England boss Gareth Southgate admitted his team were “harsh on themselves” at half-time of their eventual 1-0 win against Switzerland on Tuesday at the King Power Stadium.
The Three Lions went into the dressing room level at 0-0 after a lacklustre first half of their friendly against the Swiss. And Southgate allowed the players a customary few minutes alone before the coaching staff came in to speak with the team and seemed pleased with what he found.
Southgate said: “I wasn’t in there at that moment because we always give them the first three or four minutes to themselves. We always encourage them to have a voice.
“They were frustrated the first half. It’s important they feel close enough that they can get on to each other. We have to make sure that doesn’t boil over but it was quite calm by the time we got in there.
“That’s a good sign there’s some leadership in the group. They recognise when they want to be better. Today they were harsh on themselves.”
Marcus Rashford scored the game’s only goal — his second in as many games for England after netting against Spain on Saturday. And Southgate also revealed after the match that he was thrilled to have been able to get the Manchester United forward quality minutes with the national team.
“We were very keen that he had the opportunity, we were determined to give him some match minutes,” said Southgate.
“He’s a big part of our future. We think he’s a fantastic talent with a great mentality. We’ve really talked to him a lot about being in the penalty box more, higher up the pitch — and both of his goals have come in those areas.
“We know he can score spectacular goals from long range, but you’ll be limited in numbers if that’s where your goals are coming from.
“His work for the team was fantastic and he’ll feel very confident going into the games coming up. He misses the next few, which is why he started again. A real breakthrough for him.”