Gareth Southgate: We've got to convince ourselves the World Cup wasn't a one-off

England's Nations League campaign will go some way to making clear whether this summer was just a flash in the pan, or the sign of steady improvement

Gareth Southgate has told the England team that their biggest job going into the Nations League is to convince themselves that this summer’s heroic World Cup performance was not a one-off.

England begin the post-World Cup life at Wembley on Saturday evening, starting with the Nations League campaign which will allow the side to test themselves against Spain and Croatia, two of the best teams in Europe.

The Nations League campaign will go some way to making clear whether this summer’s World Cup was just a flash in the pan, or the sign of steady improvement, which can form the new basis for England to build from. If England can beat Croatia and Spain, and even reach the next stage of this competition, then the 2018 semi-final will achieve a look of permanence.

But for Southgate, that means the players proving to themselves again that they deserve to be among Europe’s best. “We’ve got to convince ourselves it wasn’t a one-off,” he said of the World Cup. “That’s the most important thing. That was a moment in time.”

Southgate told the story of a 13-year-old England fan who cycled up to The Grove hotel, where they stayed on Friday night, to see the players. He said that the fact that that teenager has seen a successful England team for the first time in his lifetime was important, as a sign of how far England have come.

“There was a lad who cycled up here to the hotel on his bike, he was waiting for us, he was 13,” Southgate said. “He was there today, too. He felt like I did in 1990. Two generations of supporters have experienced something they’ve never experienced before. That will always be there. Expectations are good. That means we are progressing.”

Using the 2018 World Cup performance as a platform will be the important thing in distinguishing it from the 1990 campaign, for example, when England also reached the semi-finals, but then failed to manage the transition to the next generation under Graham Taylor and ultimately failed to qualify for the 1994 World Cup.

“This is a good moment to build on what we’ve done, that’s how we should view it,” Southgate said. “When we look back [at 1990], the next four years weren’t great. That’s the challenge I’ve spoken with with the players. The summer has been enjoyable for everybody, but that’s done now. Our focus has to be how we get better.”

Gareth Southgate wants his England men to push on from their World Cup heroics (Getty)

For Southgate the challenge is to equip the team to do better in games like the Croatia game when England lost control of the match in the second half. The fact that they have what he calls a “non-existent” record against top sides going back decades is part of that. That is why games against Spain and Croatia now are vital. England have to be able to show they can keep the ball under pressure, which is ultimately why they do not beat the best sides.

“We need to get better to be able to compete at the highest level, with the best teams,” he said. “But we’re not as far away as we thought we were two years ago.”

Southgate and the squad had a World Cup debrief this week which focused on the technical and tactical specifics to improve on their World Cup performances.

“We spoke about how we want to develop with and without the ball, that’s the key element technically,” Southgate said. “First and foremost, how we can improve as a team in terms of possession. Being braver in our positioning and our solutions with the ball. And how we press and be a bit more aggressive without the ball. We put little bits of footage up, some stills, some stats around a couple of the games. That bit was more explaining why we were working on the training pitch we wanted to this week.”