England head coach Gareth Southgate has insisted that he was "happy with a lot" of the Three Lions' performance in their 1-0 friendly loss to Brazil on Saturday.
In their first fixture of 2024, England's 21-match unbeaten run at Wembley - stretching back to a 1-0 defeat to Denmark in October 2020 - came to a dampening end to a Selecao side who ended 2023 on a three-game losing run.
After a goalless 80 minutes in the capital, soon-to-be Real Madrid teenager Endrick netted the only goal of the contest, tapping in from close range after Jordan Pickford denied Vinicius Junior one-on-one.
An England team without Harry Kane or Bukayo Saka could only muster three shots on target against Brazil, whose backline was comprised of four senior debutants alongside Danilo, although the visitors also committed 19 fouls during a stop-start affair.
Key figure Jude Bellingham was perennially targeted, while West Ham United's Lucas Paqueta made six of his nation's 19 fouls and was fortunate not to see red on the evening, although the manner of England's tepid attacking performance naturally raised alarm bells ahead of Euro 2024.
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Speaking to Channel 4 after the game, though, Southgate affirmed that he saw plenty of encouraging signs, saying: "We played from the back really well. I am happy with a lot of that performance."
Elaborating to BBC Radio 5 Live, the England boss conceded that his side were evidently lacking a cutting edge, adding: "We have seen a lot of players with not a lot of England caps and we have held our own in possession and had attempts on goal.
"But, that one ruthless moment changes the game. They have clearly got some fabulous forwards and you have to defend well. We had one or two moments we didn't do that and our goalkeeper saved us on occasions. We never looked like we were being carved apart and turned over possession a lot, we managed to counter-attack but didn't find the final finish."
Owing to a spate of injuries - both before and after naming his squad - Southgate's XI had a slightly experimental feel to it, as Anthony Gordon made his senior debut on the left while Ollie Watkins started through the middle in Kane's absence.
Two more uncapped players in Kobbie Mainoo and Ezri Konsa also came off the bench, as did Joe Gomez for his first England appearance since 2020, although Konsa was an early introduction due to Kyle Walker's injury.
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The Manchester City right-back had prevented Vinicius Junior from scoring a certain goal a few minutes before succumbing to an apparent hamstring issue, although Southgate described his issue as "tightness" after the match.
However, the Three Lions coach confirmed that ankle victim Kane would not be fit for Tuesday's clash with Belgium and would instead return to Bayern Munich, while Cole Palmer and Jordan Henderson - who both missed the visit of Brazil - remain doubts for that game.
"Harry Kane won't be fit for Tuesday so he will go back to his club. Cole Palmer and Jordan Henderson trained this morning, but we have to see how they come through that next phase," Southgate added.
As well as losing a competitive or non-competitive home fixture for the first time in four years, England's reverse to Brazil was their first Wembley defeat in a friendly since going down 2-1 to the Netherlands in March 2016, when Roy Hodgson was at the helm.
Ben Knapton
