Southgate calls on England to stick to their principles
GARETH SOUTHGATE says England must stick together and stay true to their principles as t hey look t o bounce back from the worst run of his managerial r eign with t he World Cup looming large.
Having reached the semifinals in Russia four years ago and having finished runners-up in last summer’s European Championship, the Three Lions are among the favourites to lift the trophy in Qatar this winter.
But things have gone off course at just the wrong time for England, who suffered the ignominy of relegation from the Nations League top tier with a game to spare on Friday night.
June defeats home and away to Hungary were compounded by a meek 1-0 loss to Italy, extending their winless streak to five matches – the national team’s longest run without a victory since 2014.
Southgate was booed by some of the travelling support at San Siro, where he was quick to underline the importance of the group staying focused in the wake of Friday’s galling loss.
“We can’t say that there’s no value,” he said of the Nations League. “These were important matches against top-level teams. As I said [previously], there are a lot of reasons for the results in the summer. So we are in a run of bad results.
“But it’s for us to put that right and the only way to do that is to stick with what we believe, stick with what’s got us success in the previous tournaments. And, in the end, the players have got to stay really tight because there is going to be a lot of noise, but a lot of that will be around me and that’s absolutely fine. It’s my job to take that pressure for them.”