Gareth Southgate warns England players there is no 'magic wand' after chastening defeat in France

The England manager believes his players have more to learn before they can dominate meetings with international football's best

Gareth Southgate was disappointed with England's failure to take control after France were reduced to 10 men (Getty)

Gareth Southgate has warned his England players that “is no magic wand” after their defeat to France, claiming that the 3-2 reverse in Saint-Denis offered a reminder of “where we are as a country”.

Southgate’s side were competitive but conclusively second-best at the Stade de France, with Ousmane Dembélé scoring the decisive goal for the hosts 12 minutes from time, but a creditable draw looked well within England’s grasp at one point.

France defender Raphael Varane was controversially dismissed at the start of the second half after bringing Dele Alli down in the area and, when Harry Kane converted the resulting penalty to level the score, England looked primed to end a testing evening with a positive result.

Instead, they continued to struggle with the athleticism and pace of their depleted opponents. Kylian Mbappé and Dembélé were particularly troublesome and a English defence run ragged eventually succumbed to the latter’s accomplished 78th-minute finish.

When it was noted that this failure to capitalise on an opponent’s weakness invoked a sense of déjà vu, Southgate suggested that his players have more to learn before they can dominate meetings with international football's best.

“It's a big challenge then, isn't it? I played the last time we won here 20 years ago [a 1-0 win during the 1997 Tournoi de France], and actually we got battered for a lot of that game and scored a goal on the counter,” he said. “That's the reality of where we are as a country in terms of our teams.

“We've got some young players coming through that have really good potential and can be exciting, but there is not shortcut to that. There is no magic wand to that.

He added: “We're recognising where we're short, we're recognising where we can exploit teams, we've had some joy doing that, but our game without the ball has got to improve.”

The defeat means Southgate has failed to win any of his three friendlies against nations in the top 10 of Fifa’s World Rankings, in games organised with the intention of discovering, in his the manager's words, “where we are against the very best”.

A 2-2 draw with Spain at Wembley in November, in which his side squandered a 2-0 lead in the final minutes, was followed by March’s 1-0 defeat in Germany.

All in all, as his ‘honeymoon period’ in the job comes to an end, Southgate has won just three of his eight games in charge. He is not concerned though, and pointed not only to the quality of England’s opponents but also the progress he feels has been made within the squad.

“If we'd lost to three lesser teams, or to two lesser teams, that would be a big difference, but I know we are improving as a group.

“We know the players are receptive to what they're taking on board and I know that's not going to happen in the space of two or three months, so I've got to keep that at the forefront of my mind.

“I want the players to feel disappointed tonight because they have to recognise moments when you do have the opportunity to get a really good result,” he added. “The way we were causing France problems with the ball, and the fact that they’re down to 10 at 2-2, that's when you've got to ruthless.”