Gareth Southgate says his ambition is for England to be ranked No 1 on this planet.
His facet seemed a great distance from that stage throughout a laboured win over a Malta facet who sit 171st within the standings at Wembley on Friday evening.
Nonetheless, the 2-0 victory meant England have received Euro 2024 qualifying Group C and are all however assured of a spot in Pot 1 for the event draw subsequent month.
Southgate is now calling on his facet to boost their requirements away to North Macedonia on Monday night. It could be a lifeless rubber however the England boss desires to see constant high-level performances for his staff to be thought of the perfect facet on the planet.
“Qualification’s done,” mentioned Southgate, whose England staff had been ranked fourth within the newest version of the FIFA standings.
“A number of the gamers have gotten three video games to get right into a squad, some have gotten possibly three to get right into a staff, possibly a pair extra if we’re speaking concerning the staff.
“There’s some things we’d like to see. But if we’re going to be a top team, then the level of performance has got to be spot on every time.”
Requested if being No 1 drives him on, Southgate mentioned: “Yeah, because ultimately you achieve that through consistency and you’ve got to play well in the tournaments as well because the ranking points are higher in the tournaments.
“Additionally, it units behaviours on daily basis on the coaching pitch, off the coaching pitch.
“If you are going to be the top-ranked team, there’s no room for sloppiness or casualness. That’s got to be our drive.”
England at present sit fourth in FIFA’s world rankings, making it 5 straight years of being within the high 5.
Their earlier greatest since its launch was six months within the high 5 throughout 1997 and 1998, but there stays loads of criticism for Southgate and hypothesis about his future.
Monday will likely be England’s ultimate qualifier earlier than the supervisor’s contract expires subsequent yr and he smiled when it was talked about that former Soccer Affiliation govt David Dein had mentioned he ought to get a brand new deal.
Requested if he anticipated this being his ultimate qualifier within the hotseat, Southgate mentioned: “I haven’t thought about it, really.
“I’ve thought concerning the sport tomorrow and the necessity for a greater efficiency than Friday so that is what I have been specializing in.
“I feel almost as if we’ve almost talked too much about the Euros already and I didn’t see our focus in the right place at the weekend.
“So, it is tomorrow, then it is March, then it is the summer season. And we go from there.”
Southgate downplayed strategies of his future being a distraction however steered his feedback about their Euros ambitions might have been.
“Well, I think talk of the summer was a distraction on Friday in its own way,” he added.
“Look, in football management, frankly I think you should look no further than three or four games ahead anyway.
“However I feel if you’ve acquired a event arising, inevitably, as a world supervisor, you are going to be judged on tournaments so everyone earlier than that’s fairly futile, actually.”
England’s final camp of the year has been disrupted by absentees.
Five players withdrew from the original squad through injury and two more departed the squad before they flew out to the Balkans.
The FA announced Kieran Trippier had gone home due to a personal issue, while injury meant Jarrod Bowen left the camp on Sunday.
A sold-out Tose Proeski Arena awaits England’s absentee-hit 21-man squad as the Macedonians look to make up for June’s 7-0 hiding at Old Trafford.
“We play a staff who, though they cannot qualify, have great pleasure they usually’ll be wounded by what occurred in Manchester,” Southgate added.
“We have now to be prepared for a very good ambiance. Full crowd, full stadium.
“We’ve had a calendar year where we’ve been very good, so we want to finish well.”
Evaluation: North Macedonia take a look at will set tone for England forward of Euro 2024
England are all-but assured to be in Pot 1 among the many high seeds for subsequent month’s Euro 2024 draw – however there are nonetheless issues for Gareth Southgate to resolve.
They’ve already achieved all that they got down to within the aggressive video games constructing as much as subsequent summer season’s event forward of their ultimate group sport towards North Macedonia on Monday.
So, with this sport a real lifeless rubber, the equal of a world pleasant, what are the priorities for the England supervisor to evaluate over the approaching 90 minutes?
Sky Sports activities Information senior reporter Rob Dorsett analyses what the England boss will likely be looking for.