Gareth Southgate fears anything but an England win against Scotland will cost him his job
Ex-Middlesbrough boss is strong favourite to land the Three Lions job permanently after picking up four points in last two games
GARETH SOUTHGATE piled the pressure on England’s Scotland clash by admitting: I’m in the results game.
The interim Three Lions boss did his chances of landing the full-time job no harm during the World Cup qualifying double header.
He picked up the pieces of Sam Allardyce’s sacking and steered England to four points that puts them top of Group F.
Southgate backed Wayne Rooney when he was jeered by England fans in the 2-0 home win against Malta, but was then brave enough to drop him for the 0-0 draw in Slovenia.
It leaves him as front-runner for the permanent position, yet Southgate knows he cannot afford defeat against the Auld Enemy at Wembley on November 11.
Southgate, 46, said: “It’s been an incredible experience, dealing with so many situations in a short period of time.
“But I know, ultimately, people will judge results. And people will be disappointed we haven’t won in Slovenia.
“I’ll reflect on how I’ve dealt with every situation, and see what I feel I’ve done well and what could have been improved.”
Southgate was given the job for four matches and has the Scotland qualifier before a friendly against Spain on November 16.
He described the situation he inherited as a “mess” but was able to lay some foundations for the future.
The ex-Middlesbrough boss wanted the ball played out from defence.
And like Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola, he is willing to accept mistakes if his players keep passing instead of lumping it.
He added: “I think it is the way we should be heading. And I think that runs the risk of mistakes.
“There also has to be a balance in terms of decision making and what are the right ones.
“Slovenia was probably, for both teams, a difficult pitch to play on and it probably meant there were more errors from both sides.
“I have to be realistic about how much to expect from a group of players who have had three different coaches, plus we’ve had six days with them.
“I couldn’t ask for them to have given more, or be more open to the ideas we’ve tried to get across.
“Obviously you’ll have to ask them how they found it.
“To be sure, we can improve on the performance. But to come away from the two games top of our qualifying group was the main objective.”
From his work with the Under-21s, Southgate naturally looks at the future — and reckons there is potential in the current senior crop.
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But he also feels the squad needs to cope better with the pressure of playing for the Three Lions.
He said: “I don’t know what the average age of the team was, but I would think it was pretty young.
“But they have to show the mental toughness to deal with that.
“That’s part of being an England player. I don’t think I can make excuses for them, but we can help them with the way we prepare.
“It’s hard to know what success would have looked like from what was a very difficult situation to take over. We also lost the front three that played in Slovakia before we’d even met up.
“I was really pleased with Jesse Lingard’s contribution across the two games, while Joe Hart has looked really composed and a top-quality goalkeeper.
“Those are real pluses and I have to say they’ve taken on board a lot of the concepts and things which we’ve tried to do.
“That is going to take time. I’m looking in the Premier League and listening to some top coaches saying they need to take months to get their ideas across — we have days.
“I know that’s international football, but we also have to be realistic.”
Southgate is now plotting his squad for Scotland.
He added: “The next two or three weeks gives me the chance to watch a lot more football, to see the players that could be in and around the squad.
“I can also look at those who I haven’t had the chance to see play over the last ten days but have trained really well.
“That’s one of the key objectives for me — to get a bigger picture of everything that is there.
“But we obviously don’t have that many more English players playing that would come into the reckoning.”