Gareth Southgate has admitted that England rely too much on Harry Kane and Rahim Stirling to be champions after his team struggled in a boring goalless draw against Italy, leaving them without an open goal in three games. League of Nations this month.
Clean opportunities were few in Molineux, although Mason Mount hit the crossbar early and Stirling missed England’s best chance shortly after half-time. They did not take full advantage of the 59% stake, and Southgate admitted that his team was dumb in the future, which further burdens their biggest names.
“We rely very, very much on Harry and Rahim for our goals at the moment, and that’s a concern,” he said. “We continue to work on getting the balls in the right zones, but in the end, the quality of the game in the attacking zones is crucial. There was a bit of a lack of sharpness in those areas in the three games, really. I think today we had the players on the field, we made the changes that we hoped to refresh the team, but we also played with an Italian team that was very well organized.
“We had a long discussion [on Friday] on the need for better control of games, which is undoubtedly a desire, but controlling possession games does not guarantee goals. After all, if you don’t score, then you’re open to criticism, as I’m sure we will be. “
The removal of Stirling and Kane, who came in as a reserve in the second half, from the equation, the midfielders and strikers of England have 18 international goals. Tammy Abraham missed an early opportunity to add to his three, while Southgate pointed out that Jack Grillish, who made a much-sought-after start, rarely looked like a goal.
“Jack is what he saw tonight,” he said. “He takes the ball, he holds the ball really well, he has such close control that he can put teams on their backs. I think he only had one goal attempt tonight and I go back to what we say with all our attacking players: Harry and Rahim are the ones who are constantly scoring goals right now. This is an area that we need to improve if we want to progress as a team. “
Southgate welcomed Kane’s consistency, but reiterated that the supporting cast needs to be strengthened. “The worry is that you don’t have it for some reason,” he said. “Every top team relies on its best players: of course, in the end, the quality of your top players is an important factor in determining your success.
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“We are lucky to have some very good ones and our captain’s goal record is phenomenal. But we need to start distributing that burden, and there are players who celebrate more regularly with their clubs; we need to turn this into international football and keep working to get them in the right zones. “
England were lucky at times in the first half, but dominated the last half hour, and Southgate said a normal crowd, apart from the 2,000 children who were allowed to attend under the stadium ban, could have pushed them over the limit. . “This is the period when if we had a full house, there would be a difference,” he said.
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