Gareth Southgate remains relaxed about England’s defence despite John Stones’ mistake which cost England a goal against Poland.
England conceded an equaliser against the run of play as Stones was dispossessed on the edge of his box by Jakub Moder, who fired beyond Nick Pope after playing a one-two with Arkadiusz Milik.
It appeared Stones had slipped back into his old habits as the Poland players celebrated their undeserved equaliser, however, the Manchester City man atoned for his error.
Stones provided the assist for the winner which put England 2-1 up, scored by centre-back partner Harry Maguire five minutes from time.
The assist epitomised how far Stones has come this season – the 26-year-old has been a star for Man City who are in with a shot at winning an unprecedented quadruple this season.
And Southgate heaped praise on the resilience Stones has shown and is relaxed about the way his side are defending, citing ten clean sheets in the last 14 Three Lions internationals.
Southgate told talkSPORT: “It’s not a good pass to him in the first place but I think in the last 14 matches we’ve kept ten clean sheets and before this match we’d conceded two penalties, one direct free-kick and a shot from outside the box.
“We’ve done well in eliminating errors in our build-up and unfortunately that’s where the goal’s come from tonight.
“What pleased me was that both John and the team showed the resilience to come back from that.
“It would be easy to fold at that moment but he didn’t. He kept his concentration, kept his focus and in the end he got his reward for the part he played in the winning goal which was critical for us.
“He’s gained a lot of resilience over the last 18 months.”