Gareth Southgate has warned his England players not to take their foot off the gas this summer after a flying start to their Euro 2024 qualification campaign.
England faced a potentially tricky opening two games in Group C but managed to come away with maximum points after winning 2-1 away to reigning champions Italy for the first time since 1961 last Thursday, and then defeating Ukraine 2-0 at Wembley Stadium on Sunday.
It was the perfect response to the disappointment of being knocked out in the World Cup quarter-finals by France in December and next up for Southgate's side will be a trip to Malta and home game against North Macedonia at Old Trafford in June.
England will be expected to come away from that double-header with another six points but Southgate insisted his team must not let their commitment levels drop – even after a hectic season interrupted by the finals in Qatar.
“I would expect everyone would want to be here and want to be a part of it,” the Three Lions manager said of the June games. “We’ll of course look to psychologically refresh the group by giving them some time off at the end of the season.
“But if we start to think that we haven’t got to turn up for games in June because the world ranking of the opponents isn’t as high as the two opponents we’ve had now, then we are in trouble, really.
“That’s not the approach we’ll be looking for and I don’t think the mentality of the team [is like that].
“We’re challenging the team to be the best in Europe in the next 13 months.
“That requires everybody’s commitment, that requires everybody to be prepared to play whenever and that requires the standards of training every day and everything we do to be at the highest level no matter who we’re playing against.”
England 2 Ukraine 0: Player ratings
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ENGLAND RATINGS: Jordan Pickford 5 – The Everton stopper had little to do, but acted as a sweeper to help switch the play with England in possession. Kept the 25th clean sheet of his England career. Getty -
Kyle Walker 6 – Staying deep as part of a back three, he had a very quiet but steady game. His pace was put to the test by Chelsea winger Mudryk. AP -
John Stones 7 – Looked solid throughout and read the game well. In one instance, though, he was guilty of stopping and appealing for an offside flag. While it was eventually raised, he may need to play to the whistle in future. Ccould have been costly. AP -
Harry Maguire 7 – Did his job well, and his diagonal passes got England moving forward. Had two free headers late on; the first was almost converted by Gallagher, the second finished inches over the post. AP -
Ben Chilwell 6 – Did well to overlap when possible and, on one occasion, supplied a good cross that Saka couldn’t quite convert. Reuters -
Declan Rice 5 – Found it difficult to get into the game and had few opportunities to get on the ball. Made a few interceptions, but was largely anonymous. AFP -
Jordan Henderson 6 - Back in the starting line-up, his first major contribution was a cross to Kane that the Spurs striker should have converted. Quiet game. Reuters -
Jude Bellingham 7 – Looked leggy early on, but grew into the match. Was given very little time and space on the ball but carried the ball forward when he could. Was applauded early in the second half for some fancy footwork and a cheeky nutmeg. PA -
Bukayo Saka 8 – The Arsenal striker was a constant menace. First, he provided an inch-perfect cross for Kane to score, and then he scored himself with a delicious curled effort from 25 yards. That’s now four goals in six games. AP -
Harry Kane 8 - Fresh from breaking England’s goalscoring record on Thursday, Kane made it 55 goals – his 22nd at Wembley – when he started and finished a move involving an inch-perfect cross from Saka. Earlier, he came close twice, first when he mis-hit from a Henderson cross, and then when he guided a Maddison ball over the bar. AFP -
James Maddison 6 - Making his first start aged 26, the Leicester man was starved of space but provided one cross that Kane almost converted. In the second half, he created a shooting opportunity with a neat turn, but his effort went over the bar. AFP -
SUBS: Ivan Toney (Kane, 81) N/A – The Brentford man won a header with his first touch, but had few opportunities to showcase his strengths. EPA -
Jack Grealish (Maddison, 85) N/A – Linked well with Gallagher immediately to create a goalscoring opportunity for the Chelsea man. Gallagher then repaid the favour, and Grealish came close with an effort at the death that was well saved by Trubin. EPA -
Conor Gallagher (Bellingham, 86) N/A – His first major touch was a shot at goal that Trubin pushed around his post for a corner. PA -
UKRAINE RATINGS: Anatoliy Trubin 6 – Had a tough first half. Could do little about either goal, and got a knock from Maddison for his troubles. Looked a little bit shaky with the ball at his feet in his own box. Made a couple of good saves in the second half, particularly late on. Reuters -
Oleksandr Karavaev 5 – Poor defending enabled Kane to put England ahead. In his defence, the Dynamo Kyiv man was being played out of position, and received little support from those around him. Reuters -
Mykola Matviyenko 6 – Seemed to have the better of his opponents in the opening exchanges but was then turned inside out by Saka for England’s second goal. Looked very comfortable in possession. AFP -
Oleksandr Svatok 6 – Making his debut, he looked tense early on but then grew confident with every touch. Overall, a solid first outing, though he can consider himself lucky not to have been carded having made four or five fouls. AFP -
Vitalii Mykolenko 5 – Was left isolated on the left hand side and struggled to deal with Saka as a consequence. Later substituted. Getty -
Ruslan Malinovskyi 6 – Recovered well from a head injury early on and had one of few shots on goal for the visitors. Unfortunately, he found Mudryk in his way. Solid performance. PA -
Taras Stepanenko 6 – Overall, he did well to limit England’s central trio throughout. Getty -
Oleksandr Zinchenko 6 – Played deep in an effort to link defence and midfield, but England’s press meant he had very little room to maneuvre. Was guilty of leaving Mykolenko isolated on several occasions. AFP -
Heorhiy Sudakov 6 – The 20-year-old forward showed some nice touches and the ability to find pockets of space. That said, he offered very little threat. EPA -
Roman Yaremchuk 4 – Has been out of form while at Brugge, and he fared little better here. Lead the line, but had very little to feed on. Getty -
Mykhailo Mudryk 5 – The Chelsea forward displayed some nice touches and had an effort from distance that finished wide of Pickford’s goal. His pace gave Walker a good run for his money, but overall he was poor. Let Saka come back on to his left foot for the opening goal. EPA -
SUBS: Vitaliy Buyalskyi (Karavaev, 61) 5 – Played behind Yaremchuk as a second centre forward as Ukraine moved to more of a 4-4-2 formation. Getty -
Viktor Tsygankov (Mudryk, 61) 7 – Looked lively when he came on, and proved to his manager that maybe he should have started. AFP -
Eduard Sobol (Mykolenko, 61) 5 – A like-for-like replacement on the left, but like his predecessor found opportunities limited. AFP -
Artem Dovbyk (Yaremchuk, 74) N/A – Few opportunities on the ball. Yevhen Konoplyanka (Stepanenko, 90) N/A. AFP
The relentless goal hunger of captain Harry Kane will be crucial in their latest attempt to win only their second major tournament.
Under Southgate, England have reached the 2018 World Cup semi-finals before going within a penalty shoot-out of winning Euro 2020 – with Kane the spearhead of both campaigns.
The 29-year-old became England record scorer by finishing from the penalty spot against Italy, and then following it up with another against Ukraine that takes his tally to 55 goals in 82 games.
“I know the goals are of course important, but I liked his all-round performances,” Southgate said of Kane, who missed a key spot-kick in the loss to France.
“He was strong with both pairs of centre-backs that he had to play against and I thought that was a really good message for the team.
“He was backing into players, he was aggressive with his play and I think that’s important for him. He’s got to continue to do that.
“He’s somebody that I think it would be easy for us to get drawn into not challenging but we’ve got to challenge him as well.
“The individual accolades are well deserved and are amazing but he wants to be part of a team that’s successful. That’s the drive with England for us to achieve that.
“He’ll be just as happy that we’ve got the six points and put ourselves in a good position in the group as getting the two goals this week as well.”
