Gareth Southgate issues blunt response to Erik ten Hag's criticism of his England tactics

Gareth Southgate has snapped back at Erik ten Hag after the Manchester United boss criticised England's tactics during the 1-0 win over Serbia.

England secured three points in their opening fixture of Euro 2024 against Serbia last Sunday, with Jude Bellingham's first-half header proving to be the decisive moment.

The Three Lions had several half-chances after Bellingham's strike but failed to find a second goal and were made to endure a nervy ending to the Group C opener in Gelsenkirchen.

England sat back and instead tried to protect their lead, as the likes of Declan Rice, John Stones and even Harry Kane at times made last-ditch efforts to prevent an equaliser.

Which is exactly what Ten Hag predicted would happen while working as a pundit on Dutch television channel NOS.

“England will take a 1-0 lead," he said. "Then he [Southgate] decides to start gambling with making his team compact and relying on moments for the remaining minutes of the game.”

Southgate has since responded to the comments made by his fellow manager, where he offered a blunt response.

Ten Hag claimed the FA Cup as United manager (Getty)

“During the course of a tournament there’s obviously millions of opinions in different directions and so whilst I’m not reading a thing, or listening to a thing, you become aware of these things because they get sent to you," he said.

“There was a moment where we weren’t in as much control of the game on Sunday as we would’ve liked, and we felt that was a good moment for Conor Gallagher to come into the game. He did the job.

“I think there are different moments, different flows of games, moments where you’re in control and you can push forward, moments where you’ve got a different problem to solve. Every coach would reflect on that.

“I was really pleased with Gallagher, Kobbie, Bowen when they came on, I felt they all contributed really well to the team. Within 30 seconds Bowen produced a cross that on another day makes it 2-0 and there’s a different narrative around the whole performance.

“I accept everyone’s going to have different views and I’m really calm about that.”