Now England need to be ruthless as the serious stuff returns

ADAM LALLANA was momentarily thrown when it was suggested England may need to develop something akin to a German mentality. “I don’t know… it’s a good point,” he said with a reflective smile, before avoiding the question. Lallana missed one of three clear opportunities England created in Dortmund which would have given Southgate a kickstart to life as permanent manager.

Lallana’s effort hit the post, Dele Alli fluffed his lines when unmarked and Michael Keane fired over as England assumed the best supporting actor role in Lukas Podolski’s scripted international finale.

These are early days in Southgate’s reign but prominent on the list of areas to improve will be England’s finishing.

November’s draw against Spain was another occasion in which England failed to secure a victory their performance deserved, while minnows Malta were only beaten 2-0 a month earlier, a result which preceded a goalless draw in Slovenia.

Sunday’s World Cup qualifier against Lithuania may be a mismatch on paper but it will prove tricky the longer England fail to find a breakthrough.

Below on this page, Eric Dier has urged England to be aggressive from the outset but that must be accompanied by a ruthless streak in front of goal to ensure they remain in control of qualification from Group F.

Southgate’s switch from a back four to a 3-4-2-1 against Germany yielded a promising performance, if not the desired outcome, and the 46-year-old believes a new identity to the side is beginning to emerge.

“It doesn’t come instantly but people would see a clear identity to what we are trying to do in both systems we’ve played. You would be disappointed if we’re not having an impact and we have, in terms of mentality and in terms of style of play,” he said.

“The winning bit has got to come but the tests like this are really important. You take more from that than playing

‘Tests like this [against Germany] are important — you take more from that than teams we’d beat easily’ Gareth Southgate

teams we might have rolled over more easily.”

Southgate’s team selec tions on Wednesday were made with one eye on Sunday’s match and it is therefore likely he will make changes, perhaps in both personnel and system.

Lithuania’s contrasting approach — they will inevitably adopt a more defensive mindset than the world champions — will have to be taken into account but Southgate has different options to select from to ensure his side take the chances that come their way.

Jermain Defoe’s return to the England squad was greeted with considerable hullabaloo but he was an unused substitute in midweek, as Southgate opted to replace Jamie Vardy with Marcus Rashford late on.

Standard Sport columnist Harry Redknapp argued yesterday that Defoe would relish the service afforded him by better players than he teams up with at Sunderland and although Vardy has enjoyed a revival in form at Leicester City since Claudio Ranieri’s departure, he has scored just one international goal since Euro 2016.

It was a surprise that Ross Barkley was not called into action against Germany, given his renaissance under Ronald