Southgate: We have to win

England are on the defensive after defeat by Germany

Gareth Southgate has spelt out the importance of an England victory over Finland in Wednesday's vital World Cup qualifier.

The defeat by Germany, followed by the resignation of coach Kevin Keegan has stunned the Villa skipper and his England team-mates.

But Southgate knows that they must recover and avoid a repeat of the scenario of two years ago when England lost in Sweden and were then held at home by Bulgaria in the next match at the start of theb Euro 2000 qualifying campaign.

Anything other than three point in Helsinki will be a disaster for England, leaving them without a win and without a manager.

Disappointing

Southgate said: "It was so disappointing to lose the first game of the group and the last game

I am sure the players will be stung into action by the disappointment of the result and what happened

  Gareth Southgate

at Wembley when we all wanted to go out on a high.

"It just didn't happen for us and we have to win on Wednesday now to rectify that immediately - there is no question about that.

"Two years ago when we lost the first match in Sweden and then had the chance to put it right against Bulgaria and could only draw which meant we were well behind the pace in the group from the start.

"We have to regroup quickly. We have to lift ourselves. I am sure the players will be stung into action by the disappointment of the result and what happened.

"It is understandable if everyone's heads are down, including the fans, after the result on Saturday but we have to pick ourselves up quickly.

"We need to have a sit down, think about how things have gone, probably watch the game again on video and then be raring to go on Wednesday."

Southgate refused to blame the formation used by Keegan - he switched from 4-4-2 to 3-5-2 at

Hamann's goal defeated England

half-time - for England's downfall.

He said: "You can talk about formations and everyone will have their opinions. Now is not the time to go into them but we have to take responsibilities as players for not playing well or not playing well enough.

"I don't think we played well enough in the first half. We didn't have enough movement.

"The second half was a bit better and we started to open them up a bit more.

We certainly looked more comfortable but by that stage we were a goal behind and chasing the game."

Southgate was surprisingly employed in a holding midfield role in the first half - the first time he had occupied that position from the start of a match for four years - before switching to his accustomed centre-back slot after the break.

He said: "I was determined to try and do a job. I think we needed someone to play a holding role.

The manager asked me to take on a specific role and I don't necessarily think that was the reason we got beat."