Southgate Admits Hungary Humiliation was ‘Chastening’ for England

England manager Gareth Southgate says it was a “chastening night” after his side copped a history-making 4-0 home loss to Hungary in the UEFA Nations League on Tuesday.

The Three Lions were humbled by 44th ranked Hungary in Wolverhampton, marking their heaviest home loss since 1928 when they went down 5-1 to Scotland.

“It is a chastening night,” Southgate told BBC. “We have not lost many football matches and when you lose so heavily, at home especially, with England that is going to be very painful.

“I am really clear on what works for us as a group and what doesn’t work as a group – tonight is a difficult night.

“My predecessors have had nights like this, I have watched them from the sofa as a kid and watched as a player, and I recognise those difficult times.

“But you can’t just be at the front when things are going well and not stand up when you have difficult experiences. That is part of football, that is part of life.”

The heavy defeat ends England’s international window of four games, with no victories and only one goal scored in a 1-1 draw with Germany.

Southgate conceded the hectic schedule meant he had to rotate his players, impacting their results.

“The responsibility lies with me for that,” he said. “But it was also difficult to put the strongest team out in every game, so we used it to prepare for Qatar.

“Of course a night like tonight is really difficult and it is important I take that off their shoulders as that’s totally down to me.”