England lacked intensity in Scotland draw, admits Tyrone Mings
The Three Lions missed a chance to seal qualification to the knockout stages.
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Your support makes all the difference.England defender Tyrone Mings admits his side lacked intensity in the disappointing 0-0 draw with Scotland at Euro 2020.
The Three Lions missed a chance to seal qualification to the knockout stages as an insipid display saw their oldest rivals produce the better performance at Wembley.
Mings took the positives in keeping a clean sheet but knows England were not up to speed.
Asked what was missing, he told ITV: “Just the intensity from all of us. I am delighted with the clean sheet and point because it is another step closer to what is our goal, which is qualification from this group.
“We lacked intensity but I have played in many games where the intensity hasn’t been there and we have lost, so we can take great heart from the fact we defended well, and I mean right through the team, but the intensity wasn’t quite there.
“We as a team have a responsibility to attack and defend together. We all have to take responsibility when things don’t go right.”
It was another disappointing outing for skipper Harry Kane as he failed to get into the match and was replaced with 15 minutes to go by Marcus Rashford.
Kane said a draw was the fair result.
“To be fair to Scotland they defended really well. It wasn’t our best performance,” he commented.
“It was a tough game. Scotland defended really well, made great blocks at the right times when we did have chances.
“That’s football, we’re playing at the European Championship, no games are going to be easy. Scotland are playing for their lives in the tournament and you saw that today.”
A point against Czech Republic in their final Group D fixture will seal qualification, but England will need to win on Tuesday to top the group.
Kane added: “It means we have got a big game in a few days against the Czechs. Obviously we want to finish top.
“It is a point. It is not what we wanted but it is one step closer to qualifying and that is what we want to do at the moment. It’s one step at a time and we go again.”
Boss Gareth Southgate said of Kane’s substitution: “I felt we needed a few more runs in behind. I felt Marcus would give us that energy and we had to try and get the win at that point.
“We have to make these decisions based on what we see.
“The whole team, we can look at ourselves. That starts with me.
“We have to be better, we know we didn’t do enough to win the game, not enough attempts on goal, and that is something we have to go and have a look at over the next few days.”