England manager Gareth Southgate insisted there were “a lot of positives” in the Three Lions’ 1-0 defeat to Italy on Friday.
Giacomo Raspadori struck the only goal of the game to condemn England to equal their worst winless streak since 2014, and also resulted in relegation to League B of the Nations League.
It marked another game without a goal for England, who are now 495 minutes without scoring from open play, and have just 90 minutes of football against Germany on Monday before the World Cup.
However, despite receiving boos from the travelling supporters at San Siro, Southgate remains positive and suggested England were the better team.
“It’s difficult for me to be too critical of the performance. We had more possession, more shots, more shots on target,” he said.
“For large parts of the game we played very well. We didn’t deal with the decisive moment defensively. We had moments where we had the chance to be decisive in their final third, [but] our quality wasn’t quite right.
“It’s a spell where ultimately results are going to be the thing that everyone reacts to, but I thought there were a lot of positives for us as a team tonight.
“Lots of good individual performances. I personally thought the performance is a step in the right direction. I completely understand because of the result that is not going to be the reaction.
“It’s really difficult to pinpoint why we are not scoring. I think we are getting into the right areas. We had the moments where we would have the pass but we just didn’t deliver that final piece of quality tonight.
“I understand the reaction at the end because that’s the results we have had in this competition. It’s an understandable emotional reaction.”
Source: Live score