Gareth Southgate’s England lost to France in the World Cup quarter-finals (Picture: Getty)

Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand has claimed Gareth Southgate ‘let us down’ during England’s World Cup quarter-final defeat to France.

The Three Lions’ impressive run in Qatar was ended by World Cup holders France on Saturday evening.

Harry Kane’s second-half penalty cancelled out Aurelien Tchouameni’s first-half strike but Olivier Giroud headed home Antoine Griezmann’s superb cross to settle the affair in the 78th minute.

England had a golden chance to send the match into extra-time but Kane – who earlier equalled Wayne Rooney’s England record of 53 goals – skied another spot-kick after Mason Mount was shoved over in the box.

Ferdinand has been one of Southgate’s most vocal supporters in recent years, hailing the job he has done to get England into the latter stages of two World Cups and to the Euro 2020 final.

But the former Manchester United defender believes Southgate ‘came up short’ tactically against France and was not ‘proactive’ enough with his substitutions.

England did not make any changes until Giroud’s late goal and only brought on Marcus Rashford and Jack Grealish after Kane’s missed spot-kick.

Rio Ferdinand expects Southgate to stay on despite the defeat (Picture: Getty)

Speaking on the Vibe with Five YouTube channel, Ferdinand said: ‘Our substitutions is where I think Gareth Southgate let us down.

‘I think he’s been pitch-perfect, touch-perfect in almost every decision he’s made up to this point, but you get into a game like yesterday where this is really where it matters now, and I think Gareth Southgate came up short in the tactical element in terms of substitutions.

‘That’s part of tactics, making substitutions, and in-game management and deciding games with substitutions at the business end of a tournament, I think he would hold his hands up maybe in retrospect.

‘I threw a text in the group, and I stand by this: Gareth, in the moment, wasn’t proactive with his substitutions, he was reactive.

‘It hit 1-1 and we’re sitting there going “take the bull by the horns, make a substitution, get us on the front foot”. You’ve got Rashford, you’ve got Grealish who can go on, get us on the front foot and change this game.

‘You’re sitting there going, “It’s too late, man”. You’ve got to do this when we’ve got the chance of still winning this game and taking the game from them.’

Despite being critical of Southgate’s role in England’s defeat, Ferdinand has backed the 52-year-old to keep his job ahead of Euro 2024 and the 2026 World Cup.

‘I think, if I am Gareth Southgate, I can not leave this story,’ Ferdinand added. ‘This story hasn’t had an ending yet that works for me, if I’m Gareth Southgate.

‘I see a list of the players, the age range of these players, the profile of the players he has at his disposal, it’s the stuff of dreams. You’ve got a… set of players here who, if you get it right, can go on to win things.

‘They have to be able to win things with these players, it’s an unbelievable collection of players, but he has to say to himself: “Am I the man to manage them and navigate them through this period and to get the best out of these players?”.

‘Now at the moment he hasn’t done that because he hasn’t won it, and he has to make that decision – we can’t make that decision for him.’

After knocking out England, World Cup holders France will face Morocco in the semi-finals in Qatar. The other last-four tie sees Argentina take on 2018 runners-up Croatia.

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England’s run was ended by World Cup holders France.