Gareth Southgate unconcerned by England's poor performance against Malta

Gareth Southgate admitted his side were nowhere near their usual level but stopped short of criticising his players after their drab 2-0 win over Malta on Friday night.

The Euro 2024 qualifier brought in a big crowd at Wembley Stadium with expectations of a big home win for the already-qualified Three Lions against a side ranked 171st in the world.

But an experimental England side were poor throughout, winning courtesy of Enrico Pepe’s own goal on eight minutes and Harry Kane's 62nd international goal midway through the second half.

Southgate said: “We didn’t start the game well. I’ve been in football for 35 years and if you don’t start well, it’s really difficult to pick it up.

“We needed, of course, to show better quality with the ball but also we were a bit stretched without it and a little bit disjointed in our pressing at times.

“We were not the level we would want to be at. We were not the level that we need to be at.

“But, equally, this group of players have been exceptional and I’m not going to start getting into their ribs too much about a performance like tonight.

“We made a few changes, we didn’t hit the levels we would have liked to have but they managed to win the game.

“Not in the style we’d have liked for the supporters but, in the end, we’ve won comfortably, as we should.”

0 - England had just two shots in the first half against Malta, neither of which were on target. It's the first time England have failed to record a single shot on target in the first half of a home international since November 2017 in a friendly against Germany. Restricted. pic.twitter.com/0wX9HVEzJG

England now head onto Skopje on Monday to complete their Euro 2024 qualification campaign against North Macedonia as preparations