‘A step in the right direction’ – Gareth Southgate sees positives despite England defeat to Italy
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Published 23/09/2022 at 21:53 GMT
England manager Gareth Southgate thinks there were “lots of good individual performances” from his side despite their 1-0 loss to Italy in the Nations League. The Three Lions have been relegated to League B for next season as they failed to win, which is another blow for Southgate ahead of the World Cup in Qatar, which begins takes place from November 20 to December 18.
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Gareth Southgate believes England’s performance was “a step in the right direction” despite their 1-0 defeat to Italy which confirmed their relegation from League A in the Nations League.
In their penultimate game before the World Cup in Qatar, England failed to score, meaning they have not found the back of the net in open play for the last 495 minutes.
As Southgate went over to applaud the England fans he as booed by a large portion of the supporters.
“It's difficult for me to be too critical of the performance,” Southgate told the press. “We had more possession, more shots, more shots on target.
"For large parts of the game we played very well. We didn’t deal with the decisive moment defensively. We had moments where we had the chance to be decisive in their final third which our quality wasn't quite right.
"It’s a spell where ultimately results are going to be the thing that everyone reacts to but I thought there were a lot of positives for us as a team tonight.
"Lots of good individual performances. I personally thought the performance is a step in the right direction. I completely understand because of the result that is not going to be the reaction.".
The defeat to Italy follows a nightmare run for England in this year’s Nations League where they have picked up just two draws from their first five matches and lost twice to Hungary, including a 4-0 thrashing at Wembley.
Southgate says he’s unsure why his side are unable to find the back of the net.
“It's really difficult to pinpoint why we are not scoring,” added Southgate. “I think we are getting into the right areas. We had the moments where we would have the pass but we just didn't deliver that final piece of quality tonight.
"I understand the reaction at the end because that's the results we have had in this competition. It’s an understandable emotional reaction."
Declan Rice added: "It's obviously disappointing. Every tournament we go into, we set out to win. In the Nations League we have slipped below our standards but I didn't think it was all bad tonight.
"It's coming. It was a much better performance tonight than we saw in the summer.
"It's not that we're not creating the chances. I see it in training. There are goals for fun.
"Trust me, we are going to be good."
England face Germany in their final Nations League game at Wembley on Monday, which will also be their last match before the World Cup in Qatar which begins on November 20.
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