Gareth Southgate refused to dwell on Nick Pope's 'error' as England were held to a draw in a six-goal thriller against Germany. The Three Lions overturned a two-goal deficit, only for Kai Havertz to pounce upon a goalkeeper error to deny the hosts the victory.
England had already suffered relegation in their latest Nations League campaign, and were beaten on Friday night in Italy. Pope was handed a starting spot in place of the injured Jordan Pickford, and kept his place on Monday night at Wembley.
Ilkay Gundogan fired the visitors in front from the penalty spot shortly after the restart, and Havertz extended this lead with a stunning long-range strike. Luke Shaw halved the deficit, and this was quickly followed by an equaliser from Mason Mount.
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Harry Kane completed the 12-minute comeback with an emphatic penalty in the 83rd minute. But with England on course for only their first Nations League win this year, Pope spilled Serge Gnabry's speculative shot into the path of Havertz for a simple tap-in.
Newcastle's number one was visibly disappointed by the mistake, with the hosts unable to find a winner in added time. Southgate was asked about his goalkeeper's dressing room reaction, but chose to focus on his side's response to going two goals behind.
He told Channel 4: "Yeah, it's an error and of course he's going to be down. But like I said, the team have to be together.
"We have done that all week, and tonight in the end a couple of errors have cost us the goals. I'm focused on the fact they played with tremendous spirit, and they showed a belief that we haven't shown in the last few games. I think the crowd could see that, and they rose to it."
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