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Gareth Southgate is looking forward to another really good test and \u201cimportant learning step\u201d as England head to Scotland for their first friendly in 18 months.<\/p>\n
The Euro 2020 runners-up are among the favourites to win next year\u2019s finals in Germany, which they are within touching distance of despite Saturday\u2019s 1-1 qualification draw against Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Long-serving Kyle Walker\u2019s first-ever England goal cancelled out Oleksandr Zinchenko\u2019s opener in front of a yellow and blue wall at the rocking Tarczynski Arena in Wroclaw, Poland.<\/p>\n
It felt like a home game despite Ukraine being forced to play away from their homeland due to Russia\u2019s ongoing invasion, leaving Southgate to reflect on an important point and valuable learning experience.<\/p>\n
The 53-year-old is expecting a similar test when they face in-form Scotland at Hampden Park on Tuesday evening in England\u2019s first friendly since beating the Ivory Coast at Wembley in March 2022.<\/p>\n
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\u201cWe can have everybody in the squad involved for the next one,\u201d Southgate said after 16 successive competitive matches, covering last year\u2019s Nations League campaign, the 2022 World Cup and this qualifying campaign.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll assess everybody over there over the next 24 to 48 hours because it\u2019s another really good test.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnother hostile environment, a team that are playing really well.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know, they\u2019re in great form, full of confidence so it\u2019s another important learning step for us.\u201d The nations last faced one another in June 2021, when they played out a hard-fought 0-0 draw at Wembley in the European Championship group stage.<\/p>\n
Scotland, like England, are on the cusp of qualification for next summer\u2019s Euros, with Friday\u2019s 3-0 triumph in Cyprus extending their outstanding winning start in Group A to a fifth match.<\/p>\n
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Southgate\u2019s side do not head into the friendly on the same high having failed to click against Ukraine, after which James Maddison said it was important to dig in and take a point if the attack is not firing.<\/p>\n
\u201cJames would be one that won\u2019t have played in an England game like that in the past,\u201d the England manager said. \u201cMarc (Guehi), Chilly [Ben Chilwell] wouldn\u2019t have played a huge number of those games for us either.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, the only way to learn and grow as a team is to have those sorts of experiences. \u201cTo go behind in a game like that is a challenge, but we stayed calm.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not so sure it was a case of digging in because I think we were in control of the game. \u201cBut we had to defend some counter-attack moments and a couple of set plays well.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd, yeah, without a doubt, to go through that sort of experience is good learning for several of the players.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think on a night like this the experienced players were really important for the team and I thought they all did a very, very good job.\u201d<\/p>\n
Southgate rued too many turnovers and a lack of attacking fluency on Saturday night, when skipper Harry Kane took it upon himself to spark England into life.<\/p>\n
Ukraine stood off the striker and watched him fire an exceptional diagonal ball from just outside the centre circle over Vitaliy Mykolenko to put in Walker to score.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the end, it was difficult for all of the forward players to find space between Ukraine\u2019s midfield and defence,\u201d Southgate said. \u201cI thought they did that as a team very well.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought occasionally we were coming too deep outside of the block, but when you do that, if you\u2019ve got players with that range of passing, then it\u2019s an alternative way of breaking them down.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThe important thing was as he was dropping, Kyle making the run he did.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s got outstanding vision but also technical quality to make those passes.\u201d<\/p>\n