The England manager Gareth Southgate watched his team lose their 100% winning run as in the 92nd minute Poland’s midfielder Damian Symanski won a header against Luke Shaw to make it 1-1 and to salvage a point for his team.
Tottenham’s Harry Kane had given the Three Lions the lead with a long-range shot that beat Arsenal’s old keeper Wojciech Szczesny and they looked well on course for their third win in a week until Symanski popped up in added time.
Mikel Arteta will be happy though, as Southgate left Bukayo Saka on the bench for the whole of the game, but the Arsenal youngster will be happy that he got to play the whole 90 minutes against Andorra and to get on the scoresheet.
The Three Lions boss got some stick after the game for not using any of his subs at all during the 90 minutes, but he defended his actions by saying: “We were playing well, we were in control,” he told the BBC.
“At those moments, it’s not easy to come on as a substitute and we would be taking people off for the sake of it, frankly.
“We were in total control, there was no issue, why disrupt it when you’re in control?”
Although Southgate will consider this two points lost in the race for qualification for the World Cup, England are still 5 points ahead of last night’s opponents and 4 ahead of second-placed Albania with just 4 games to go.
But look on the bright side Gooners, Saka only played one game and will be fit and ready to face Norwich at the weekend…
Apart from his goal, Kane was poor and continually misplaced passes or lost possession.Stones , Rice and to a lesser extent Sterling were the pick of the England players to me.Once again Mount and Grealish flattered to deceive.Despite the Manager’s assertions ,I would have replaced Phillips and Mount with Bellingham and Saka after 75mins.A very energetic performance from Poland, which bordered on thuggery at times, but how I wish Arsenal had a centre forward like the magnificent Lewandoski.A truly great footballer.
No mater England are through and yes we have a fit Saka back. I see Southgate’s point if they conceded the goal after two late subs everyone would be saying why did he not keep the same team out there. Managers need thick skin 🙂
But to say we were in control.
Can you ever be in control at 1-0?
3-0 with 3 mins to go is in control but 1-0?
Just shows how important playing to the last second can be and how important scoring the second goal to finish them off is.
All mill for the grist.
I really don’t see what the big deal was him not putting on subs they may still of conceded at the Last minute anyways then the media would say the subs affected England’s performance
I really don’t see what the big deal was him not putting on subs they may still of conceded at the Last minute anyways then the media would say the subs affected England’s performance
If England don’t sack Southgate, you guys will continue to be perennial under achievers. That game against Poland was begging for Saka to come in for Grealish who was just holding play on the left and not making any crosses in for Keane or Sterling which Saka would have done loads of. What a shame England didn’t win that match by at least 2-0.
Jeez Franko, England lost the Final on penalties. Sack the manager????
So every other manager that didnt get to the Final should also be sacked?
With the caliber of players England has produced in the last 8-10 yrs, they should have won a major title by now. But sadly, only the England junior teams have taken advantage of their talent and won major title. Southgate is too cautious and not a risk taker to take England to the next level. Not a single substitution against Poland.
Franko what the hell are you talking about under achiever the got to the semifinals in the world cup final in euros
Well, if you feel making the semi final every time is good enough for you, then goodluck.