Gareth Southgate took full responsibility for England’s heavy home defeat against Hungary on what he described as a “chastening night” for his side.
It was the heaviest defeat England have sustained on their own shores since 1928 and completed a dispiriting set of Nations League results over the past 11 days. Hungary’s resounding win at Molineux meant they did the double over Southgate’s side, who also drew with Germany and Italy. None of those games brought a goal from open play and losing so convincingly against a side hardly ranked among the world’s elite raises uncomfortable questions before the World Cup kicks off in November.
“It’s a chastening night,” Southgate said. “We’ve not lost many matches and when you lose so heavily with England it’s going to be very, very painful.
“I feel for [the players] because, in the two Hungary games in particular, I picked teams where I tried to balance the squad, give young players opportunities, and I didn’t get the balance right for them to perform at the level they needed to win those matches.”
Southgate made nine changes from the Italy game but Harry Kane, Kyle Walker, John Stones, Kalvin Phillips and Bukayo Saka were among the regulars who started. “The players have been fantastic,” the manager said. “The responsibility lies with me. It was very difficult to put the strongest team out in every game so we used it to prepare for Qatar. But of course a night like tonight is very difficult and it’s important to take that off their shoulders because it’s totally down to me.”
The crowd made no secret of their displeasure as Hungary turned the screw in the second half, with widespread chants of “You don’t know what you’re doing” and audible catcalls from the stands. It was a far cry from the adulation heaped on Southgate for much of his tenure and he admitted the criticism was “not pleasant”, while accepting it comes with the territory.
“I’ve got to accept that the next period will be unpleasant and uncomfortable, but you’re never going to have six years like we’ve had and not have difficult nights,” he said.
“I knew the role before I took it. I would say [the change in tone] has happened over 10 days, not 11 months, but I saw all my predecessors go through that and I know great people like Sir Bobby Robson, what he had to go through and how he was viewed in the end on getting the team to a World Cup semi-final.
“Football is emotional, people pay to come and watch, will give an opinion. The team weren’t able to deliver tonight, that’s my responsibility so if the flak comes my way I have to deal with that.”
It gives Southgate plenty to concern him five months out from their opening World Cup fixture but his confidence in England’s prospects has not taken a hit. “We’ve always said we’re one of the group of teams that can be pushing in the winter,” he said. “I don’t think that’s different. Other big teams have had difficult periods in this competition, it’s been a really unique set of circumstances for every country to deal with. I’m looking at the balance across Europe and there are a lot of countries in a similar situation.”
The Hungary manager, Marco Rossi, sees his team sit atop Nations League group A3 and said he would celebrate a famous win by watching the Red Hot Chili Peppers on Wednesday night. “When I will die, I hope as late as possible, I hope that in the stadiums in Hungary there’ll be one minute of silence, and this will be a great achievement for me,” he said of the victory’s significance.
