Southgate lauds ‘outstanding’ England star as he refuses to ‘hammer’ players for sub-par performance | OneFootball

Trent Alexander-Arnold and Gareth Southgate.

England head coach Gareth Southgate admitted his players didn’t have to “extend themselves” to beat Malta and he is not going to “hammer them” for it.

England booked their place at next year’s European Championships before this international break but they hosted Malta in their penultimate group game on Friday night at Wembley.

The Three Lions were gifted the lead inside the opening ten minutes as Malta defender Enrico Pepe scored an own goal.

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The hosts were unable to kick on following this breakthrough as Southgate‘s side struggled to find a rhythm. They made hard work of what should have been an easy group match before Harry Kane’s 62nd international goal took the game away from Malta with around 15 minutes to go.

Declan Rice later appeared to have added a third but his finish was chalked off for offside following a VAR check. In the end, England were made to settle for a 2-0 victory which leaves them six points clear of Italy and Ukraine in Group C.

Speaking post-match, Southgate praised Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold – who lined up in midfield – as he has “outstanding quality”.

“It was a game when we didn’t start well and if you don’t start well it’s hard to pick the game up. We got a goal out of nothing really,” Southgate told reporters.

“But the quality on the ball is not normally at that level and it was a game where the players knew they could win at a canter and didn’t extend themselves.

“These players have played so many games and have done so well for us so I am not going to hammer them for it. We weren’t where we [should be] but we got the win.”

On Alexander-Arnold: “He has got outstanding quality. He and Phil [Foden] were the two in the first half that looked like opening the game up for us.

“Marc Guehi was good at the back and the changes brought more quality. They don’t lose by fives and sixes and obviously, we didn’t create as many chances as we’d like to.”

Kane admitted after the final whistle that it was not England’s “finest performance” against Malta.

“It was not our finest performance, let’s say, but sometimes you play a team who have got more quality than people think,” Kane said.

“At the start of the game, we missed the right tempo. We were sloppy and we couldn’t quite build.

“In the second half we had more control and created chances. But overall, it’s a 2-0 win.”