Gareth Southgate claims England have gained valuable knowledge from their disastrous Nations League campaign despite their failure to win any of their six fixtures, culminating in Monday night's 3-3 draw with Germany.
The Three Lions failed to beat any of Italy, Germany or Hungary home or away but showed grit and determination to bite back against Die Mannschaft at Wembley after falling behind to an Ilkay Gundogan penalty and a delightful Kai Havertz strike in the second half.
Luke Shaw pulled one back from a Reece James cross and substitute Mason Mount found the back of the net to draw the Three Lions level. Harry Kane looked to have snatched victory with a powerful penalty in the 83rd minute only for Havertz to grab his second of the night from close range following a poor Nick Pope error.
Although it has been a testing and largely dismal Nations League season for England, who drew three games and lost three, Southgate has no doubt he has "learnt a huge amount". In contrast, the Three Lions manager admitted there was very little he could take from the 3-0 friendly victory over Ivory Coast in March, when Serge Aurier was sent off in the first half.
"As a group they have really come together this week. It has been a tough period for team but they have grown," Southgate told Channel 4 of his players after the draw with Germany.
"To an extent, we are always going to face pressure, so we need to be exposed to pressure. We played a friendly against Ivory Coast in March and they went to 10 men and it became a non-event and we learnt nothing. This week, we've learnt a huge amount. They've had to step forward and come together - it will benefit us in the long run."
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Southgate also discussed Pope's performance after the goalkeeper palmed Serge Gnabry's strike from range into Havertz's path for Germany's late equaliser. The Newcastle shot-stopper had a poor night between the sticks, putting his defenders on edge with his erratic moments throughout the match.
"It is an error and of course he's going to be down but the team has to be together and we have done that all week," Southgate said of Pope. "Tonight, in the end, a couple of errors have cost us the goals but I'll focus on the fact they played with tremendous spirit and showed a belief that we haven't shown in the last few games. I thought the crowd saw that and rose to that."
England's next fixture will be their World Cup opener against Iran on 21 November, before they take on the United States and Wales.
