England laboured hard to get a 1-0 victory over Serbia, with Jude Bellingham scoring the only goal of the game.

Former Chelsea midfielder Cesc Fabregas was critical of the tactics employed by England boss Gareth Southgate.

According Fabregas, Southgate’s defensive tactics in the second-half killed the game for the Three Lions, and blamed him for not bringing on Cole Palmer.

“If you send the message in putting in a defensive midfielder or an extra defender to cover the result, you will as a player feel it,” said Fabregas during his appearance on the BBC’s match coverage (via the Mirror).

“Mentally you start going back, dropping more. But instead if you put an offensive player, Palmer let’s say, up the pitch and controlling the ball in the final third, I think the players get so much more comfortable.”

Fabregas also singled out Phil Foden for criticism for a perceived lack of impact on the game: “It’s about do you want it enough to make a difference and hold the ball for your team? Do you want to make things happen? Do you enjoy to get the ball under pressure?

“They allowed them to have the ball when they were deep once in the second half, straight away, when they started to get pressed a little bit more, we started to see Foden hitting the ball without looking 40 yards.”