Gareth Southgate Comments on England 'Mess' After Replacing Sam Allardyce

Interim England manager Gareth Southgate admitted that he has "taken over a mess" after the Three Lions could manage only a 0-0 draw with Slovenia in Tuesday's 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying clash in Ljubljana.  

Southgate was installed to take charge of four matches as the search continues for a successor to Sam Allardyce after the former Sunderland boss left the England post by mutual consent at the end of last month, per Dominic Fifield in the Guardian.

Having overseen a 2-0 home defeat of Malta on Saturday, the 46-year-old's second match at the England helm proved more of a challenge, and he had goalkeeper Joe Hart to thank for helping his side earn a point, per BBC Sport's Ian Dennis:

Southgate said he was satisfied in the main that England's qualifying chances for Russia 2018 remain on track but bemoaned the situation he has been thrown into, per ITV Sport (via ESPN FC):

"

I can't thank the players and the support team enough for the backing I've had. I think [having taken four points] from the position we were in last Tuesday, we wanted six and we'd have liked to have scored more goals in the two games but we've taken over a mess really and had to steady the ship so with the overall objective of qualifying we've kept the team on track.

The overall objective is to qualify so long-term maybe that is a point that will be important towards that.

I think everybody could see that we could have been better. The chances that they had were set-plays or mistakes, so that's something that needs to be better. Having said that, some of those mistakes, we were trying to play on what was a very difficult surface and we want to encourage the boys to play but they've got to play sensibly at times as well.

"

England are top of Group F following three games of the campaign, after Allardyce won his solitary match in charge of the national team 1-0 in Slovakia early last month, per FIFA:

#	Team	MP	W	D	L	F	A	D	P
1	England	3	2	1	0	3	0	+3	7
2	Lithuania	3	1	2	0	5	3	+2	5
3	Slovenia	3	1	2	0	3	2	+1	5
4	Scotland	3	1	1	1	6	5	+1	4
5	Slovakia	3	1	0	2	3	2	+1	3
6	Malta	3	0	0	3	1	9	-8	0

Their next group game is a crucial home clash with Scotland on Nov. 11 before a friendly with Spain four days later—which is set to be Southgate's last match in the caretaker role.

However, the former England defender could yet be given the role on a permanent basis, while other candidates potentially include Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger and Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe, per Matt Law in the Telegraph.

Allardyce was appointed as Roy Hodgson's successor following England's disastrous Euro 2016 campaign in the summer, which was brought to an end by minnows Iceland at the last-16 stage.

The move was hailed by many as pragmatic, if not overly inspiring, with the hope being that the former West Ham United manager could get the best out of England's players, per the Guardian's Tom Stevens and readers.

But the 61-year-old had only one match in charge before he left his post after being caught up in a Telegraph sting.

Southgate was then parachuted into a tough situation and has been unable to make a genuinely positive impact in the short time available to him.

The disaster of the summer's Euro 2016 remains fresh in the memory and, based on Tuesday's performance, improvements have yet to be made from the Iceland loss.