Gareth Southgate insisted he was pleased with England’s performance after defeat to Brazil dampened optimism about the chances of glory at Euro 2024.
Brazil left Wembley with a 1-0 victory after Endrick, their 17-year-old star, came off the bench to punish poor defending with his first goal for his country. An injury-hit England had struggled to convince and were caught out after a mistake from the substitute Lewis Dunk.
But Southgate, who confirmed that Harry Kane will be unavailable again when England host Belgium on Tuesday, refused to be downhearted. The head coach was without several key players and took positives from handing debuts to Anthony Gordon, Ezri Konsa and Kobbie Mainoo.
“I was pleased,” Southgate said. “I don’t like losing matches. I thought there were lots of very good individual performances from players who’ve hardly played for England. I thought our regular players were very good. With 15 minutes to go we’re thinking we’ve managed to see a lot of new players. We’ve had our share of the game. We’ve had as many attempts on goal as they have. The difference in the end was one moment. That is the ruthlessness at this level.
“I know when you lose there will always be a negative reaction. But, given all the changes that we’d made, I thought the crowd were with the team. They could see a lot of young players going in and doing well. I’m not down on the performance.”
England struggled to hurt Brazil without Kane, who will return to Bayern Munich for further treatment on his injured ankle. Bukayo Saka was also missed on the right flank. It was difficult for Ollie Watkins to shine as Kane’s deputy.
“We’re playing a top team so chances are going to be limited,” Southgate said. “But I was really pleased with the players who went in. We need to find out about them. We need to know where we might head if we didn’t have Harry for a big match. I thought Ollie did a good job. He didn’t get that clear chance on goal but a lot of his work was very good. It was a good experiment.”
England had to make an early change at right-back, Kyle Walker making way for Konsa. Southgate, who hopes that Cole Palmer and Jordan Henderson will be fit to face Belgium, could not offer clarity on the issue that forced Walker off. “He isn’t sure whether it’s just tightness,” he said. “I expect he’s feeling it’s a little bit more.”
Southgate acknowledged that England conceded chances to a menacing Brazil attack. “You’re dealing with exceptional quality,” he said. “There were a couple of moments. Vinícius got inside Kyle the one he got injured on. There were a couple of great quality passes, one-twos, but you’re talking about in that attacking third who are at the very highest level of the game.
“You are going to have moments where your goalkeeper has to make a save or your defenders pull off an outstanding block. I thought we also had those moments at the other end. I thought it was a really even game. If it was a draw it would have been a completely fair result.”
Southgate needs to make a decision on which midfielder accompanies Declan Rice and Jude Bellingham at the Euros. Conor Gallagher started with Rice and Bellingham against Brazil.
“I think they did really well,” Southgate said. “Conor’s in a slightly different position, having to play a bit deeper. We managed to play through the pressure well. I thought Declan was outstanding with and without the ball. We’re short of a few. We don’t have a lot of midfield players who play as sixes in the league. That’s why we brought Kobbie in.”
There was praise for the debutants. “I thought Anthony was very good,” Southgate said. “Both sides of his game looked very accomplished. Ezri showed real composure and he should be really happy with his debut. Kobbie was a chance to dip his toes. To get Kobbie on the pitch was a brilliant moment for him and his family. You saw a couple of turns and composed moments. There’s a bit of an indication about what he might become.”
