Gareth Southgate revealed that he had been forced to prepare his players for his new three-man defence on a tactics board, having decided six weeks ago that it was the best way to face Germany.

The new system was a success, bringing the best out of Adam Lallana and Dele Alli and allowing England to press high up the pitch, but the new manager has had only one and a half training sessions to introduce it.

“We had to be a bit creative in how we did it,” said Southgate – who was satisfied, having taken a gamble by employing the first England three-man defence since the 2008 defeat in Croatia which saw Steve McClaren sacked. “We couldn’t train on the field too many times. We are able to walk through certain things and have meetings and work through things on tactics boards and discuss things and get the players’ experiences from their clubs. It wasn’t an alien system in terms of several of the players were playing in it and I felt it suited others that aren’t.”

Germany 1 England 0 player ratings Show all 22 1 /22 Germany 1 England 0 player ratings Germany 1 England 0 player ratings Marc-Andre ter Stegen – 6 out of 10 Rash when coming out to challenge Vardy early on, but stood firm to block Alli’s decent chance towards the end of the first half. Germany 1 England 0 player ratings Joshua Kimmich – 7 out of 10 One of the few young German players to have a decent evening and potentially sent a message to Carlo Ancelotti, who has not offered him much playing time this season. Germany 1 England 0 player ratings Mats Hummels – 7 out of 10 Germany’s best all-round performer, rarely looked troubled by England’s attacking talents. Germany 1 England 0 player ratings Antonio Rudiger – 6 out of 10 A solid display, if unspectacular. Did well on the rare occasions when England went aerial. Germany 1 England 0 player ratings Jonas Hector – 7 out of 10 Impressed after taking his time to grow into the game. His link-up play with Sane in the second-half was at the root of all England’s problems. Germany 1 England 0 player ratings Julian Weigl – 5 out of 10 The main culprit in Germany’s surprising struggle to who Hauled off for Liverpool’s Emre Can midway through the second half. Germany 1 England 0 player ratings Toni Kroos – 5 out of 10 Surprisingly poor when it came to the simple stuff, misplaced several passes when not under pressure. Struggled to win his battle against the lesser light of Livermore. Germany 1 England 0 player ratings Leroy Sane – 6 out of 10 Did not crackle like we know he can from his recent Manchester City form, but another who improved as the evening went on. Perhaps should’ve doubled Germany’s lead. Germany 1 England 0 player ratings Julian Brandt – 4 out of 10 Another player reportedly attracting Premier League interest, he did not show why here. Switched for Andre Schurrle. Germany 1 England 0 player ratings Lukas Podolski – 6 out of 10 The equivalent of a testimonial for the veteran and you could tell from his first-half performance. Then came Der Hammer, as Germany’s support calls his left peg. A stunning winner. Germany 1 England 0 player ratings Timo Werner – 4 out of 10 The RB Leipzig frontman, a reported target for Liverpool, failed to translate his exciting form at club level to the international stage. Disappointing, but it was only his debut. Germany 1 England 0 player ratings Joe Hart – 7 out of 10 Could do little for Podolski’s goal, but did well shortly after to deny Sane with an excellent stop down low to his left. Germany 1 England 0 player ratings Gary Cahill – 4 out of 10 Lucky not to concede a penalty for needlessly leaning into a cross in the first-half and could have done better to stop Podolski’s screamer. Germany 1 England 0 player ratings Michael Keane – 6 out of 10 Asked to play in a back three on his debut after excelling in a rigid four at Turf Moor all season, but coped admirably. One lapse in concentration was almost punished by Sane. Germany 1 England 0 player ratings Chris Smalling – 5 out of 10 An indifferent night from the centre-half. Unlike Cahill, he was rarely called into question, but still did not convince. Germany 1 England 0 player ratings Kyle Walker – 6 out of 10 Showed why he will be integral to Southgate’s England in his forays down the right flank, but only did so in glimpses. Hector and Sane began to cause him problems has the game went on. Germany 1 England 0 player ratings Eric Dier – 6 out of 10 A lucky boy not to be severely punished for a late, robust tackle on Weigl. That aside, he helped to stifle Germany’s midfield. Germany 1 England 0 player ratings Jake Livermore – 7 out of 10 Not everyone’s idea of a no 7, but combined well with Dier in the centre of the park to disrupt Germany’s passing, particularly in the first half. Germany 1 England 0 player ratings Ryan Bertrand – 6 out of 10 Not as threatening as Walker was in moments, but defensively solid and frustrated Brandt in the first-half. Schurrle gave him a few more problems after the break. Germany 1 England 0 player ratings Dele Alli – 7 out of 10 England’s main creative outlet, but also found himself on the end of several chances. Should have opened the scoring with the first-half’s best chance but hit it straight at Ter Stegen. Germany 1 England 0 player ratings Adam Lallana – 7 out of 10 Came close to scoring in his fourth straight England appearance, but thwacked the post after an impressive burst forward. Germany 1 England 0 player ratings Jamie Vardy – 5 out of 10 Aggrieved to have not won a penalty early on, but you could tell he was looking for it. Too deep at times too, despite Germany’s defensive line offering him space in behind.

Though Lukas Podolski’s winner illustrated Germany’s superior cutting edge on England – who missed two good first half chances – the new system demonstrated that Southgate has more tactical imagination that his predecessors Sam Allardyce and Roy Hodgson. The new system was built around getting the most out of Alli and Lallana, who proved to be the game’s stand-out players.

”I think it is the perfect system for the likes of Lallana and Alli, who are both very, very intelligent players and it allowed us to press high up the pitch,” Southgate said. “I have seen Germany pin teams back and you end up with six at the back if you play with the system we have played in the past. I didn’t want to sit there and take pressure all night. We want to be on the front foot that system allowed us to do that and the intelligence of the way we pressed particular the front three created the good chances we had.

“I decided six weeks ago that is what I was going to do. I was clear what we wanted to do, but we have to look at individual opponents because we can also play with out and out wingers. We can play with a different set up at the back. I wouldn’t say that’s the way we are going to do it every game.”



The night was marred by England supporters singing about their “50 German bombers” song about the RAF shooting down planes in World War II. Asked about this, Southgate said the FA expected supporters to conduct themselves well when guests in a foreign country.

“To be honest, I didn’t hear what was said,” he replied. “It has been mentioned to me. The travelling support, in terms of numbers and the way they backed the team, is brilliant and we would encourage them do that in the right way at all times.”

Southgate said that the Football Association had chosen to wait until England had returned home to decide how mark the loss of life in Wednesday’s terror atrocity at Westminster.

“I don’t know all the detail because the story was breaking as we were travelling and preparing for the game,” he said. “There was some discussion about whether we should do something tonight but we felt it was more appropriate to do that when we get back to London as it is our home game [against Lithuania in Sunday’s World Cup qualifier].

“I think in my mind the identity and one of the key characteristics of us as a nation is that we carry on in moments like that and we don’t allow people to put us off what we want to do on a day to day basis and how we go about our working lives.