Southgate is a brilliant manager, says Pickford

JORDAN Pickford has leapt to the defence of “brilliant” England boss Gareth Southgate and insisted the Three Lions will head to Qatar with positivity despite a six-match winless run, writes George Sessions.

The winter World Cup will get under way in three weeks’ time with England beginning their campaign against Iran on Sunday, November 21 before further Group B fixtures with USA and Wales.

Given England’s exploits at the European Championships in 2021 and the previous World Cup, they were predicted to be among the contenders next month, but a poor run of form in the Nations League has cast doubt over their potential to lift silverware in the Middle East.

Southgate’s side lost twice to Hungary back in June, including an embarrassing 4-0 loss at Molineux, and played out draws with Germany in the summer and September international windows in addition to a stalemate with Italy at Wembley and a 1-0 loss in Milan.

Pickford was not involved in the last four matches due to a mixture of injury and rotation, but pointed to England’s runner-up showing at the

Euros and their semi-final run at the 2018 World Cup as reasons to be positive.

“Gareth is a brilliant manager,” Pickford told the PA news agency. “He is brilliant and we will go to the World Cup positive. We will give it our best shot and hopefully bring the cup home.

“I think for us it is about making the nation proud and doing our best in the tournament. We know what we are capable of doing and we have great squad togetherness. We will be going to Qatar positive as anything after the last two tournaments.”