Gareth Southgate masters man management to inspire England

It was an answer which encapsulated exactly why Gareth Southgate has this England squad where they are.

The Three Lions manager was speaking moments after guiding his country into the semi-finals for the second major tournament in a row and for the just the second time ever at a European Championship.

A moment to sit back and drink it in then, another crowning achievement just three years on from the adventure through to the same stage in Russia.

A word or two for Harry Kane probably, whose two goals drove England on and propelled them into the last four just days after his very place in the team was questioned over a perceived lack of form and fitness.

Or Luke Shaw maybe, who again showed how far he has come in the shirt of his country with two assists as part of his most complete performance yet.

Perhaps even Jordan Henderson, who came off the bench in Rome and, at the 62nd time of asking, finally scored a first international goal.

It was truly a famous performance, one that will live long in the memories of those on the pitch and in the stands at the Stadio Olimpico.

But Southgate didn’t highlight any of the standouts of the Stadio Olimpico, he instead was thinking of those who played no part at all.

"We gave a fantastic performance, not only the players that started, but the players who came on kept the momentum going," he said afterwards. "I am also actually thinking about the players who I left out of the squad and who didn'™t get on the pitch.

"They have been such a massive part of what we are doing. It is so difficult to keep a group of this size involved, happy, feeling valued. And yet those guys have been phenomenal in how they have sacrificed themselves for the group.

"We are in the semi-finals because of that spirit. Of course the quality of our play is important, but I have seen lots of nations go out because they don't have the spirit of these boys."

It is precisely that way of thinking that has so united this group of players. Southgate has handed 17 of them starting spots at the tournament so far. A further four have played some part from the bench. Only five - six if you include goalkeeper Dean Henderson who withdrew from the squad before the tournament - are yet to play a minute.

It is keeping these players content, the likes of Ben Chilwell, Ben White and Conor Coady, that fosters the type of team spirit you now see on the pitch and that Southgate talks so fondly about.

The scenes of inflatable swimming pool unicorns are no fluke. This is a happy team and, crucially, one that is happy to be around each other.

It is an atmosphere that Southgate has been slowly building ever since his appointment back in 2016. It has the feeling of a club, not a country, set-up, one we have very rarely seen before.

He didn't want an expanded squad at this tournament, despite the obvious advantages it brings in a post-Covid world, because it increased the number of players who wouldn't be playing.

This is a manager who is thinking about his squad as a whole - not just the first eleven - and it is paying off.

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Southgate has become only the second manager in history to guide England to both a World Cup and European Championship semi-final after Sir Alf Ramsey.

Next on the horizon is a first final since Ramsey's heroes of 1966.

Standing in England's way are a team who too feel bigger than the sum of their parts, one that are playing for something more.

Denmark's own fearless spirit has been on show for all to see following the shocking incident that saw Christian Eriksen collapse on the pitch during the group stage with what was later confirmed as a cardiac arrest.

Cruelly shorn of their talisman the Danes have bounced back from losing their opening two games to go on a fairytale run through Russia, Wales and, most recently, Czech Republic on their own storied journey to the final four.

"That's the challenge for us now," Southgate replied when asked about kicking on and making the final. "I knew what a good side Denmark were before the games in the autumn and they've proved that again in this tournament.

"They're obviously riding a wave of emotion after what happened with Christian as well and that's understandable.

"We have got more experience as a group of those sorts of games and individually the players have experienced those games which is definitely helpful, but we've got to do that now on Wednesday night."

Thanks to the masterful man management of the man in charge, they've never been more prepared to do it.