England’s youngsters must guard against the “over-confidence” that hindered the Under-21s’ European Championship campaign this summer, says Football Association technical chief Les Reed.
England – who kick off their qualifying campaign for the 2021 tournament away to Turkey on Friday – won the Under-17 and Under-20 World Cups in 2017.
But Aidy Boothroyd’s side exited at the group stage in Italy with one point.
“So, was it Aidy? No, it wasn’t. It was a number of things,” said Reed.
“I think it was probably over-confidence. It was a mental thing in believing they were going to win the tournament and probably being over-confident and then actually realising in game play that there is another team out there and it’s not a walkover.
“A lot of the goals conceded were individual errors; a loss of concentration. But it contributed to errors in judgement on the pitch.”
Gareth Southgate – manager of the England senior side – stressed his players “must always have humility” when asked about the performance of the under-21 side at the finals this summer.
Boothroyd’s side boasted the likes of Manchester City midfielder Phil Foden, Leicester playmaker James Maddison, Chelsea midfielder Mason Mount and Manchester United defender Aaron Wan-Bissaka.
But they lost 2-1 to France and 4-2 to Romania, with the solitary point coming from a 0-0 draw with Croatia.
Reed, who succeeded Dan Ashworth as FA technical director in February, said: “I think what is more important is that we accept that that wasn’t an acceptable performance from the squad and [ask] why?
“That year group is a tough year group, particularly when half of them had already won a World Cup and then a number of them were starting to become household names and getting Premier League appearances and being talked up.
“Inevitably when that happens they get into the realms of talking about new contracts and negotiations at their clubs.
“And I think when you want to win tournaments, you need to be confident. You need to have a bit of a swagger.
“But it doesn’t need to border on the arrogance and I think getting that balance right, I didn’t think we achieved that completely.”
Maddison, Mount and Wan-Bissaka have stepped up from the under-21s to the senior squad for England’s upcoming Euro 2020 qualifiers, although the latter has since pulled out with a back issue.
