No Messiah to transform England

the pressure and public scrutiny of the international game better than England appear to.

“Maybe they’ve had better players over the years,” he offered.

Although aware of a possible gap in quality, Southgate is at least reassured there is no such chasm in commitment. In stressing the point he also appeared to take aim at some who were not always desperate to do their international duty.

“I’ve played in teams where people were there every time, and others weren’t,” he said.

“Absolutely. That’s why some people get 50, 60 or 70 caps and others, who may be good players, don’t. The important ones are those who get the 70 caps.

“I guess what I’d say to the supporters is every team has new players. Whatever your feelings have been about the team, can you give the next generation of players the support that any English sports team craves?

“We’re not demanding (the players) are here. They want to be here. The easiest thing in the world would be to pull out, but we picked 28 players and 28 turned up. That’s a really good sign, and it hasn’t always been the case. It’s a shame the guys who come get stick, and the guys who duck out escape.”

Southgate was speaking on the occasion of his 47th birthday and, although there was no cake, there was also a promise not to react with Yaya Toure levels of disappointment.

That places him much closer in age to his squad than predecessors such as Sam Allardyce, Roy Hodgson and Sven GoranEriksson, and his England career is recent enough for him to place talk of a divide between players and fans in its proper context.

“The notion the players aren’t proud to play is outrageous, really,” he said. “They’re unbelievably proud to play. “Every England team I played in, the lads could never quite get their heads round why that was.”