The Three Lions followed up an assured opening victory with a sluggishly frustrated performance against Steve Clarke’s heroically stubborn visitors
Gareth Southgate acknowledged that England did not do enough to win their Group D encounter with Scotland at Wembly Stadium, but added that the result will be a learning curve for his young side at Euro 2020.
The Three Lions were unable to break down a heroically stubborn defensive effort from Steve Clarke’s visitors, who heavily restricted their hosts’ delivery options throughout to earn a hard-fought point.
In the wake of a faster, more assured display against Croatia on Sunday, it made for a disappointing comedown on a rain-swept London night, a mood drop the England manager was quck to acknowledge
What has been said?
“I think it was a frustrating night, we know we can play better,” Southgate told ITV in his post-match comments. “[You’ve] got to give Scotland credit, they defended valiantly and played well.
“We didn’t do enough to win the game but the thing we have to worry about in tournament football after that is we had to make sure we didn’t lose it.”
“The whole team can look at ourselves, [and] that starts with me – we’ve got to be better. We didn’t do enough to win the game tonight, [wit] not enough attempts on goal
“We have to go away and look at that. We know it’s a disappointment for our supporters, but we have to dust ourselves down and move on.”
Manager coy on selection choices
Southgate made just the two changes to the side that beat Croatia, swapping out wing-backs Kyle Walker and Kieran Trippier for Reece James and Luke Shaw, with the reportedly fit-again Harry Maguire overlooked both to start and off the bench.
Yet for the second game in a row, the 50-year-old made the choice to remove captain Harry Kane, after the Tottenham forward endured another barren, lethargic night in front of goal, with Marcus Rashford brought on to replace him a quarter-hour out from full-time.
“We needed more runs in behind, [and] I felt Marcus Rashford would give us that energy,” Southgate added. “We have to make these decisions based on what we see.
“We’re still working those patterns, we’re playing a high level of games under the intensity and to find space tonight was difficult. Scotland played well and we weren’t able to open them up.
“I know exactly where this team is – it’s a young team and some of them won’t have experienced a night under this intensity and pressure, that’s a huge learning for then. That’s what we have to look at moving forward.”
Robertson: I’d put Gilmour’s performance right up there
Scotland star Andy Robertson said 20-year-old midfielder Billy Gilmour, named star of the match, has a “big future” for their country.
Gilmour plays for Chelsea at the club level.
“I’d put Gilmour’s performance right up there, right up there,” Robertoson told ITV. “I spoke to him in the hotel earlier and looked at him, and to be fair to Billy nothing fazes him. I believe he can have as many caps as he wants for Scotland. He’s got a big future, but the here and now’s pretty good for him too.
Robertson continued on the general performance of the team: “We had the big chances, at times we kept the ball superbly well, frustrated England and on another night could have come away with more.
“We’ll take a point, it keeps us alive. But it’s important we use the feeling, the feeling, the fans being happy with us going into Tuesday and try to use it to get a positive result to get out of the group.”
The bigger picture
England will spend little time remonstrating on their failure to crack the Tartan Army wide open now, as they prepare for a crucial clash with the Czech Republic on Tuesday.
While a draw will be enough to secure a top-two finish in Group D for the Three Lions, it will also result in them finishing second behind Jaroslav Silhavy’s side, a result that may hand a theoretically easier last-16 tie to Southgate and company, avoiding second-place in the heavyweight Group F.
However, it would take them away from the home comforts of Wembley too, to Copenhagen, for the first part of the knockout stages, while World Cup holders France could be a probable opponent in the quarter-finals in Saint-Petersburg.
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