Southgate claims struggle to replace Henderson and Phillips

Look, I think we have to accept this is the environment we're in. We're in the environment of winning on the biggest possible stage and if we don't hit the level, if I don't hit the level that's needed, then we have to accept what comes our way. We have to find the best way to solve that. Of course we need the fans, you know, we need the fans. But I have to say they've been brilliant. You know, they've been absolutely brilliant in the stadiums and I can completely understand their frustration with the way that we played. But what I would say is these boys aren't lacking effort at the moment. You know, they're not, it's not a case of they're not trying, they're not. But we've, we've got to find a better way of playing. We've got to find more quality in what we're doing. So I, I don't think people would look at them and say they don't care. If anything at the moment we care too much and we've got to find a way of getting that right balance. Hi Gareth, it's Matlow from the Telegraph. It's just sounded there and a couple of things you said yesterday as well that maybe some of the players are actually struggling to cope with the pressure a little bit. Would that be accurate? And also do you have a problem with the balance of the team at the moment? Well, it's, it's clear in terms of the balance of the team that we don't have our best left back available. So that denies you the opportunity for that that balance. But I think Tripps has done an incredible job for the team. So you know, his spirit, his organization, his desire have have helped us get over the line in the last two games. So that's in no way a criticism of him. But it it's obviously going to be different with the right foot to there than the left. We have been trying to find a solution in midfield for seven or eight years. If we hadn't had Declan Rice for the last few years, I don't know where we'd have been. Unfortunately, Calvin wasn't a possible for us for this tournament. Hendo the same. So we're trying to find something different and some of that, some of that has worked, some of that hasn't worked so well. But over the years, that's been a consistent problem we've tried to find the best way of solving and we've got to do that in the coming weeks as well. We have to accept that we're in an environment where we have to deliver. This is the arena we're in. So we've got to walk towards that challenge and I'm intending to walk towards it. Whatever the reaction is, I'm not going to avoid going over to the fans at the end of the game. We we confront it head on. What we've got to do is play better and show people what we're really capable of. Take the last two questions here up front, please. Hi, Gareth, Sam Romero, Daily Mail. You mentioned the the the lack of control potentially in, in the middle of in, in midfield. How much do you put? How much is that linked to the Trent playing in there and not having, in your eyes, not having a genuine center midfielder who plays in that position every week? Well, one of our biggest problems was we weren't pressing well enough as a team. So he had all sorts of problems to solve without the ball. And most of those he did really, really well. Yeah, clearly you're going to see different pictures when you're in there every week. And you know, he's he's had moments where he's played the passes that we thought he could. So, yeah, we're looking at a team performance where I know and I understand you're always going to ask me about individuals, but the team didn't function today. That's my responsibility. So I have to, you know, I'm in control of that. I have to find solutions to that. The players are giving absolutely everything they have. As I said earlier, if anything, they, they, they're showing they care too much. And yeah, it's it's for me to to find better solutions than we've shown, excuse me in the last couple of matches. Last question, please, Gareth, Paul Joyce at times, how big a challenge is this for you to turn it round now? Because you said after Iceland, similar problems that we've seen today and that was going to be a wake up call. It doesn't seem to have acted like that. So how big is the challenge you face now? The the challenge is to do something that's never been done before. So it couldn't be any bigger. And we know that we've had a lot of issues to deal with in the lead into that, but we are where we are now and we have to find the best way forward. So that that's the responsibility I have. I've got lead the group in the right way, make intelligent decisions to to find the best balance, to find more of a threat with what we're delivering with the ball and to be better without the ball so that we're not needing to defend for the long periods of the game that we are at the moment.