Gareth Southgate: ‘England have hit a certain level but it’s not a level we’re satisfied with’

England manager Gareth Southgate admitted his team were not too bothered by their bronze medals after winning the Nations League third-place play-off against Switzerland.

After a goalless draw in 90 minutes and extra time the penalty shootout went to sudden death. Goalkeeper Jordan Pickford dramatically stepped up to score the fifth penalty then, after Eric Dier had netted a sixth for England, put his gloves back on to save from Switzerland’s Josip Drmic.

But there was no grand ceremony and the medals were dumped by Uefa in England’s changing room to be handed out. Southgate recalled a story that Liverpool players used to tell him about former manager Joe Fagan who would throw the medals on the back of the bus and tell the players: “Get on with it, if you’ve played enough games, take one.”

Southgate said: ”That would sum it up for us. The only other medals we’ve been involved in was Le Tournoi. It’s nice to have some acknowledgement, but we’ll be parking it to one side and looking forward.”

‘This is not a level we’re satisfied with’

The third-place in Portugal was, nonetheless, an improvement on the fourth place at the Russia World Cup last summer, when they lost to Croatia in the semi-finals and Belgium in the play-off.

“We’ve hit a certain level, but it’s not a level we’re satisfied with,” Southgate said. “We have to go again. The first summer we played Scotland and France, and we learned a lot from the games but were really unhappy with the performance. That inspired us to improve. The drive from the players has given me energy. The commitment is there. They’re not satisfied with where they’re at.

Read more: Exhausted England limp to victory over Switzerland and third place in Uefa Nations League which feels hollow at best

“That, as a coach, gives you a lift. You’re not the only one driving things, up all night preparing the games. I take energy from all the staff and the players, and they are a fantastic group to work with. You saw that from the mentality they showed today for 120 minutes, but we have to keep getting better. We won’t settle for anything until we do.”

England lost to the Netherlands in the semi-final on Thursday. Southgate added: “For me, the significant step is the level of disappointment that we leave here having not got to the final and winning the trophy. That took some lifting in the last couple of days for everybody. None of us was satisfied.”