LONDON -- Gareth Southgate has backed Raheem Sterling to be the answer to England's profligacy and says the Manchester City forward has never looked calmer in front of goal.
Southgate's England kept a fifth consecutive clean sheet in Friday's 1-0 friendly win over the Netherlands but scoring goals has proved harder for his evolving team. Since switching to a back-three, England have scored just two non-penalty goals in six matches and they lacked a cutting edge in Amsterdam without injured striker Harry Kane.
In Sterling, Southgate can call on a forward who has more than 20 goals for champions-elect City this season. But the 23-year-old has scored just twice in 36 international appearances and not since a Euro 2016 qualifier against Estonia in 2015.
The England boss said Sterling, who is expected to start Tuesday's friendly against Italy, has "ultimate responsibility" for his improvement and believes he can help solve England's scoring problems.
"You can see the confidence in him," Southgate, who was sitting alongside Sterling, told a media briefing. "Clearly Pep [Guardiola, Man City boss] is a coach who can give the players that belief which is so important.
"Then it's down to the players. That's where Raheem has to take credit, because if a player isn't willing to learn and have the mindset and determination to improve, then all of those messages are wasted.
"In the end the player is the one who has ultimate responsibility. You can see the positions he's taking up, his belief in front of goal, he's scored more goals this week in training than I've ever seen.
"That's not necessarily because he's technically better, he's just thinking about the types of finishes more. Not snatching at things. Passing things into the net. More confident. More composed. Which I think is belief and he's getting into different areas on the pitch.
"What we've got to do as a team is create more chances as he gets at club level, that's the next step for us," Southgate added. "Improve our attacking play in the final third, we've been very good up to that point in the last couple of games. We've got to create more clear-cut chances so they're simpler finishes for our forwards."
Sterling had never scored more than 10 goals in a campaign before this one, and the former Liverpool player believes it is a "matter of time" before he finds his scoring touch for England too.
"I should be scoring a lot more for England, and I put a lot of pressure on myself," Sterling said. "I did that at my club, I wasn't scoring a lot of goals there as well, but it turned around and I started scoring. Same with England, I put a lot of pressure on myself to do well and score more. And it will be a matter of time.
"Once you get back into that rhythm you will start getting balls that drop to you and positions where it wasn't before, I do have that feeling that it is going to come soon."
Southgate explained that there are "two parts" to England's goal problems -- elite international defences and a lack of fluidity in the final third -- and he added: "The more guys play together and they get that understanding of the runs each other make, then we will create more chances. And if we create chances, we've got guys who will finish them."
The former England centre-back acknowledged that Friday's opponents will present England with "the toughest possible test" defensively, even though legendary goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon will be rested at Wembley Stadium.
"As a defender, of course, they are the best. The tactical organisation, the detail of marking. The art of defending, because it is an art, in my opinion and it's often neglected by people and undervalued. But when you see the likes of not only this team, but the teams I played against, [Alessandro] Nesta, [Antonio] Cannavaro, [Paolo] Maldini, the best, the absolute best.
"We know to score goals against an Italian team is the toughest possible test. And we know they'll be really well-organised and press us well tomorrow. So it's a really good test for us to see how far we've come."
"Buffon is legendary; 178 caps, is that right? That will never be beaten, it's incredible," Southgate said of the Italy captain, who will be rested for teenager Gianluigi Donnarumma.
"He's a remarkable character who has achieved everything in the game. He is respected by the whole game. Also because he seems like a good person as well. You see [that] in his interactions with other people on the field."