Yahoo Finance Graeme Souness' damning England verdict: 'Football ain't coming home with that'
Gareth Southgate admitted he and his England players have “got to be better” after they failed to beat Scotland at Wembley and were warned “football ain’t comin’ home”.
England hit the post through John Stones, but Jordan Pickford had to make a superb save and Reece James had to make a clearance to stop Scotland claiming a famous victory as Southgate’s team were loudly booed off by the home fans at full-time.
Southgate’s England side now lie second in Group D behind their next opponents Czech Republic on goal difference and former Scotland international turned television pundit Graeme Souness responded to Friday night’s draw by saying: “Football ain’t comin’ home with that team, I tell ya.”
Facing criticism for substituting Phil Foden and Harry Kane, England manager Southgate said: “The whole team can look at ourselves, that starts with me, we've got to be better. We didn't do enough to win the game tonight, not enough attempts on goal, we have to go away and look at that.
"I think it was a frustrating night, we know we can play better. We’ve got to give Scotland credit, they defended valiantly and played well. We didn't do enough to win the game, but after that the thing we have to worry about in tournament football is we had to make sure we didn't lose it. We know it's a disappointment for our supporters, but we have to dust ourselves down and move on."
England faced a smattering of jeers at half-time before being loudly booed at the end and Southgate said: “We know we didn't hit the level we wanted to or needed to, but we have to accept whatever comes our way. I totally understand that as the manager.
“What we need to do is make sure we get behind the players. The young players need the support of everybody. They'll bounce back from it, but they need everyone behind them.
“Our fans are entitled to react however they want. We're disappointed with our own performance. We're expected to beat Scotland, they're frustrated by that and in the end we've got to learn from that and deal with that.”
Former England striker Ian Wright joined in the criticism of Southgate by saying: “There’s no way Foden should be leaving the pitch. You’ve got (Jadon) Sancho on the bench - 15 goals and 20 assists a season - and he doesn’t even get on. We need to create. I’m embarrassed for us.”
On his decision to take Kane off for a second successive game, Southgate added: “We needed more runs in behind, I felt Marcus Rashford would give us that energy. We have to make these decisions based on what we see.”
On being substituted, Kane said: “It's part of the game, the manager felt that was the right decision so you just have to take it. It is what it is.”
Tyrone Mings admitted England lacked intensity, even though he was happy to be part of a defence that kept another clean sheet.
“It’s disappointing of course because we know we can play better,” said Mings. “The important thing for us as defenders and as a team going forward into the tournament, we kept another clean sheet which is a positive.
"The intensity from back to front [was missing]. I don't think they wanted it more than us but we were not fluid and dynamic as we wanted to be.”
Captain Andrew Robertson claimed Scotland were the better team at Wembley and heaped praise on Chelsea midfielder Billy Gilmour, who won the man of the match award on what was his first start for his country.
“To be honest I thought we were the better team,” said Robertson. “Obviously the fans are delighted with a draw, but on another night we could have won it and I don't think anyone can really argue with that.”
On Gilmour and his performance, Robertson added: “It’s right up there [as one of the best performances in a Scotland shirt]. I spoke to him in the hotel and just looked at him, and nothing fazes him. I believe he can have as many caps as he wants for Scotland, he has a huge future ahead, but the here and now is pretty good as well."
Scotland manager Steve Clarke said: “We had chances to win, England had moments as well. Looking at this you wouldn't have known which is the favourite, which is a credit to us. The most pleasing thing was we played when we had the ball and created a number of chances.”
