Gareth Southgate has disputed allegations that England's recent troubles are due to a conservative mentality, blaming a lack of sharpness in the final third instead.
On Saturday, England drew 0-0 with Italy, leaving the Three Lions at the bottom of their Nations League group with just two points from three games.
England has only scored one goal in three matches this month, a penalty by Harry Kane in a 1-1 tie with Germany.
The Three Lions' performances have been highly panned, and while they did create opportunities against the Azzurri, they were often second best against a team in transition.
Southgate has been chastised for England's lack of identity beyond their pragmatic approach during his tenure in charge, but he refused to consider such a notion this time.
"I don't know how you can truly call it conservative," Southgate told Channel 4 when asked if he thought the performance was cautious.
"We attempted to move the ball through a well-oiled machine." We've had the ball in our forward players' hands, and we've handed it to them all, trying to refresh their memories because we know where we are in the season.
"So, that little bit of crispness in the final third isn't quite there yet," says the director, "but I was delighted with the overall performance."
Tammy Abraham started in attack in place of Kane, with Raheem Sterling, Mason Mount, and Jack Grealish providing assistance.
While Sterling and Mount both had three shots, and Grealish had the game's most critical passes with four, Abraham only had two.
The first was an innocuous off-target header, while the second was a wayward finish after depriving Italy of possession inside their own half-space, as he scuffed wide of the right-hand post.
Despite this, Southgate appeared to be buoyed by Abraham's performance.
"We've been too reliant on Harry and Raheem for our goals," he continued.
"Other players will have to enter that phase." A few of them do it for their clubs, but they haven't been able to translate it to the international level.
"As a result, we've appeared dangerous without scoring the goals required in the biggest games."
"I assumed Tammy was in good health. I haven't seen that opportunity since the beginning, but it's probably the one [England] should have taken.
"When we did it [took Abraham off], we thought we wanted to rejuvenate the team, but I wasn't upset with Tammy's performance at all."
On Tuesday, England will host Hungary, whom they fell to in Budapest last weekend, in the hopes of earning their first Nations League victory.