The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Southgate’s pride as he finds positives in defeat
Dortmund: England show promise but Podolski has final say
we put some of our younger players on. That was a good learning experience for them, but I am very pleased with what we learned, the manner of the performance. The one bit we missed was the finish. We should have had the game won, but I am very pleased with what we did.”
Southgate handed England debuts to Nathan Redmond, James Ward-Prowse and Michael Keane on a promising night at Signal Iduna Park, where the latter impressed from the outset in defence with Chris Smalling and Gary Cahill.
Despite the lack of time working on the formation, Southgate says it was not an “alien system” for the group and had been in his mind for six weeks.
“I think it is a great option for us to have,” the England boss said. “We have played 4-2-3-1 in our last few games. I think it’s specific systems for specific games and opposition, but important that we have the adaptability to do that.
“I decided six weeks ago that is what we were going to do tonight, once I’d studied all the videos of the way Germany played and I watched them a lot last summer live. I was clear with what we wanted to do.”
It will be intriguing to see how England line-up in Sunday’s World Cup qualifier against Lithuania – a match that will see the Football Association mark yesterday’s Westminster terror attack.