Yet the comprehensive nature of England's 1-0 win in the Amsterdam backyard of old rivals who have held sway over them for a generation still felt like an encouraging breakthrough for manager Gareth Southgate on Friday. "I was really pleased with the quality of our football," Southgate told reporters. For me, there were lots of individual positives and the most pleasing thing is the players enjoyed their football tonight. Now, though, he was left overseeing a display in the 1-0 victory which, even given the evident poverty of the Dutch performance, gave a whiff of poise, pace and progression from a side with an experimental feel. "They will concede possession sometimes, for sure, but I am enjoying watching them play at the moment."

Source: The Star March 24, 2018 01:07 UTC