WATCH: Southgate praises leggy England stars for grinding Serbia win | OneFootball

Gareth Southgate was full of praise for his England players after they battled to a 1-0 win against Serbia in their Euro 2024 opener.

A goal early in the first half from Jude Bellingham sent Southgate’s men on their way for only their second opening day win at a European Championships in their history. However the Three Lions hung on to the win after an unconvincing second half performance.

When asked about the overall performance, Southgate praised his players for their resilience in grinding out the win:

“We defended very well as a unit,” Southgate said. “Our team ran out of energy and that didn’t surprise me due to the lack of 90 minutes our players have had. The subs helped us.

“I think we can be more efficient with the way we played in the first half which will help us moving forward.

Southgate was also delighted with Trent Alexander-Arnold’s performance after the Liverpool fullback started the match in midfield, whilst also explaining the impact Harry Kane had in key moments of the match.

“It’s not a role he’s [Alexander-Arnold] done much before but he showed great discipline and moments of his fabulous passing range. We’re learning with him in this role and he showed some of the attributes we want.

“Whoever we play in there, we’ll be playing a young or inexperienced player in there. It was great to see him come through this test.

“We had so many options and so in control it didn’t feel like everyone needed to be involved in the game. In the second half where he held the ball up and won fouls to ease the pressure it was incredible. First half he was quiet but we were in complete control where Phil popped up in the spaces really well.

“He did an excellent job in the second half when we were struggling and his technical ability to hold the ball was really helpful. This team is still coming together.

“Everyone expects us to waltz though but there is hard work ahead. We’re short of certain things and trying to find solutions. We had a very complicated run-in to this tournament but the spirit was there to see and we’ll grow from that.”

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