07:12 AM
Mings on England and mastering the ‘dark arts’
Tyrone Mings believes England need to be streetwise at the European Championship to counter rival nations being “masters at the dark arts”.
The Aston Villa defender is in contention to start England’s Euro 2020 opener against Croatia at Wembley on Sunday.
Mings, 28, picked up his 10th cap in Sunday’s 1-0 warm-up win over Romania and with fitness concerns over Harry Maguire he could retain his place this weekend.
After being caught on cameras hitting Austria forward Sasa Kalajdzic with his forearm in last week’s friendly, Mings suggested England need to sometimes blur the line when it comes to following the rules.
Asked if there is something to be said about being streetwise, Mings replied: “Football is very soft these days, you cannot get away with much.
“Like you say, if there had have been VAR, absolutely I would have given away a penalty.
“As a defender, I have done that many times in my career. When a cross is about to come in, block the striker. That is not against the rules. But that one (on Kalajdzic) there was probably too aggressive.
“But being streetwise is a huge part of the game. You look at other nations and they are masters at the dark arts – staying on the floor for longer than needed, delaying restarts.
“Being streetwise is also sometimes what gets you over the edge because it winds up the opposition and breaks up their flow and their rhythm.”
Mings defended his actions in the Kalajdzic incident and says he would not have been caught out by VAR, had it been in operation during the friendly at the Riverside Stadium.
“Not lucky, no, because I knew there wasn’t VAR,” he said when asked if he was lucky the clash went unnoticed by the officials.