Southgate slams England after Iceland loss in Euros warm-up, says 'It was a disjointed performance'

Gareth Southgate insisted England's embarrassing 1-0 defeat against Iceland in their final warm-up before Euro 2024 will serve as a useful reality check for his title contenders.

Southgate's side had hoped for a confidence-boosting victory at Wembley on Friday before travelling to Germany as one of the Euro favourites.

But Jon Dagur Thorsteinsson's first half goal spoiled England's farewell and led to the lacklustre hosts being booed off at half-time and the final whistle.

Against a team ranked 72nd in the world, who were unable to qualify for the Euros, Cole Palmer, Anthony Gordon and Kobbie Mainoo all failed to make compelling cases to be included in the starting line-up at the Euros.

"We have to be better. We didn't get our pressing right. There were questions asked that we weren't able to answer," Southgate said. "It was obviously a disjointed and disappointing performance. We didn't show enough character, but I think it's a really good focus for us ahead of the tournament.

"I'm confident we will be better than tonight. Everybody's saying we're going to go there and walk through the tournament. The reality of international football isn't that."

Adding to Southgate's worries, John Stones didn't reappear after the interval, possibly a precautionary move after the England centre-back fell awkwardly in the first half.

"We think he is probably okay. We didn't want to take the chance," Southgate said.

Southgate said his starting line-up was "close" to the team that will face Serbia in England's Group C opener in Gelsenkirchen on June 16.

If that is the case, he will need to coax a substantially improved effort from a group that looked short on energy and composure in the absence of resting Real Madrid star Jude Bellingham.

Bored fans spent most of the night entertaining themselves by buzzing the pitch with paper aeroplanes and few stayed for the post-match lap of honour.

"You'd like a good performance and to be leaving on a high. We didn't play well enough to keep them excited," said Southgate, whose side have won one of their last five games.

While Southgate can point out that this result will count for nothing when England start their bid to win a first major trophy in 58 years, it was still an alarming performance that raised questions about key areas of his team.