SOUTHGATE’S YOUNG LIONS WON’T DO ‘HEROIC FAILURE’ AND IT’S GOODBYE FROM US... BUT WE’LL BE BACK!

England chief insists his rising stars won’t tolerate being runners up or nearly men... they will take this pain and achieve greatness

GARETH SOUTHGATE claims his England stars have raised the bar and are no longer satisfied with glorious failure.

Southgate says Three Lions players are determined to learn from their Euro 2020 heartbreak to become winners at the World Cup in Qatar 18 months from now.

Only three – Kyle Walker, Jordan Henderson and Kieran Trippier – from the 26-man Euros squad were over 30. It was a squad that included starlets like Jude

Bellingham, Bukayo Saka, Jadon Sancho and Phil Foden, who will only get better with experience.

But, more importantly, England are no longer seen as a flash in the pan.

They have a new generation coming through who are determined to be a force at tournaments for the next few years and be genuine contenders like Spain, France or Germany.

Southgate (above) now has to build on the experiences of World Cup 2018 and the Euros. He must also hope he can learn lessons himself in terms of game-management and pointed towards France, who lost the last Euros but came back to win the World Cup two years later.

Southgate said: “If you want sustained success as a team you have to be constantly evolving, constantly improving, constantly finishing in those latter stages.

“France went through what we are feeling now in 2016. Germany and Spain went close a couple of times before they won. That is normally part of the process you have to go through.

“The 2018 World Cup in Russia was the beginning for us. We had seven in the starting team on Sunday night from Russia and that experience has been critical during the big matches in this tournament.

“So to add young players in at the times we did, the inexperienced players in at the times we did, means there is another group with more learning, more understanding of that high level.

“Because of what they have been through in these two tournaments they will want more, they will know they can get close, they will have belief. That’s what we have to build on now.

“All of this team can go again, no doubt about that. But the young ones are still four years from peaking. We’ve got 18-year-olds, 19-year-olds, and 20-yearolds who have done an incredible job, who had a great insight into tournament football, and who acquitted themselves well throughout.

“It doesn’t guarantee anything because you have to earn the right every time you

“We’ve wanted for a long time to make playing for England fun and enjoyable’

take the field and every time you enter a tournament, but there will now be a degree of expectation in the group when they come together.

“It will be ‘this is how it works, this how we train, this is what’s needed, this is the level we need to get to if we want to win.’ And that should be a process that stands us in good stead.”

Southgate admits that he can learn himself both tactically and in terms of game-management.

Sunday’s Wembley final against Italy brought back memories of the World Cup semi-final defeat against

Croatia in that you could see the game slipping away. Again there have been critics who suggested Southgate was too slow to react.

The England boss added: “You’re always learning as a manager. I’ve had the chance to manage some of the biggest games in world football. Those games take you through an incredible rollercoaster and there are so many decisions to make across the four or five weeks.

“You’re never going to get them all right and we would never claim to have got them all right. Sometimes you win matches despite certain decisions and sometimes you lose matches when maybe they were still the right decisions to make.

“We’ve wanted for a long time to make playing for England fun. To make playing for England enjoyable. I think our players now have that when they come away with England. I think they’ve had a fabulous experience.

“They’ve loved the adventure. They’ve loved each other’s company. Those players will be far better for going through so many important wins, so many landmarks that they’ve set with historic performances.”