In the hunt for positives, Gareth Southgate could laud the spirit of his England team and their ruthlessness. The statistics showed that they had mustered three shots on target and they made two of them count as they summoned a victory over the No 1-ranked team in world football that they hope can provide a touchstone.
The England manager will not kid himself. There remains an awful lot of work to do in the search for cohesion and Belgium departed Wembley wondering how they had allowed a position of dominance to slip away. They had led through Romelu Lukaku’s early penalty and, for long spells, they played the more assertive football.
