This England team has shown it won’t be bound by the failures of the past

What has been so impressive about England’s year has not so much been the achievements or the performances but rather the sense that they are still continuing to push and improve

“In life you can never say you’ve made it,” said Gareth Southgate, “because that is the day you stop progressing and improving.”

Southgate was dissecting and explaining England’s unbelievable year, in which they went from a team lacking much of an identity or plan to the best England side since 1966, reaching the World Cup semi-finals in Russia and then qualifying for the Nations League semi-finals to be played next June.

And what has been so impressive and so important about England’s year has not so much been the achievements or the performances but rather the sense that they are still continuing to push and improve. It would have been easy for England to sit on their laurels after Russia, to believe that they had cracked international football and to go into this campaign with that same 3-5-2 that propelled them to the last four. But instead Southgate realised that his team needed to create more chances, that they did not need five defenders, and that he did not want to have to choose between Raheem Sterling and Marcus Rashford. So he switched to a 4-3-3 that led to the crucial wins over Croatia and Spain this autumn.

It has reinforced the big lessons of the whole of 2018: that this generation it not bound by the conventions or limits of the recent past. They must find their own way, and in doing that they may get further than anyone expected.

“I think what this year has shown us is that you mustn’t be weighed down by previous beliefs,” Southgate said. “Or nobody would have looked at the final four in the World Cup being the final four.”

It helps that Southgate can call on a new generation of players who are not marked by the failures of the past. Players for whom the 2010 or 2014 World Cups were tournaments they watched on television. And whose first experiences of international football were triumphant, part of the England teams that won the Under-17 or Under-20 World Cups last year, or the European Under-19 Championship. “The young players have been winning at world level, and have been winning at European level,” Southgate said. “So they do have a slightly different feel and a different view of what’s possible.”

Continuing to bring in new players has been a hugely important part of the team’s progress since Russia. Over the autumn internationals Southgate has given big roles to players who he did not even take to Russia, including Ben Chilwell, Joe Gomez, Ross Barkley, Harry Winks and Jadon Sancho. Having such a fast defence has – especially with Kyle Walker over Kieran Trippier – allowed England to play an even more aggressive game.

“When we look at the profile of the younger players coming through, energy is important, pace is important, and our back four is as quick as I can remember from any time since I have been involved with England. That allows you to play higher up the pitch and to push the game forward. We have got lots more players in the system that can play that way and they are all coming through an academy system too where they are comfortable with the ball and have been encouraged by their clubs to play in a similar way.”

Gareth Southgate embraces Harry Kane after full-time at Wembley (Action Images via Reuters)

And even after this new high point, the process of evolution is not going to stop. There are many promising youngsters coming through, players Southgate admires like Lewis Cook, Mason Mount, James Maddison and many more. No one will be allowed to settle, no matter how good they have been so far.

“One of the most important things we can do is be right on the button with every player who is playing, how they are progressing, and where they might fit in with what we are doing,” Southgate said. “They are all pushing. Whenever I see teams that win the league, the only way they can really start that challenge again is to add a couple of new players. So whenever we bring a new player in, that player is excited by it but the other players also want to prove themselves to that player.” Even the starters of October and November are on notice that by March 2019, there will be new players trying to take their place.