England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford believes the Three Lions can respond at the Qatar World Cup

Strange as it sounds, one of the most notable memories of recent England games is that of Gareth Southgate standing on the turf at Milan’s San Siro in September being booed by the travelling supporters.

It was a moment to bring you up short. England had just lost a flat Nations League game 1-0 to a rather average Italian side.

England’s fifth game without a win — that run was to extend to six with a home draw with Germany that followed — it was a night that reminded us just how quickly things can change for an international manager, especially if he is English.

Goalkeeper Jordan Pickford didn’t play that night. He was injured. But asked about it at England’s training base outside of Doha on Sunday, he offered his own explanation.

England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford (left) has backed England’s players to execute Gareth Southgate’s plans at the Qatar World Cup

Pickford is expected to continue his run as England's number one at the Qatar World Cup

Pickford is expected to continue his run as England’s number one at the Qatar World Cup

‘It’s what we have talked about before,’ Pickford said. ‘It’s about expectations. They are going to be higher with all the progression we have made over the last four years.’

That is true but does not wholly explain the problems that have followed England east to Qatar.

The fact is England have just played poorly this year. Not poorly compared to how they played in reaching the final of the European Championships two summers ago. 

Or compared to how they played in reaching the semi-final of the last World Cup. Just poorly. They have, for example, lost home and away to Hungary.

Southgate has taken just about all of the criticism for this. Wrong tactics. Wrong formations. Wrong substitutions. Wrong attitude.

Pickford (pictured) has been England's hero between the sticks on countless occasions

Pickford (pictured) has been England’s hero between the sticks on countless occasions

He kept England in their Euro 2020 final shootout against Italy before eventually conceding defeat at Wembley

He kept England in their Euro 2020 final shootout against Italy before eventually conceding defeat at Wembley

But if England are going to find something better and more familiar within themselves over the four weeks that lie ahead, then it will ultimately have to come from the players.

The team that Southgate is expected to pick to face Iran at the Khalifa International Stadium on Monday afternoon has a total of 469 caps. 

It is a team of vast experience. Raheem Sterling — playing at his third World Cup — has 79 caps. Captain Harry Kane has 75. Central defender John Stones has 59 and Pickford himself has 45.

Placed in this context, it is a stretch to expect Southgate to solve problems all on his own. If top players with vast Premier League and Champions League experience do not perform to their best levels, then it does not really matter what formation a manager plays.

‘The manager sets up a team to go and win the games and we have got to execute it,’ agreed Pickford on Sunday.

England manager Southgate is keen to see his side respond after a poor run of form

England manager Southgate is keen to see his side respond after a poor run of form

‘I think Gareth is brilliant. He has been brilliant with all the lads and there is now a pathway for the young lads. He has been brilliant with that as well.’

Southgate is a relative rarity in international football given that he has maintained the ability, after six years in the job, to remain phlegmatic about the criticism that comes his way. 

He has not been worn down by the persistent and often faux drama of the post. Southgate can see bigger pictures than those painted by the latest back-page headline.

Nevertheless, this is a World Cup that must see his players quickly regain some kind of forward momentum if they are to have any chance at all of becoming the first English side to reach the last four of three tournaments on the bounce.

Players like Phil Foden and Sterling, for example, must flourish in Qatar. Foden’s form at Manchester City has been excellent but he has never really replicated it in an England shirt. He may pay by losing his place to Bukayo Saka on Monday. Sterling, meanwhile, is having a quiet season with Chelsea.

Pickford has been England's number one under Southgate's reign as Three Lions manager

Pickford has been England’s number one under Southgate’s reign as Three Lions manager

Kane, the captain, is one player who should run hot into this World Cup, providing his body holds up after 22 consecutive starts for Antonio Conte’s Tottenham.

Asked last night whether he and his team-mates owed Southgate something over the course of this tournament, Kane said: ‘We are the ones out on the pitch. We know first and foremost we could have done better over the last six games or so. But also I think it has made us stronger, made us even more hungry.

‘Look, Gareth has been incredible for us. The record in the 2018 World Cup and the Euros (last year) speak for themselves.

‘As a group of players and staff, we always feel like being judged on major tournament football. This is another opportunity to take another step forward.’

For England, as will be the case for every team out here, this will be a World Cup enduringly linked with uncomfortable political matters away from the field.

England captain Harry Kane has backed his manager at Sunday's pre-match press conference

England captain Harry Kane has backed his manager at Sunday’s pre-match press conference

In one 20-minute FIFA press conference at Doha’s main media centre on Sunday, Southgate was asked whether England would take the knee.

He was also asked whether Kane would wear the ‘OneLove’ armband that is causing FIFA such irritation and whether his players would consider making a gesture to show solidarity with their opponents, such as over the ongoing horrors of life in Iran.

Southgate eased his way through all of that with some deftness and now it is up to his players to do the same in Group B and beyond.

Kane is hoping to lead England to just their second ever World Cup title and first since 1966

Kane is hoping to lead England to just their second ever World Cup title and first since 1966

This is an opening eight days of World Cup activity that should not cause England undue difficulties. Other major nations such as France, Portugal, Brazil, Spain and Germany would love to have been handed as straightforward a route to the knockout stages.

Much, it feels, will depend on how England start on Monday.

Early goals could sweep them forward, just as the six scored against Panama in the second game in Russia four years ago served to light a fire beneath Southgate’s side.

Failure to win against the world’s 20th-ranked team, on the other hand, would feel rather catastrophic. As ever at a World Cup, the margins for error already feel slight.