I’M READY TO BE MORE RUTHLESS, SAYS SOUTHGATE

BOSS WON’T MAKE ANY MORE ‘COMPROMISES’ AHEAD OF WORLD CUP AFTER ERRORS DURING SUMMER SLUMP

- Dan Kilpatrick

ENGLAND manager Gareth Southgate says he will never again compromise his beliefs, as he prepares to be “completely ruthless” ahead of this winter’s World Cup.

His side face Italy in the Nations League here in Milan tonight in their penultimate match before Qatar, aiming to recover from a disastrous June in which they failed to win in four matches, including the 4-0 defeat by Hungary at Molineux.

Southgate admitted that his own complacency had been a factor in England’s dismal summer camp but declined to say how he had made compromises.

“We were on a run going into that summer of 22 matches without losing,” Southgate (right, in England training this week) said. “And you maybe don’t analyse the victories quite as acutely as you analyse the defeats. That’s probably not the right approach.

“But I felt I compromised certain decisions internally, and you don’t win if you compromise.

"It was good for me to sharpen that focus again, because what we're going into, we've got to be completely ruthless, environment and I've got to create an for the players that allows them to excel. And to provide them with the best platform to be at the level they've been for the last five or six years.