The caretaker manager did what he needed to do with Roberto Mancini in the crowd at what is surely the world’s least intimidating 90,000 national stadium
Enter, the temp-to-perm caretaker. On a subdued afternoon at Wembley, England kicked off their latest not‑quite dawn with a colourless 2-0 defeat of Malta that saw Gareth Southgate stand and fret and look convincing enough on the touchline in his first game as not-quite England manager.
Southgate will be condemned by some for the general beigeness of the occasion. He is after all an England manager. This is what we do. But given the poverty of the opposition and the neck-cricking, one-sided nature of the match the idea that this was some kind of audition to be passed or flunked just two weeks into the job seemed increasingly remote as the afternoon drifted on.
Related: England make hard work of seeing off Malta in Gareth Southgate’s first game
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