England not good enough, claims Kane

Southgate’s side crash to 10-man France in Paris

FRANCE 3 ENGLAND 2

Not even the controversial use of video assistant referees (VAR) could prevent Gareth Southgate’s England from succumbing to defeat in their seasonending friendly against France.

Touching tributes to the victims of the recent Manchester and London terror attacks made way for a surprisingly entertaining match, with captain Harry Kane opening the scoring early on at the end of a fine Three Lions move.

Samuel Umtiti and Djibril Sidibe turned things around for the hosts before half-time, with Ousmane Dembele wrapping up a deserved 3-2 win as France made light of Kane’s equaliser and Raphael Varane’s sending off as VARs were utilised for the first time in an England match.

The decision at the start of the second half highlighted the issues that need ironing out with the system being trialled by Fifa at selected matches ahead of possible wider implementation.

Confusion reigned for a minute inside the Stade de France as referee Davide Massa waited to hear from video

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assistant team of Marco Guida and Massimiliano Irrati, with the penalty compounded by Varane’s controversial red card for bringing down Dele Alli.

On-field bemusement was echoed by the home support, whose frustration would be lifted by their exciting, young side.

Outrageously-talented 18-year-old Kylian Mbappe hit the bar and provided the pass that saw Dembele secure Didier Deschamps’ 10 men victory after an Eric Dier pass was intercepted.

England’s 3-4-3 formation did not work anywhere near as effectively as in March’s friendly in Germany, leading to an eventual switch to a four-man defence on an evening that gives Southgate plenty to ponder this summer.

Kane, who had netted a last-gasp equaliser to deny Scotland in Saturday’s World Cup qualifier at Hampden, admitted England had just not been good enough in Paris.

“Scoring two goals away from home in France should be enough,” he said on ITV.

“We have got to find a way to win them, especially when they go down to 10 men. We just weren’t good enough.

“We will have to look back and see why. They were just getting too much space in vital areas, even with 10 men.

“If we want to be brave and play like that, then sometimes mistakes like that are going to happen.

“It is stuff we have to work on, but (Eric) Dier is a great player and it was a ball which got cut out and that was unfortunate.”

“After getting back to 2-2 and then they were down to 10 men put us in the driving seat, but we really didn’t step it up another gear and they seemed to get a second wind.”

Scoring two goals away from home in France should be enough. HARRY KANE