John Stones’ reaction to his mistake in England’s 2-1 win over Poland impressed Gareth Southgate, while Kyle Walker said his Man City teammate “might not have recovered” six months ago.

With England leading 1–0 thanks to Harry Kane’s penalty kick in the first half, the Stones settled the ball and was sent off outside the penalty area, leading to Poland’s goal from Jacob Moder in Brighton.

But the Stones recovered to help Harry Maguire score for England, jumping over his leg from a corner kick from Calvin Phillips to shake the ball to Maguire, who beat Wucic Chesney to claim England’s third victory in three matches in the World Cup qualifiers.

Southgate admitted it was easy for the Stones to “pull out” in the position, and was pleased with the City defender’s reaction.

Southgate said of the Stones, who played a great half of the second season with Premier League leaders Manchester City: “What we have focused on in the past 18 months is eliminating those mistakes and in 14 matches we have received five of them, these two, two were penalties in the fall, One was a free kick, we knew this was an area that we had to improve.

“Tonight we missed a goal – but the fun thing is that John, in particular, quickly regained his composure, recovered in the match, and fortunately had an important role in the winning goal as well. He built so much flexibility in that I didn’t think passing for him helped me. , The pressure increased on him.

“That’s key – every player will make mistakes in matches. Sometimes they get punished and sometimes they don’t. What you’re looking for is this reaction to see how they respond. It would be easy to fold for moments and John didn’t.”

“This was such an important factor in our survival in the game, as Poland ended up with a bit of momentum, decisively stepping into the other penalty area to prepare Harry for what was a great shot.”

He said earlier Sky Sports: “We can’t hide from the mistake, but it’s easy to withdraw in those moments, and he didn’t. He watched the match through his defense, and was able to influence with the winner on the other side, so I think John has gone through a lot, and he’s a tougher and more resilient character for me.” for him. “

Walker: Six months ago, the stones may not have recovered

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City’s Stones’ teammate Walker was full of praise for the center-back, claiming that even six months ago he might not have recovered from the mistake the way he did.

Walker said, “It just shows John this year.” Sky Sports. “He was amazing. I worked with him day in and day out at City, the work he put into getting to where he is now, and the performances he is doing.

Six months ago, John Stones might not have recovered from it, but he went up to the other extreme and got help for winner Harry Maguire.

“He’s been amazing this season. Thanks to him, and the work that put him off the field, where no one can see, when he came home and did the gym extra, he did the extra strength to get to where he is now.”

Southgate gave Rice the praise

Declan Rice was a West Ham player, who had competed in nine of his last 10 matches in England, he was as well Sky Sports The man of the match at Wembley, a performance Southgate has been keen to highlight.

“There are some young players doing amazing things. I thought Declan Rice’s performance, in all the matches, his reading of the stakes, the number of recoveries he got in front of his four defense, but also how he used the ball and drove it forward with that well … I forget how some of those are Boys are inexperienced and young.

“We know many of them will peak in two, four or six years, but we have to keep winning games and building this team.

“What makes me happy is that we set a nine-point goal, which is not easy in a tough away game and tonight’s game against a good opponent, and they did. I was really happy with the way they worked together.

“The group that was with us this week was great to work with, we had a very quiet week until tonight. We are really happy with the group, their approach to everything, how they supported each other and we achieved the goal that we set which is nine points, which is frankly a lot of countries. “Grand Prix all over Europe was not able to achieve it. I’m really happy with what they all did.”

Southgate was not surprised by a successful week

It was the last match in England before Southgate picked his team in the European Championship 2020, but the coach insists there has been nothing that has surprised him in the last three games, positively or negatively.

“Of course we have some players, especially in the offensive areas, who are out at the moment who will be held accountable but we don’t know what that will look like. We have eight other players 10 weeks of intense season.

“Some players will come back from injury, unfortunately we will probably lose others during that time. That is the reality. There is a lot for us to think about but we’re pretty much where we knew we were. It surprised me in the last 10 days, whether it’s good or Bad.

“It shows that we know our players, we know where we are, and we know that improvement is necessary to be a great team, but today was a good test for us, in terms of the quality of our opponent as well as our flexibility.”

What’s Next?

England will play Austria (June 2) and Romania (June 6) in their European 2020 preliminary matches, before the tournament begins against Croatia at Wembley on June 12 in the group stages.

Gareth Southgate should nominate the England national team for the championship by 11pm on June 1, but is expected to announce it before that date.