Gareth Southgate believes the way England battled to a 2-1 win against Belgium was a “big moment” for his team ahead of next summer’s European Championships.
England struggled in the first half at Wembley but were much better after the break, and Southgate was pleased with how they found a way to come out on top of a tight Uefa Nations League game.
Belgium are the No1 ranked team in the world and speaking after the game, Southgate said: "We have got loads we can get better at. We are not [getting] carried away by this win.
"We have got to back it up against Denmark first and foremost. And we know the quality of Belgium is the level we have to aspire to on a consistent basis.
"But to come through those games on the top side, there will be few chances in those games. They are games of concentration, games of detail and for our guys to come through that is a big moment for them."
England fell behind to a Romelu Lukaku penalty in the first half, but Marcus Rashford equalised with his own penalty and a deflected effort from Mason Mount in the second half secured victory in the Nations League.
Southgate said: "It was a top-level game and we had a lot of young players, [Declan] Rice, [Mason] Mount, Trent [Alexander-Arnold], for whom that was a really great experience.
"You do not come into these games and play their level of team without having to deal with problems. We had to see that spell through in the first half.
"What pleased me was we had the resilience to see that spell through and then you will get your opportunities and the game will start to open up.
"The penalty gave us a great foothold and I though the second-half performance, without the ball, we were so compact and our covering positions were good.
"[Kieran] Trippier was like a soldier out there, an unbelievable defensive performance. But right through the team in that second half. You have to suffer to win these big games and they did that.
"We try to help the players to understand the problems the opposition movement is causing. That was pretty clear to us but the players have to solve it, and they did.
"You cannot just play with the ball, against the very best you have got the detail of how you defend as a team has got to be absolutely bang on, and in the second half we got that right."
