Southgate pinpoints problems Belgium caused England

Gareth Southgate highlighted the areas where Belgium caused England problems, but added the experience will do his squad good.

England defeated FIFA’s No 1-ranked side on Sunday evening 2-1 to move to the top spot of Group A2 in the Nations League.

The two sides traded penalties in the first-half, with Romelu Lukaku and Marcus Rashford both on target. Although Belgium were largely the better team in the opening 45 minutes amid a rather conservative approach from Southgate’s men.

Things improved for the hosts at Wembley, however, after the break. They enjoyed more possession and seemed more threatening before Mason Mount’s deflected effort sealed all three points and a 20th home win in 21 competitive outings.

But rather than get carried away with the victory, Southgate acknowledged Belgium’s quality afterward. He did, though, feel the experience would’ve served his younger players well for the future.

“They are a top side, an absolute top side,” the England boss told Sky Sports.

“We knew some of the questions they would ask us, down the sides of our defensive block, but to answer those questions is more difficult.

“The timing of their runs and overloading us in wide areas, there is so much decision making for our players, defensively, to make. For sure, they caused us problems with that – and we didn’t retain the ball well enough in our build-up.

“We were a bit slow to move the ball up the pitch, we didn’t ask enough questions overstretching them, which would have allowed us to drop players lower as well.

“But it was a top-level game and we had a lot of young players there – [Declan] Rice, Mount, Trent [Alexander-Arnold] – for whom that was a really great experience.

“You don’t come into these games and play their sort of quality, their level of team, without having to deal with those problems. We had to see that spell through, and what pleased me was that we had the resilience to do so.”

England will now welcome Denmark to Wembley on Wednesday for their next Nations League match.