Gareth Southgate praises Marcus Rashford and Kieran Trippier work rate for inspiring England comeback
An improved defensive showing led to more chances being created in attack
Your support helps us to tell the story
This election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.
The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.
Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.
Gareth Southgate was pleased his England team found the right answers to the questions posed by Belgium, as goals from Marcus Rashford and Mason Mount earned a 2-1 win at Wembley.
The manager praised both the goalscorers, along with left wing-back Kieran Trippier, as keys to solving the problems of a tough first half thanks to their movement on and off the ball.
“Rashford and Mount were phenomenal with their performances. You can’t just play with the ball. We can be free-scoring but against the very best the detail of how you defend as a team has got to be absolutely bang-on,” Southgate told ITV Sport.
“We were getting caught on transitions, Belgium were to play directly into [Lukaku] and we should have been positionally better on those transitions.
“Trippier was like a soldier out there, unbelievable defensive performance.”
Southgate further acknowledged that a single result won’t mean any chance of thinking the hard work is done, particularly given the way his side were dominated in the first half.
The manager instead wants to focus on continual improvement and finding consistency in their results, starting with the next Nations League fixture on Wednesday.
"We’ve got loads we can get better at. We’re not carried away by this win, we’ve got to back it up against Denmark first and foremost.
“To come through those games on a top side and to know they were challenged defensively, they are games of concentration and games of detail. For our guys to come through that was a big moment for them.”
England have lost three of their 20 matches played since Belgium won the third-place play-off clash at Russia 2018.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments