England ‘still a work in progress’ says boss

KIERAN TRIPPIER insists there should be no concern surrounding the England side as Nations League defeat to Spain marked a third loss in succession.

The Three Lions took to the field at Wembley on Saturday night and were given a rousing reception for their first match since reaching the World Cup semi-finals.

But, despite Marcus Rashford’s early opener, Gareth Southgate’s side were beaten 2-1 in a match somewhat overshadowed by what could have proved a serious injury to defender Luke Shaw.

The feel-good factor of making it to the final four in Russia was evident in and around the stadium and Trippier does not feel there is any reason to hit the panic button as semi-final defeat to Croatia and a loss to Belgium in the third-place play-off was followed up by another reverse on England’s return.

“It is not a concern,” the Tottenham full-back said.

“We are building and that is all we can do, play against these teams. We want to test ourselves against the best and certainly we put up a fight. We knew it was going to be a difficult game, these are the teams we want to play against.

“We started bright and got the early goal and then to concede straight away after was disappointing.

“They passed it around very well in the first half, we talked about that coming out into the second.

“I thought we played much better in the second half, we got it down and we played and we were unlucky not to come out with a draw.”

Late substitute Danny Welbeck saw a last-gasp equaliser chalked off as the referee deemed the Arsenal man had fouled David De Gea before turning the ball home.

“From my angle I had a very good view of it,” added Trippier. “The ref gave a foul and personally I don’t understand how it was a foul but these decisions happen and you have just got to move on.” there’s some that are still a work in progress.

“We have got 19 matches, it’s not very long, but, in my opinion, we have got the best group of players in the country here.

“We have got some others who might come back from injury and maybe coming through from the junior ranks.

“But I think we have got to keep faith in the way we’re trying to play, otherwise we go back to what we did historically and there’s no way I believe we’ll ever be a top team if we do that.

“So, we are going to be brave enough to stick to our principles, and just get better at what we’re doing and identify how we improve. But that is not going to be an easy task because you can see the level of the top teams.

“I said right across the summer, we’re under no illusions about that but also we’re prepared for that challenge.”

Saul Niguez and Rodrigo did the damage on Saturday evening, when Marcus Rashford had opened the scoring.

Substitute Danny Welbeck saw a stoppage-time leveller wrongly ruled out, meaning England head into tomorrow’s friendly against Switzerland reeling from three successive defeats in all competitions for the first time since 1988.