Southgate reflects on 'job well done' against Qatar

Gareth Southgate reflected on a "job well done" in England’s opening game of the Toulon Tournament on Thursday.

The Three Lions collected a comfortable 3-0 victory over Qatar, but had to break down a stubborn and defensive line-up before they could reap their rewards in front of goal.

Strikes from three of the new players in Southgate’s squad did the damage, with debutant Jordan Obita opening the scoring in the first half before Jake Forster-Caskey and Jordan Cousins, also on his debut, added two more after the break.

And despite finding little attacking intention from Qatar, the former England defender was happy with the way his side managed the game.

"I’m pleased, as it was a job well done really because this was a potential banana skin," he told TheFA.com.

"We weren’t sure quite how Qatar would set up, but it was a familiar task really so we had to be patient enough to break them down.

"We scored three very good goals, but I was pleased that we didn’t panic and we kept our composure."

Southgate wanted to use the Toulon Tournament to test his players against different styles of play from nations around the world.

This game only really served as a repeat of most of their Euro qualifiers to date, with a team content to sit back and try to keep England out.

England's starting line-up against Qatar

But with a difficult pitch at the Stade L. Legrange to contend with, Southgate was happy with how the Lions adapted to the situation.

"It wasn’t an easy surface to move the ball quickly on as it was quite dry so the little one-twos and give and gos which we would usually try and manipulate around the box with, we weren’t able to do," he explained.

"But by getting the ball wide and stretching them, we were able to open them up.

"We were getting to the stage where we were thinking at half time could we do something tactically different to get another man forward and we discussed getting the ball a bit wider and stretching them.

"But when you get a strike like that [Obita's goal], it re-adjusts your plans."

The squad now have a three day break before their next match against Brazil on Monday, so it will be a case of managing the players’ recovery and workload ahead of what will be a different game altogether along the coast in Saint-Raphael.

"We wanted to manage the load because the Wales game took a lot out of us and we had to make sure we kept the stability of the side but also give people a bit of a breather," added Southgate.

"We have to manage them carefully throughout this period because it’s a lot of games in a short space of time, but I was pleased that in the last 15 minutes we used our brains and kept the ball."

Watch the full interview with Gareth in the media player above.