Southgate puts flair top of list

GARETH SOUTHGATE will judge England’s World Cup performances rather than how far they get.

England failed under Roy Hodgson at the group stage in Brazil in 2014, their worst ever campaign at a World Cup finals.

But Three Lions boss Southgate said: “I think, in my mind, my gauge of success would be that we come back from the tournament with the fans proud of how we’ve played.

“And that means we will have played well and won some matches.

“I think the other night, we left Wembley and people were excited by what they saw, enjoyed the game.

“That’s my desire as the manager, to produce a team which sends people home feeling that way.

“So that’s my focus, to focus on the performances and to constantly improve on the performances.”