Harry Kane insisted England’s disastrous performance against Hungary had to be put into perspective after a painful night at Molineux.
The Three Lions were beaten 4-0 in the Nations League, their second defeat to Hungary in the space of 10 days and England’s heaviest home defeat for 94 years.
Gareth Southgate’s side finish the international break with no wins from the four matches played, with Kane’s penalty against Germany the only goal they scored across those games.
There are now just two matches to go before England travel to Qatar and get their World Cup campaign underway, but Kane called for calm and urged supporters not to get carried away with the defeat to Hungary.
“It’s a disappointing night,” Kane told Channel 4.
“First half, I thought we created enough chances to score, but it’s been the story of our Nations League so far. We haven’t quite had the cutting edge. But the second half is unacceptable, once we went 2-0 down, to concede in the way we did.
“But it’s no time to panic, we need to keep our heads up, look forward to a break and come back stronger in September. It’s our first big defeat in a long time.
“Our defence has been the structure of our success in the last four or five years. It’s a night to forget, but you have to take it on the chin. We’re preparing for a big World Cup, and will learn a lot from this camp.
“Let’s not forget where we’ve come from: a first final in 60 years, and a semi-final at a World Cup. Compared to where we were over the last 50 years, it’s no time to panic. It’s not going to be perfect every game, the fans have to understand that.”
England were booed off at half-time, after Roland Sallai put the visitors in front, and the Hungary winger got his second after the break before Zsolt Nagy and Daniel Gazdag piled on the misery. Minutes after the third goal went in, John Stones was sent off.
There were chants of “you don’t know what you’re doing” aimed at Southgate throughout the latter stages as the atmosphere turned toxic, but Kane lept to his manager’s defence after the match when asked if England were on the right path under him.
Kane said: “Without any question. That’s not even a question I should be answering if I’m honest.”
