Gareth Southgate believes it’s positive England had to suffer at times in Serbia win
Gareth Southgate believes it’s “really good” that England had to suffer at times in their victory against Serbia.
Jude Bellingham headed home the only goal of the game after 13 minutes to give England a winning start to Euro 2024.
The win sends the Three Lions top of Group C following Denmark’s draw with Slovenia earlier on Sunday.
Southgate reacts to England win
England started the game well and were rewarded with the lead after 13 minutes as Bellingham arrived in the box to head home, but as has been the case too often under Southgate they seemed to retreat and invite pressure from Serbia.
The second half was a tough watch as Serbia made things difficult for the Three Lions, who at times found themselves boxed in their own half and suffering, but they managed to hold on for an important three points.
Southgate felt is was “really good” for his team to suffer and he was pleased with a lot of England’s play.
“They are a strong team, we had to suffer a bit which I think is really good for us,” he told BBC Sport.
“I think to defend the box the way we did was really good for us, I was really pleased with a lot of the play.
“Second half we didn’t keep it as well as I would have liked but to get the win is very important.”
Southgate was also full of praise for match winner and man of the match Bellingham saying the midfielder “writes his own scripts.”
“He writes his own script, the timing of his runs, it was a super bit of play in the build-up of his play,” he added.
“I think all of our forward players looked really good.
“I am confident we will score goals, playing against a back five it is not easy to create chances and we did.
“I liked the fact we had to suffer without the ball because that is an area we have worked on a lot this week, we were obviously much better than last week at doing that.”
Next up for England is Denmark on Thursday before they take on Slovenia to round out the group stage.
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