Gareth Southgate hopes shock defeat focuses England minds against complacency

Gareth Southgate says England's shock loss to Iceland will knock any complacency out of a team he is certain will react strongly in their Euro 2024 opener against Serbia.

Four days after beating Bosnia and Herzegovina 3-0 at St James’ Park, a sell-out Wembley crowd witnessed an alarming 1-0 defeat by a side who will watch this summer’s tournament from afar.

Iceland frustrated England and threatened to add to Jon Dagur Thorsteinsson’s early goal, with the hosts booed at the final whistle having managed just one shot on target in response.

Southgate knows Friday’s send-off friendly was a "far-from-ideal night" but believes it can benefit a group who are among the favourites to be crowned kings of the continent.

"It does focus the mind, it does focus on how we have to drive the team, the sort of reaction we need," the England boss said of the shock loss to the side 72nd in FIFA’s world rankings.

"That any sort of complacency that talent is going to get us this trophy and that we only have to sort of stroll in… I mean, football is not like that.

"You’ve got to be spot on in every aspect of the game to win any game at this level and we were a long way short of that tonight.

"Iceland deserved their win. They had a couple of other chances on the break that we didn’t deal with, so I think it really focuses our minds to drive the team over the next week."

It was a chastening evening that led to boos at Wembley, where bored fans had aimed paper planes at the pitch from the 20th minute onwards.

The outcome extinguished what was supposed to be a feel-good send-off, with a planned post-match photo with supporters scrapped as the stands had long since emptied.

England will now use everything around the Iceland loss as fuel for what Southgate