Southgate demands more from England
GARETH Southgate was pleased by the victory in Albania but pointed to areas of improvement as England head into Wednesday’s World Cup qualifier against Poland.
Fresh from Thursday’s 5-0 triumph against minnows San Marino, the Three Lions struggled on the stodgy Air Albania Stadium surface for much of the opening period, only for Harry Kane to expertly head home a cross from returning Luke Shaw as half-time approached.
The skipper hit the woodwork shortly after scoring his first international goal in 16 months, with Phil Foden seeing an effort tipped onto the post before Mason Mount coolly wrapped up a 2-0 win.
“I think we controlled the game very well,” England boss Southgate said. “For the first 25 minutes or so we just struggled to find space behind their midfield.
“We just tweaked a little bit the way we were building up and then we had a little bit more joy, certainly down the left side with Luke, Raheem (Sterling) and Mason connecting to begin with.
“Then gradually that happened on the right as well, so I think we were pleased with that. We controlled most of the game in that period and should have scored more.
“I didn’t particularly like the way we managed the last 15 minutes. I just thought there were some decisions we made that needed to be better in order to either score more
or not invite pressure. I thought we could have kept the ball a bit better in those periods.
“But, look, it’s a good win and we move on in healthy condition to Wednesday.”
Southgate was pleased by Shaw’s overall performance on his first international appearance since September 2018 and the way Kane led from the front in Tirana.
And Southgate was impressed with Mount and Foden. He added: “Both of them, you can see in those games where there is very little space the way they manipulate the balls into the tight areas, their vision, they are both a goal threat, they work so hard for the team.
“Both of them pressed well when we lost the ball. I thought our front four was a threat and the more the game went on the more likely we were to extend the lead.”
The Three Lions boss will see how his side fare up on Monday morning before beginning preparations for Wednesday’s match with Poland.
“We know we’ve got depth if we need people to come in and freshen up,” added Southgate.