WE’RE GOOD TO CRO

Southgate admits the World Cup feelgood will not last forever: ‘I will be judged on results’

ZLATKO DALIC nonchalantly listed his team, in formation for good measure.

Gareth Southgate was not about to follow suit.

“When do we have to name it?” he asked his media man, knowing the answer.

“We will leave it until an hour before the game.”

If either of these managers is taking tonight’s UEFA Nations League match with a touch more seriousness, it is the England one.

The street parties, the Southgate song, pubs bursting at the seams, the social media love, are becoming hazier memories.

Since then, there has been a Wembley beating by Spain and a narrow friendly win over Switzerland.

And whatever your take on this particular mini-tournament, no matter what you make of a World Cup third place play-off, the fact is that England have lost three competitive games on the spin.

And this contest in Croatia is followed by Monday night’s return date in Spain.

Southgate (right), with his new four-year contract tucked away, will still talk at length about building long-term, but he surely knows that losing can become a bad habit.

“We are here to get a result. The team who plays will be the team we believe in,” he said, before admitting the immense goodwill from the summer of World Cup love will not last forever.

“I am not relying on anything. As a coach and manager, I will be judged on results.

“We have an exciting team, but we know these two games away to Croatia and Spain are a good test.

“The game at Wembley (the 2-1 defeat to the Spaniards) was really tight, but because we lost that, it puts a big slant on the outcome of this Croatia match straight away.

“We just have to focus on… can we come here and win tomorrow night?

“That would be a great confidence boost for us.”

Defeat would mean England becoming favourites to be relegated from their top tier Nations League group, which would not be any sort of disaster, but would impact on rankings and the quality of future opposition.

And it would further slow the momentum built by the run to the semi-finals in Russia – a run, of course, that was ended by the opposition in Rijeka this evening.

“Given the close proximity to this game, I think that’s still fresh in everybody’s mind,” said Southgate. “But we are looking to how we improve and how we bring younger players into the system.

“We are looking to evolve. We are two games down the line now and I think it’s important for us that we focus on these matches first and foremost.”

And the first of the double-header is against a nation that delighted in ending the World Cup dreams of opponents they perceived as being arrogant.

It is a charge Southgate fiercely denies, saying: “I think it is interesting how we are viewed by the rest of the world when we travel.

“I am always putting across the importance of representing the country in the right way. “The rest of the world does view us in a certain way, and feel that we have a sense of entitlement.

“But I can only speak for this group of players and this group of staff – and that is not the way we operate.

“We don’t want to show too much respect on the pitch, but in terms of respect from this group of players, we could not have more of that.”

Southgate’s team certainly will not be able to show Croatia too much respect if they are to claim a victory that would send them to Seville in confident mood.

“The two games this week are up there with as tough as you can get,” he admitted.

“We want as many high-level tests as we can and it will be a great experience, a chance to test ourselves and it will be a really good game.”

But deep down, Southgate probably knows.

A great experience will be useful, but against really good opposition, a win – however it arrives – would be nicer.