“I think the players are thinking ‘I don’t want to be the one that makes a mistake” – Danny Mills identifies main problem with England under Gareth Southgate at the moment

England endured another disappointing outing on Friday, suffering a 1-0 defeat to Italy in the UEFA Nations League. Following the setback, former Leeds United defender Danny Mills has identified what is going wrong with Gareth Southgate's men at the moment.

Southgate used the 3-4-3 formation against Italy in Milan. Kyle Walker, Eric Dier, and Harry Maguire made up the backline, with Reece James and Bukayo Saka deployed as wing-backs.

Jude Bellingham and Declan Rice played in midfield while the trio of Raheem Sterling, Harry Kane, and Phil Foden made up the attack.

GOAL! Italy 1-0 England (Raspadori, 68) ⚽

A simple ball over Walker gets Italy in. Raspadori takes a lovely touch to set up the chance and plants a fantastic finish into the far corner. https://t.co/RzJTsVVVjF

Expressing his opinion on the setup, Danny Mills stated that the tactician made his decision based on the players' form.

The Englishman said on Sky Sports:

“There's always this talk about Gareth has to pick certain players that are in form. The players that he picked in Milan were the players that were pretty much in better form for their clubs or out of necessity because there was no one else in those positions."

He added:

“Tonight is maybe a bit more of a free hit, relegation is done and dusted. I think players have to go out there and play with a bit of freedom, formations and tactics don't necessarily win you games; players give you good performances."

Mills went on to explain that England's main problem is that they are unwilling to take risks with the ball:

“What I've seen from the last three or four performances, they look to be playing within themselves, in a shell. A little bit like the old England where players were maybe afraid to make mistakes where players didn't play the same way they did for their club."

🤨 Laura: “Why do we look so flat?”

❌ Ally: “Clearly the reason is because the Nations League games don’t matter.”

👀 Ally: “If England don’t qualify for the big tournaments, that’s the real problem!”

Ally McCoist believes the #NationsLeague for #ENG doesn’t matter 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 https://t.co/ZbwtHITGZK

He continued:

“I think the players are thinking 'I don't want to be the one that makes a mistake, I don’t want to take a risk'. I think at the moment, we are playing safe football, it's up to those players to get out there and be expressive. Look, Gareth isn't going out there and saying 'play safe, be negative, don't take shots, don't take people on, don't score goals'."

England players need to express themselves, claims Danny Mills

Another frustrating outing for the Three Lions

The former Leeds United defender believes that the conservative approach has become part of the players' mentality when they step up to represent England and has advised them to express themselves on the pitch just like they do at club level.

He opined:

“So this is now part of the mentality of the players, they've had great success, they've now come up against a bit of adversity, so they have to go out there against a very good team, take the game to them and express themselves like they do for their clubs."