Seven England players slammed as Danny Mills defends Gareth Southgate despite horrible run

England boss Gareth Southgate has been defended despite a form of horror for his team. Former Three Lions international Danny Mills instead slammed seven players after the loss to Italy on Friday.

England lost 1-0 at Milan and were relegated from the Nations League First Division. The Euro 2020 finalists are winless in their last five matches and haven't scored a goal in free play for nearly 500 minutes.

There is only one game left - against Germany on Tuesday - before the start of the World Cup in November. Southgate was widely criticized for both the result and the performance.

But Mills instead thinks a lot of the blame lies with the players. He named seven people he said were below average on Friday.

READ MORE: Lineker calls out England boss Southgate over two players after Italy loss

Mills said: "It's not the Phil Foden we see for Manchester City, or the Bukayo Saka we see for Arsenal or the Jude Bellingham we see for Borussia Dortmund, even Harry Kane, and that is not the Raheem Sterling we see who goes and attacks people every game. Everyone looks a little scared to make mistakes, and they certainly don't play like that for their clubs.

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"It was so disappointing, the players just seem to be playing to themselves, trying to be safe. Even when Jack Grealish came on, he should be full of confidence after scoring for Man City, but he didn't didn't really get the ball back and didn't run towards people.

"In the last third there were several chances to put the ball in the box earlier, but they didn't take that risk, they were too cautious, and then the chance was gone. You can't hesitate like that at this level.

"When does the manager say to the players, 'Go ahead and give the ball away', 'Sterling, make a bad first touch'? Does Southgate tell Reece James to pass the ball over the million mile mark? He doesn't!"

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Mills says it's up to the players to take their club form to the international stage, not the manager. He added: "It's not just Southgate. Do you really think he's saying to his players, 'You're doing well for your club, now I want you...