Englands disappointing defeat at the Czech Republic might have been down to several players heading into the break in poor club shape, according to Harry Maguire.
After Fridays 2-0 defeat, England have surrendered eight goals in their previous five games. In that time, Southgate has only selected the back.
Maguire, who played at Prague Danny Rose, Michael Keane and Kieran Trippier, has been the sole mainstay in the defence because November and is eager to find a back four.
Asked if there was a shortage of confidence among the back-line Maguire responded:Yes, possibly.
We deliver our team football into global level. It was a game that is tricky. Do not get me wrong, we began cluttered. We took the lead but we did not deserve to.
The second half we controlled the match far more compared to the first half we gave them a sloppy goal to win the match. We do need to improve on this.
Clearly youre wishing to create partnerships. Sometimes in level you can not really do that.
You have players that arent playing with their clubs so they dont get selected, and youve got players who pick up accidents.
You have got to accommodate. That is one of those parts of playing international football, every camp you playing with players that are distinct – you do not need to be – and also will need to come up with new partnerships.
But listen, there is no excuses. We will need to be better than Friday night. We will need to be better going forward. We will need to be better on the chunk. And we certainly need to become better at keeping the ball from the internet.
England may have sealed their eligibility for Euro 2020 having a win on Friday. If they beat Bulgaria and Kosovo fail to triumph against Montenegro, but they can still be eligible on Monday.
Southgate had success with England in the Russia World Cup in 2018 – taking them – using a three and admits he can revert to this system.
I believe we are in a challenging situation in terms of the players that have played international football with us at that area of the pitch and that are playing regularly using their clubs, Southgate said.
So, thats part of the reason we did not do that [against the Czech Republic].
Its certainly something we have considered and that I dont think we can dismiss.
I am not sure, ahead of Monday, if thats the right thing to do but were very conscious and analyzing those things
Asked if there is enough time to employ a defensive change in method before Euro 2020, Southgate explained:I think so, I think players participate in tactical concepts very fast, especially players.
So, we must keep reflecting on what is working, what is potential and learn from every experience we have.
We will learn a lot from [the Czech game]. We have had games that have not challenged us.
[That ] was a suitable evaluation and we did not come through, therefore itd be naive to take the courses from what weve observed on the pitch.
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