Gareth Southgate Defends John Stones, Ross Barkley After England Defeat

England boss Gareth Southgate defended John Stones and Ross Barkley after their errors gifted the Netherlands two goals in the Three Lions' 3-1 UEFA Nations League semi-final defeat on Thursday. 

The scores were level at 1-1 after 90 minutes, and the pair gave the ball away on more than one occasion in extra time and were twice punished by the Dutch.

Per the Guardian's Dominic Fifield, Southgate came to the defence of his players and vowed to continue playing out from the back:

"I'm asking my defenders to play in a way that puts them under huge pressure at the back. If we didn't play that way, we wouldn't have got to the semi-finals we've got to in the last year, and we'd never progress to being a top team. But we made too many mistakes in our final third, partly as a result of their pressure but also by errors by us. When you're fatigued mistakes happen and the mistakes were from passes our players can play with no problem.

"I have to support John because he'll get horrible criticism for that mistake, but he and Harry Maguire take huge strain on their shoulders and are incredibly courageous to do that. We didn't lose because of how we want to play. The errors were uncharacteristic really, and not errors we'd normally make. It wasn't risk. It was poor execution and fatigue, certainly with the last one, because Ross had just gone down with cramp moments before."

The manager pointed out that while some of his players were suffering fatigue after a long season, others—such as Stones, who started just two matches for Manchester City from the start of April—were struggling for sharpness due to a lack of playing time.

"I have to support them in what is a difficult moment for everybody," he added. "This is incredibly painful for my players, but we'll be stronger for our experiences."

Marcus Rashford opened the scoring with a first-half penalty, but Matthijs de Ligt—who conceded the spot-kick—atoned for his earlier error by heading home the second-half equaliser.

Jesse Lingard thought he'd won it for the Three Lions when he finished off a neat counter-attack, but it was disallowed for offside after a VAR review.

In extra time, Kyle Walker conceded an own goal while attempting to prevent Quincy Promes from scoring, after Stones had given up possession to Memphis Depay on the edge of the area.

Barkley did the same soon after—having been done no favours by a pass from Stones—and Depay cut back for Promes to finish off:

Former footballer Adrian Clarke and football writer Tom McDermott were critical of the decision-making on show:

Making the right decision, particularly in the face of the opposition's press, is paramount when playing out from the back.

It's clear Stones especially still has room to improve in that regard, but he has shown under Pep Guardiola at Manchester City that he can play in such a system.

The Three Lions will face Switzerland in the third-place play-off on Sunday.

Southgate isn't going to change his approach, but despite his defence of Stones, it would come as little surprise if he were to take him out of the firing line for this match.