England forward Raheem Sterling has leapt to the defence of national team boss Gareth Southgate amid the side’s poor recent run of results.
The Three Lions have been relegated from the UEFA Nations League Group A after managing only two draws and one goal from five games in a poor campaign.
The side’s lack of adventure or dare has been frustrating for supporters, having only scored one goal throughout the competition, that coming from a Harry Kane penalty.
But that comes after England made last year’s Euro 2020 final, while they were semi-finalists at the 2018 World Cup too.
“For what he has done since he has been in the job, he’s taken us to a semi-final and a final, and it just shows the direction we are going in,” Sterling told reporters.
“Yes, we know we are not at the level we can be right now, but I still think we have positives to look at.
“After the summer, we all had to come away and look at ourselves. None of us were proud of those performances and I don’t think it is for Gareth to shoulder all of that blame.
“We’ve got players in our squad that have played at the highest level, and we need to take some of that responsibility and start to put some of these performances right, and win football matches.
“That is what we are here for. We are not a country here to just take part, we want to win things. We’ve spoken as a collective and I think we are in the right state to put things right.”
Chelsea star Sterling added: “We all know that is what comes with football and playing at the highest level. You are under scrutiny and a lot of it is unfair, of course, but that is the level we are at with England.
“We are always under that pressure to win, and this small loss of form is not something we need to panic about. We now have a big opportunity coming up in the winter to go out and show what we can do again.”
Firstly, England have a big chance to appease some of the angst when they take on Germany at Wembley on Monday in their final Nations League fixture.
England are in Group B with Iran, United States and Wales at the World Cup in Qatar.
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