England lost a qualifying match for the first time in 10 years in Friday’s 2-1 loss to the Czech Republic.
The setback opened up Group A again as Gareth Southgate’s manne missed out on the chance to book their place at Euro2020 and have to get back on track in Monday’s 8.45pm showdown with Bulgaria.
Harry Kane opened the scoring from the penalty spot after five minutes in Prague, before Jakub Brabec and Zdenek Ondrasek turned the game on its head to snatch the points.
And a disappointed Southgate hit out at his players for getting ahead of themselves, having reached the semifinals of the World Cup and the Nations League in the last two years.
OPENER: Harry Kane's opening goal was not enough to secure a victory. Picture: Petr David Josek/AP.
He says: “It’s not for me to tell the public not to dream and not to have hope. I think internally, we have to be different and be realistic and we haven’t changed our tone on that at all.
“To be a really top team, with players with experience of winning the biggest matches, we’re still some way from that.’
After his team failed to adapt from a 3-4-3 formation to 4-2-3-1, the coach added: “I think players take in tactical concepts very quickly, especially top players.
“So, we have to keep reflecting on what’s working, what’s possible and learn from every experience we have.
“We’ve had straightforward qualifying games that haven’t challenged us.”
Kane: "We’ve all reflected on our performance and looked at how we can do better and hopefully that will show. If we win tomorrow night we’re still in a fantastic position going into the last two games." pic.twitter.com/3t9vpAOxjk
— England (@England) October 13, 2019
Meanwhile, Belgium and Italy showed the Poms how its done, by becoming sealing their qualification this weekend, with wins over San Marino (9-0) and Greece (2-0) respectively.