Gareth Southgate calls England defeat to Italy ‘a step in the right direction’

Gareth Southgate said that he will shoulder the responsibility for England’s terrible run of form after the manager was booed by his own supporters following his side’s insipid 1-0 defeat to Italy last night.

England’s World Cup preparations suffered another dent after Giacomo Raspadori’s superb winner condemned them to relegation from the top tier of the Nations League. The Euro 2020 finalists, who are certain to finish bottom of Group A3, have gone five games without a competitive win for the first time since 1992 and have not scored from open play for 450 minutes – their worst run in 22 years.

The statistics made it hard to accept Southgate calling the display against Italy “a step in the right direction”. The 52-year-old, who described the jeers from the travelling support at the San Siro as an “understandable emotional reaction”, insisted that England had simply not managed the fine margins well enough against opponents who have failed to qualify for the World Cup.

However Southgate, who was also barracked by supporters after England lost 4-0 to Hungary in June, acknowledged that the situation is far from ideal as Qatar 2022 draws closer. Monday’s Nations League match against Germany at Wembley is England’s final outing before their World Cup opener against Iran and Southgate accepted that he is under increasing scrutiny.

“We are where we are in terms of the timing, so we’ve got to do the best we can in terms of keeping the guys on track,” Southgate said. “The reaction to tonight will be guided by the result, but we weren’t far off in terms of the performance. I’ve got to keep the players believing in what they’re doing.

“We are in a run of bad results. It’s for us to put that right. The only way to do that is to