Enrico Pepe’s accidental goal, followed by Harry Kane’s second-half score, secured England three points in their clash at Wembley on Friday, marking the team’s fourth consecutive win under Southgate’s leadership.
The Three Lions have triumphed in all but one of their seven Euro 2024 qualifying matches, securing a spot in next year’s competition in Germany. Despite this, Southgate expressed disappointment with his team’s performance against Malta, a team that has faced defeat in every Group C match. He voiced concerns about his team’s condition as the tournament draws near.
“We didn’t hit the heights we have done this calendar year. If you don’t start games well it’s very difficult to pick it up and we didn’t,” he remarked to BBC Radio 5 Live. “We know the level we’ve got should be better, can be better. Those games that you know you can win at a canter, the number of games these players are playing, it’s almost a self-regulation. So not enough quality on the ball, and not enough chances created, but I have been a player and I know exactly how those games feel. Clearly it’s possible we could have had three or four with the decisions as well, but we didn’t create enough clear chances to deserve that anyway.”
He further stated, “We have a lot of players that weren’t in there. I thought Trent [Alexander-Arnold], Phil [Foden] and Marc Guehi were good and Cole Palmer coming on for his debut had a good impact. There are positives, but we know we were not where we want to be and can be.”
England’s Euro 2024 qualifying journey will conclude with a match against North Macedonia on Monday. Their upcoming fixture after that will be a friendly against Brazil in March.
England performance and stats
England
England is currently playing the Euro Qualification. It won its previous match 2-0 against Malta.
England will play the next match in Euro Qualification against North Macedonia on Monday 20th of November in Skopje. The prediction is England winning the match.
