Harry Maguire
Harry Maguire is struggling with club and country (Picture: AMA/Getty Images)

Manchester United defender Harry Maguire suggested that struggling in the Premier League had an impact on England as they lost to Czech Republic on Friday night.

The Three Lions suffered a surprise 2-1 defeat to the Czechs in Euro 2020 qualification, after taking the lead through a Harry Kane penalty after just five minutes.

It was England’s first loss in a qualification match for 10 years and Maguire believes that a number of players struggling for club form did not help the cause.

His Manchester United side are 12th in the Premier League after losing to Newcastle last time out, while he partnered Michael Keane in central defence, whose Everton team have lost four on the spin and are down in 18th.

‘We bring our club football into international level,’ Maguire said after the loss in Prague. ‘It was a difficult game. Don’t get me wrong, we started sloppy. We took the lead in the game but we didn’t deserve to.

‘The second half we controlled the game a lot more than the first half but we gave them a sloppy goal to win the game. We do need to improve on that.

Michael Keane, Harry Maguire and Declan Rice
Michael Keane, Harry Maguire and Declan Rice were all involved as England slumped to defeat (Picture: Getty Images)

‘Obviously you are wanting to develop partnerships. Sometimes in international level you can’t really do that.

‘You have players who aren’t playing for their clubs so they don’t get selected, and you have players that pick up injuries.

‘You’ve got to adapt. That’s one of the tricky parts of playing international football, every camp you’re normally playing alongside different players – you don’t want to be – and need to develop new partnerships.

‘But listen, there’s no excuses. We need to be better than Friday night. We need to be better going forward. We need to be better on the ball. And we certainly need to be better at keeping the ball out of the net.’

England boss Gareth Southgate is considering switching back to the three-man central defence which took England to the World Cup semi-finals last year, which he has abandoned for a back four of late.

‘We are in a difficult situation in terms of the players that have played international football with us in that area of the pitch and who is playing regularly for their clubs,’ said Southgate.

‘That’s part of the reason we didn’t do that [a back three against the Czech Republic].’

Maguire partnered John Stones and Kyle Walker in that back three in Russia, but Stones is injured and Walker out of the squad, meaning it would be a significant change to bring back the formation for Southgate.

England take on Bulgaria in Sofia on Monday night as they look to bounce back from defeat in Prague.

MORE : Manchester United open talks with Barcelona over Ivan Rakitic transfer

MORE : Robbie Fowler reveals why Jurgen Klopp turned down Manchester United