Southgate was pleased with England’s display

Gareth Southgate was pleased with his “hungry” looking England side in the 5-0 win over San Marino, claiming in the past players had looked “stodgy” in such fixtures.

Ollie Watkins scored on his international debut and Dominic Calvert-Lewin struck twice as England kicked off their qualification campaign for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar with a comfortable win over FIFA’s lowest-ranked side.

England posted 20 shots on the San Marino goal in the first half with Raheem Sterling and Mason Mount looking particularly sharp before they were withdrawn at the break with games against Albania and Poland in mind.

“The whole team were hungry to play,” Southgate said.

“Sometimes these games have been stodgy for us in the past but this team can play slightly differently, we have some creative players who can open teams up.

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A lot of those chances were created by the good pressing and winning the ball high up the pitch. But also some of the interchange of position and the vision of players.

If we were to be ultra-critical, we probably should have scored more but we also have to say their goalkeeper had an absolutely fantastic game.