“I get about 45 seconds’ enjoyment when the whistle blows. There should be more joy in it, but that’s not my reality." Gareth Southgate

England manager on the noise around performances.

“Don’t listen to the internet, it’s f*cking b*llocks.” So said a member of England’s coaching staff to one of the senior players at training at Blankenhain on Wednesday. The player was lamenting, partly in jest, a social media depiction of him.

                  Gareth Southgate, whose England side face Denmark at Frankfurt Arena here on Thursday, doesn’t have a rule over access to social media in camp, knowing it would be pointless and he prefers to treat his players as grown-ups anyway, capable of making their own decisions. Some players scroll through social media, even searching their names. Others ignore it. “I concentrate on what the Gaffer says and mainly what my mum says,” Kyle Walker said. “She always tells me I have a good game so I listen to her!”