England slumped to a 1-0 defeat against Italy at the San Siro on Friday night as the pressure increased on under-fire manager Gareth Southgate.
It really isn't much fun watching England at the moment…
The loss condemned Southgate's side to relegation from their Nations League group and stretched their run without a victory to five games – their worst winless streak in eight years.
Southgate's side have now gone an astonishing 450 minutes without a goal in open play and the Three Lions boss was loudly booed off the pitch by the travelling fans who had made the trip to Italy.
Napoli forward Giacomo Raspadori scored the only goal of the game midway through the second half, taking advantage of some poor defending by Kyle Walker to fire a fine finish past Nick Pope.
The defeat leaves England desperately needing to beat Germany on Monday night in their final game before the World Cup to take any sort of momentum into Qatar.
The Winners
Winner: Jude Bellingham
The one player to really come out of the game with any sort of credit.
Bellingham is clearly not being used correctly by Southgate, yet he still looked England's brightest spark by some distance.
He was good in possession, he looked to progress the ball forward when he could and got into the box at times to try to get on the end of things.
The fact that a 19-year-old was England's stand-out player tells you all that you need to know about such a disappointing performance.
Winner: Marcus Rashford
The Manchester United striker missed out on the squad due to injury, but his chances of making the World Cup will have been boosted by this inept attacking performance.
England looked devoid of any sort of pace. They were sluggish in attack and rarely caused the Italian backline any problems.
Prior to his injury, Rashford had found some form and showed in the games against Liverpool and Arsenal just how dangerous he can be on the counter attack.
England didn't possess that type of threat at the San Siro. The Italians never looked worried about anyone – even Raheem Sterling – getting in behind them. As the game wore on, it was impossible not to feel like Rashford could have come on and made a difference had he been available.
Winner: Ben Chilwell
The Chelsea left-back was one of five players from Gareth Southgate's 26-man squad who was left behind for the trip to Italy.
And had Bukayo Saka produced a stand-out performance playing out of position at left wing-back, Chilwell's chances of making the final World Cup squad would have taken a real hit.
So Saka's struggles to make a real impact down the left hand side will have encouraged Chilwell, who will get an opportunity to impress against Germany on Monday night.
AdvertisementGetty ImagesThe Losers
Loser: Bukayo Saka
As always with Saka, he did all he was asked by his manager.
But asking a player who thrives as a right winger to operate at left wing-back is never going to get the best out of him. Saka didn't do much wrong and was tidy in possession, but he just couldn't get into the areas enough where he could really cause the Italians problems.
For a player who loves to get forward and cut inside onto his left foot, it must have been an incredibly frustrating night having to consistently track back on the opposite flank.
Saka would have been desperate to impress so close to the World Cup, but barely got a chance to get inside the Italian penalty area.
Loser: Gareth Southgate
The boos said it all.
Southgate has now felt the wrath of England fans for a second successive game.
It happened after the defeat by Hungary and it occured again after the full-time whistle at the San Siro.
The Three Lions faithful, who not so long ago were hailing Southgate, appear to have firmly turned on the manager after such a disappointing run of results. Barring a very unlikely triumph in Qatar, it is beginning to feel like his time is up.
Loser: England fans
Southgate has so much talent within his squad, yet he is seemingly unable to get an attacking performance out of them.
As a supporter, you want to go into a tournament with a little bit of belief, but right now it's very hard to get excited about England's hopes at the World Cup.
Attacking players are being stifled and deployed out of position and it's increasingly difficult to watch. It's now been 450 minutes since England scored a goal, that's their worst run in 22 years.
If the performance against Germany on Monday night is similar to the one against Italy, then things could get pretty ugly at Wembley.
Getty ImagesEngland Ratings: Defence
Nick Pope (6/10):
Wasn't massively overworked. Seemed to go down a bit slowly for the goal.
Reece James (6/10):
Couldn't replicate his club form. Got into a couple of decent areas, but couldn't take advantage.
Harry Maguire (6/10):
Played quite safe, looked determined to not make any major errors.
Eric Dier (6/10):
Solid performance on his return to the international scene.
Kyle Walker (5/10):
Awful defending for the goal. Backed off inexplicably and was punished.
Bukayo Saka (4/10):
Wasted playing at left wing-back. Tried his best and was tidy in possession, but couldn't get into any attacking areas.
Midfield
Declan Rice (6/10):
Did his job relatively well in front of the central defenders.
Jude Bellingham (7/10):
Did all he could to hurt Italy. Made some good runs, but clearly isn't being played in his best position.
Phil Foden (5/10):
Another disappointing performance from Foden for England. Yet to really sparkle on the international stage.