Gareth Southgate is delighted with England’s attacking success after overreacting to Ukraine’s dismal draw
The Three Lions dominated Scotland with a 3-1 friendly win at Hampden Park on Tuesday night, with goals from Foden, Bellingham and Harry Kane canceling out an unfortunate Harry Maguire own goal.
Bellingham was named man of the match in a game commemorating the 150th anniversary of the two nations’ first international football match in 1872.
Asked whether England had found a plan for Euro 2024, Southgate instead expressed his feelings about the overreaction to Saturday’s dismal 1-1 draw with Ukraine in Poland.
He said: “Different game, different place, different opponent. Ukraine sat deep, making it difficult to find space. Tonight we had space for runners, so it was just a different game.
“We played pretty well – I know the roof fell over the weekend because it wasn’t the performance people wanted, but we had a week where we took a significant step towards qualification and we “We performed really well tonight.”
“I thought the players from one to 11, with the substitutes, it was one of those nights where they all performed well.”
Foden played on the right side of a three-man group against Scotland that also featured Kane and Marcus Rashford, while there were calls for Southgate to move either the Manchester City man or Tottenham’s James Maddison into central midfield.
Southgate praised Foden, who he said was in the right position. He said: “I’m especially happy for him as I’ve had a lot of questions about him this week.
“He scored a goal and I thought his performance was really good. Even without the ball he did a really good job for us. I think that’s overlooked sometimes.”
Bellingham played in a very advanced midfield position against Scotland and justified this selection with a goal and an assist.
It is a similar role to that at Real Madrid, where he scored five goals in his first four games after joining from Borussia Dortmund for £88.5million this summer.
Asked if Bellingham was in his best position, Southgate said: “I think that high midfield position is an attacking eight or where he played tonight.” [is his best position].
“He likes to run forward. He can go in the box. His receiving game is slightly better in these areas and tonight his athleticism when pressing was important as Scotland’s system is difficult to play against.
“We changed our system slightly to apply pressure all over the pitch and he did it well.”
https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/england-gareth-southgate-phil-foden-jude-bellingham-scotland-ukraine-b1106602.html Gareth Southgate is delighted with England’s attacking success after overreacting to Ukraine’s dismal draw
