‘Just smash into them’ – England U21s star Charlie Cresswell reveals his plan to bring pain to Spain in Euros showdown

CHARLIE CRESSWELL says England have nothing Tou-Louse and vowed to bring the pain to Spain and “smash” straight into them.

The Young Lions went down 2-1 to Germany on Wednesday in Slovakia to finish runners-up in Group B.

Lee Carsley’s side are now on a collision course with the much-fancied La Roja, the team they beat to win the U21 Euros in 2023, in Trnava on Saturday.

The boss revealed that he let his players have it as they trailed 2-0 to the Germans at the break but was pleased by the response as Alex Scott almost sparked a late rally.

And Cresswell, 22, insists that there won’t be a repeat of the “lack of fight” they started with when they go to battle with star-studded Spanish Armada.

The honest defender, who has starred for Toulouse in Ligue 1 since joining from Leeds last summer, said: “It wasn’t good enough from everyone, myself included, it was a collective thing. We just needed more fight, more determination. We can go press them high and get the ball back. We needed more of that and you saw that in the second half.”

On the content of Carsley’s dressing down, he continued: “Show some fight, you’re playing for England, let’s run harder than them, work harder than them. I was saying to the lads ‘just smash into them’, ‘I don’t know you’re there’ and ‘let them know they’re in a game’. 

“We showed that in the second half, but we’ve got to take that into the next game.

“You can’t give Germany that, otherwise look what they did. That’s the thing with European competitions, you get punished and you’ve got to be at your best game.”

Cresswell acknowledged that many will have England down as the underdogs.

But he, along with Harvey Elliott, were part of the squad that toppled them in Georgia two years ago and he’s relishing another fierce battle.

He added: “We go into each game wanting to win. We respect every team. It’s going to be a different group from two years ago and they’ll be a good side and we’ve got to be at our game.

“Of course Spain are a top side. The first team as well, it runs through their system. You know when you play against Spain what they’re going to be like. They’re going to pass it around and try to make you move. But we’ve got to stand strong and take the game to them. “We’ve got quality in that dressing-room. We know we can beat them.

“Everyone has their weaknesses, you know. We’ve got to make sure we’re at our A game.

“It was good [in 2023], I know it got a bit fiery at some points and I’m pretty sure it’ll be a fiery game. I enjoy that stuff though.

I was saying to the lads ‘just smash into them’, ‘I don’t know you’re there’ and ‘let them know they’re in a game’. 

Charlie Cresswell

“I said to the lads, it doesn’t get better than this. You’re playing for England Under-21s, against Germany and next will be against Spain. It doesn’t get better than this. We’ll look back on this time and want to live this point again so it’s important we stay right here right now and enjoy every moment.”

Ipswich winger Omari Hutchinson, whose trickery produced the assist for Scott, added: “They’re very good on the ball, so we want to be dominant. We’re gonna have to try to take that away from them. We can be physically better than them. We’ve just got to physically outrun them and take them to the final whistle.

“Cars is big on that. He said last time they played each other it was a tough game. We just want to be able to dominate and win by two goals really.

“It’s my biggest game for England so I’m looking forward to it.”