GARETH SOUTHGATE saw Spain slice Italy apart in Saturday night’s World Cup qualifier from the comfort of his sofa.
But the England boss would have been better off hiding behind it.
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It will only be safe to come out when he has found a way to stop Isco, Marco Asensio and the rest of the gang tearing it up at next summer’s World Cup.
Spain, average age 27, walloped the Italians 3-0 at the Bernabeu.
It was a performance of real shock and awe.
Southgate admitted: “How can we possibly compare ourselves to a team who have Champions League winners on a consistent basis — and have a World Cup and two European Championships under their belt?
“We are a work-in-progress. We have some players, such as Phil Jones, who have won trophies — but a lot have won none.
“We have nowhere near the number of caps, yet we do have some exciting young players who can be good going forward.
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“We will have to go through some of the hardships the Spaniards went through to get to the top.
“If we are looking for some kind of Messiah to change things, I don’t think that’s realistic.”
The great shame is, it is impossible to argue with Southgate.
Spain are so good that Chelsea midfielder Cesc Fabregas — the best player in the Premier League so far this season — does not even get in their SQUAD.
They are true masters of the ball, something England will never manage because of the old kick-and-rush culture in this country.
The Three Lions are light-years behind Spain — underlined by a dreadful first-half performance in Friday’s 4-0 victory over Malta.
But tonight England will get a chance to make up for it.
To finally deliver a positive and convincing performance against Slovakia under the Wembley lights.
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Southgate, 47, added: “My job is to build. The next step is to qualify, to develop, to build the team, to bring new players into the fold.
“I could sit here and say we want to be quarter-finalists, semi-finalists, fifth in the world — but that is irrelevant. We have to back it up.
“I’ve not experienced at being with Germany or Italy from the inside.
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“Maybe they have just had better players over the years.”
There is no arguing with that. It is impossible to believe this current England side can beat, say, Germany, Spain and Portugal over successive matches in tournament conditions.
That is a pipe dream.
Spain are something different, a throwback to the days when they won Euro 2008, the 2010 World Cup and Euro 2012 consecutively.
They are a special group of players. It is Southgate’s job to make the most of striker Harry Kane, to use his talismanic presence to England’s advantage when it matters most.
Behind him, the options are limited. Raheem Sterling, destroyed by the sharks on social media at Euro 2016, is back in recovery after Friday’s brutal half-time substitution in Malta.
The Manchester City winger cannot possibly start against Slovakia. Instead, it seems the bounding runs and ceaseless energy of Marcus Rashford will be rewarded with a start tonight.
The Manchester United forward deserves to pull on the shirt in front of 70,000 England fans at Wembley.
Southgate explained: “Marcus is a real talent with high potential. We really like his mentality, so we wouldn’t hesitate to start him. I think he has been playing very well for United all season.
“Starting him was a possibility in Malta but he missed some training and we were looking after him a bit.”
The temptation to play him now is looking irresistible.
Rashford, 19, is unaffected by the pressures that come with pulling on the England shirt.
This is a big game for these boys, with added scrutiny now on the players following the surprise reaction of the away fans in Malta.
Whatever way the manager or players dress it up, the performance was diabolical before Kane scored the first goal after 53 minutes.
Three more late goals followed — and the squad thought they were off the hook. They were wrong.
At least they are adapting to the heightened tensions around the camp, with the players accepting that someone, somewhere, will always be digging them out.
Phil Jones, set to start alongside Gary Cahill in the centre of defence tonight, said: “We want fans to enjoy the game. They pay good money to watch and we try to supply that.
“When I was younger, I used to follow Blackburn all over the country and I would be shouting, ‘What the hell has he done that for?’.
“There will be games where we don’t play well but win 1-0 and still get criticised.
“The fans are entitled to their opinions.”
They certainly voiced them in Malta on Friday night — they are just not happy with what they are watching. Sadly, it will never be anything like Spain.
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