Gareth Southgate blames England’s lacklustre display on heat as Three Lions lose in Hungary
- Seb Sternik
- 4 June 2022
England boss Gareth Southgate cited heat as one of the reasons for his team’s disappointing display away in Budapest.
The Three Lions kicked off their UEFA Nations League campaign with a 1-0 defeat, as Dominik Szoboszlai converted a second-half penalty to earn Hungary all three points.
The match was set to be played behind closed doors but due to a loophole in the rulebook, a total of 30,000 children were allowed to attend.
England, who featured debutant Jarrod Bowen, rarely threatened and appeared sluggish for the large parts of the match.
After the defeat, Southgate said: "I think we knew it was going to be a very difficult game.
"We've had difficult games with them, with Hungary, as other big nations have had. They're very difficult to break down.
"We probably lacked a half-yard I would say, in terms of our real incisiveness. I think that was more the heat than the length of the season.
"The other factor is, we haven't played together for three months and we have had three games in six months."
FT: Hungary 1-0 England
— B/R Football (@brfootball) June 4, 2022
Reminder that Germany and Italy are also in this Nations League group 🙃 pic.twitter.com/DSjYybwFM6
The England boss also suggested the team may have been incorrectly balanced as he looked to experiment ahead of the World Cup in November.
He added: "Across these four games, we are trying to balance having a look at things, finding out about players and trying to win.
"Maybe I didn't quite get the balance of that right today but we've learned a lot from it and I have to accept you are not going to win matches and you've got to ride the criticism that comes from it with the learning that should help us further down the line.
"We are disappointed because if we're going to be a team that gets to the final stages of a World Cup, these are the types of games that we have to win.
"We have a pretty good idea of what our strongest team probably is. Quite a few of those players are coming not from an ideal preparation."
Next up for England is an away clash with Germany on Tuesday night.
