England coach Gareth Southgate says he'll try to shield his players from criticism after defeat in Italy.

England were consigned to Nations League relegation as a result of this loss in Milan, their third loss in five matches.

But even more worryingly for Southgate his team have now gone five competitive matches without victory and not scored a goal in open play for 450 minutes.

"We are on a run of bad results, it's for us to put that right," Southgate said.

"The only way to do that is to stick what we believe, stick with what's got us success in previous tournaments and in the end the players have got to stay really tight.

"There's going to be a lot of noise but that will be around me and that's absolutely fine. It's my job to take that pressure for them.

"I understand the reaction at the end because that's the results we've had in this competition. It's an understandable emotional reaction."