The interim manager will now surely be appointed on a permanent basis but while England finished well against Scotland there were the usual deficiencies
Over to you then, Gareth. On a cold, still night in north London England’s players pulled themselves up to their full height and produced a display that was enough first to see off a limited Scotland team and second to ensure, in all probability, that England’s temp-to-perm manager can now take the job on as permanent a basis as these things ever get.
For England there was always a degree of additional self-inflicted tension about this World Cup qualifier. Having lost two managers in three months, they had the chance here to lose another by all-but declaring Southgate’s future would rest on the result of this febrile one-off. In the event there was a certainty to their finishing here that decorated a good if not exactly flowing performance against opponents who defended for much of the game.
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