Areth Southgate played out by booed England‘s traveling support after the 1-0 defeat to Italy, suggesting he is ready to take the blame and shield his players from criticism as their dismal run continued.
England have made five competitive games without a win for the first time since 1992 and were relegated from the Nations League group after Giacomo Raspadori’s beautiful goal in the second half of the game. San Siro.
Southgate – who was booed and mocked by home fans during the 4-0 defeat to Hungary at Molineux in June – was booed by large segments of England’s traveling fans when he applauded the away game after the final whistle.
“I understand the reaction at the end because those are the results we’ve had in this competition,” the England manager said afterwards. “It’s an understandable emotional response.”
England failed to win or score from open play in their four Nations League games in June, culminating in an embarrassing defeat to Hungary.
“We can’t say these games have no value,” Southgate added. “These were important games against top teams.
“As I said [previously] there were many reasons for the results in the summer. Tonight we don’t have the result we needed or wanted. So we are in a series of bad results. It is up to us to rectify that.
“The only way to do that is to hold on to what we believe, to hold on to what has brought us success in previous tournaments, and in the end the players have to stay very tight. There will be a lot of noise, but there will be. that’s absolutely fine. It’s my job to take over that pressure for them.”
England were disjointed for long periods against the European champions, limited to late chances for Harry Kane, who forced Gianluigi Donnarumma into a double save, and a header from Jude Bellingham over the crossbar.
However, Southgate insisted the performance was a step forward, saying his side only missed a finishing touch in the final third.
“It’s hard for me to be too critical of the performance,” he said. “We had more possession, more shots, more shots on target.
“For large parts we played very well. We didn’t tackle the decisive moment defensively and we had moments to be more decisive in their last third and our quality was not quite right. It is a period where in the end results will be what everyone reacts to “But I thought there were a lot of positives for us as a team tonight. Lots of good individual performances, personally I thought the performance was a step in the right direction but I understand very well that because of the result that’s not going to be the reaction.
“But I maintain that the reaction to tonight will be guided by the result. We were not far off in terms of performance. I have to make the players believe in what they are doing and not be distracted and in areas that are not right, so that’s the job I have at the moment.
“Of course they will make a lot of noise, but that is really made of the summer and I fully understand that. The players in the dressing room know that this was a game they could very well have won. And if they take their chances and it defend the goal better, then we win. It’s fine margins. We play against some of the biggest football countries and the fine margins are decisive.”