England, Jude Bellingham stepped up at just the right time with a vital equaliser. Speaking in his post-match press conference, boss Southgate revealed that Toney was not best pleased with his limited opportunity to make an impact.
He said: “Ivan Toney was pretty disgusted when I put him on with a minute to go. I think we have made up now. But he has had a big impact in the second goal.
“You put a sub on at that time then it is a last throw of the dice and he maybe does not even touch the ball, so I completely understand it. I do not like putting a player in that position but I just had a feeling he might be able to cause the bit of chaos that happened.”
Despite being disgruntled, Toney has since revealed he was primed to make an impact. Speaking on the Three Lions’ official Instagram page, he said: “Well in the dying moments as a sub, you kind of think ah, it’s going to the final whistle. And it’s like when’s the chance going to come?
“But coming on as a substitute you have to be ready, you don’t know what’s going to happen and football’s a crazy game. It can change like that and it did, and going into extra time the momentum was on our side. We had the players to change the game and we did that.”
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Toney certainly had an impact as his header across goal picked out Harry Kane in extra-time for the winning strike. And the former Newcastle man has revealed that the pair had discussed a plan for that exact situation.
Toney added: “I think his striker’s instinct was to be there, in the right place at the right time. I just said (at full time), I’ll knock it back across and you be there. Then it was Harry doing what Harry does. I just knew he put everything into that, he nearly went into the net with it.”
Southgate now has a tricky decision to make for this weekend’s quarter-final showdown with Switzerland. Despite having two goals to his name during the tournament, captain Kane has struggled.
Striker is not the only position where Southgate has some thinking to do. Marc Guehi’s booking will see him suspended in the quarter-finals. England have plenty of options to replace him including Lewis Dunk, Joe Gomez and Ezri Konsa.
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