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Gareth Southgate has had England in a ‘tough period’ but his players have ‘grown’ through the adversity.
England played their last game before the World Cup on Monday night, when they came down from 2-0 to lead Germany 3-2 before being fed back thanks to a mistake by Nick Pope.
England’s resilience in fighting back despite the late relinquishment of the lead provided plenty of courage in the run-up to Qatar 2022, even though Southgate’s men have now played six games without a win.
Gareth Southgate has praised his players for the character they showed coming from two goals behind
Southgate, who revealed that the players have been holding their own crisis meeting in recent days to help overcome their poor form, said in the wake of the draw that the players would “benefit in the long run” from this difficult period.
“It’s been a tough time and they’ve grown,” says Southgate.
“You are always under pressure and at some point you have to be exposed. We played a friendly against Ivory Coast in March and they went to 10 men and it became a non-event and we learned nothing, this week we learned a lot.
England made an eventful late comeback to turn the game upside down in the final 20 minutes
‘They came together as a group and they will benefit from that in the long run.
“It’s a mistake for Nick Pope and he will lie but the team has to come together and in the end a few mistakes cost us but I focused on playing with tremendous spirit and showing faith that we can do the last never showed. a few games and the crowd insisted.
“The audience was with us, but wondered how it would end, players were unconsciously aware of that. We showed character and quality tonight and the audience went with us.’
“One of the things was that they asked if they could just have a meeting to talk things through,” the English boss said. “That was such a positive sign for me.
Bukayo Saka and Mason Mount changed the game and seemed to bring more dynamism to her England in the future
“By the way, there are times at some clubs where that’s not a good sign! But they more or less discussed what they wanted to do with me.
“The best football teams, of course, need excellent leadership from coaching teams and everything else, but the best teams have a real core of players driving things.”
Meanwhile, Southgate added that he felt his team should have taken the lead at half time due to the quality of their chances. Raheem Sterling saved Marc-Andre ter Stegen while Phil Foden was in some promising positions before his last ball let him down.
“We really should have been ahead with the quality of the chances we had at halftime,” said Southgate. “We started well in the second half. In fact, all the goals we conceded are avoidable.
“So we are 2-0 (behind) looking for a difficult moment, but I have to say the players have been fantastic the last few days. They have taken some individual responsibility.
“They just talked to us as a group, and the whole experience was one that we needed, I think, to grow the next part as a team, because you’re going to be under pressure during a World Cup.
Southgate said the adversity they have faced will benefit them as they learn to cope with the pressures that come with meaningful matches at the World Cup itself
“You can try to avoid pressure, but it’s coming. Maybe it’s the third group match, maybe it’s a quarter-final – whatever it is, it’s coming.
‘So better that we feel it and learn to deal with it. We talked about how to react if Germany scored tonight and the players reacted in the right way.
“We have shown character, but also a lot of quality in the chances we created throughout the game and especially in the goals we scored.”
England’s last few home games have been marred by cheers from the crowd aimed at both the manager and some of the players.
The English boss praised Saka and Mount for the impact they both made after their introduction
While England watched another defeat in the run-up to the World Cup, Southgate praised the crowd at Wembley for sticking with his team and not becoming increasingly recalcitrant.
“I think the public has come along too. They stayed with us, they stayed with the team. Even at 0-2 they did not come on their backs.
“They were quiet, understandable, but they didn’t crawl on their backs and that was so important to us.
“And of course we score and the roof is about to come off – we all suddenly remember what it feels like to see a goal go in!
The English public did not react too negatively to a 2-0 deficit, Southgate said
“Then there’s great momentum in the game and I thought Bukayo (Saka) and Mason (Mount) had really good contributions.
“I thought Jude (Bellingham) was excellent the whole game. I think Luke Shaw, given how little football he’s had, had a really positive night.
“So, a lot to take in and then of course we get an absolute punch in the nose at the end, and that’s pretty much how it’s going at the moment, honestly!”