Reality check for Three Lions

St Petersburg: England manager Gareth Southgate singled out defender John Stones for special praise and defended captain Harry Kane’s performance after they lost 0-2 to Belgium in the World Cup third place play-off, Saturday.

Southgate added that it was a really difficult game to play, three days after losing their semifinal to Croatia, and emphasised that England should not be under any illusions as to where they stand in the international football pecking order.

“Today is the seventh game in a short period of time and we’ve had incredible physical and emotional demands on the least experienced team in the tournament,” said Southgate.

“It would be wrong to judge any player on today’s (Saturday) game, if their energy levels were short. He (Kane) has captained the team exceptionally well, he has led the culture we are trying to create. Stones was absolutely outstanding and (goalkeeper Jordan) Pickford has had a wonderful tournament,” he added.

We have finished in the top four, but we are not a top four team yet. Against the best teams, we have come up short

Gareth Southgate / England coach

“It was always going to be a really difficult game,” he added. “We played one of the best teams in the world with individual talents which is incredible, and we had only two days to get ready for it.”

Southgate reiterated comments he made Friday that England should not get carried away. “We haven’t produced quite enough moments of quality around the penalty area in the tournament,” he said.

“Belgium are way ahead of us in their development as a group….and we are not at that stage,” he pointed out. “We’ve had a lot of praise but, balanced with that, a lot of reality as well, and we don’t kid ourselves at all.”