What are the key issues facing Gareth Southgate as he prepares to take over as England's permanent boss?

DOES WAYNE ROONEY DESERVE A PLACE IN THE SIDE – OR THE SQUAD?

At some point in the future, the narrative surrounding the England team will no longer focus on the status of Wayne Rooney. Not yet though.

Southgate made a bold call to drop Rooney to the bench for last month’s game in Slovenia, but immediately recalled him for last week’s win over Scotland. Had Dele Alli not been injured, it would have been interesting to see whether he would have made the same move.

The harsh reality is that the current England side is better when Rooney is not in it. That is not to downplay the importance of the skipper’s experience or to diminish the extent of the 31-year-old’s goalscoring achievements in an England shirt, but it is an acceptance that time has moved on since he was rampaging across the international stage.

Southgate’s big decision over the next 12 months will be to determine whether a Rooney sitting on the substitutes’ bench is a help or a hindrance. Will he put any personal disappointment to one side and focus on mentoring the younger members of the squad? Or will he be a distracting sideshow shifting attention away from England’s qualifying efforts?

SHOULD HE CONTINUE TO STRESS THE IMPORTANCE OF PLAYING OUT FROM THE BACK?

The main stylistic tweak underpinning Southgate’s management of the England side so far is a strongly-held belief in the importance of retaining possession and building from the back.

Whereas previous England teams have looked to go long, Southgate has preached the importance of passing out from the back, even if means attempting a risky pass on the edge of his side’s own penalty area.

Hence we have seen John Stones looking to side-step opponents in his own defensive third, Joe Hart shuffling the ball across his six-yard box and even Gary Cahill looking to stride out from defence with the ball at his feet.

The approach is commendable, but is it also misguided? Barring perhaps Stones, England’s defenders are not as technically proficient as their counterparts with Spain or Barcelona, and there were times in last week’s game with Scotland in particular when Southgate’s defence looked like an accident waiting to happen. No one is demanding a return to route-one football, but has the risk-taking balance tilted slightly too far in the other direction?

HOW TO IMPROVE THE MENTAL RESOLVE OF HIS PLAYERS

Two-nil up with one minute left; drawing two-two by the time the final whistle blew. For all that England played some eye-catching football in Tuesday’s friendly with Spain, the dramatic finale was reminiscent of much that went wrong in the summer.

When the pressure starts to increase, it is hard to not to conclude that this is an England side that will crumble. Holding on to a lead in a match that really matters, or battling their way back into a big game that has gone against them, currently appears beyond their capabilities.

Part of that is a matter of ability and technique, but it is also a mental issue that has dogged a succession of England managers. In general, English players do not cope very well under pressure, and working to address that weakness will be Southgate’s biggest challenge in the build up to the 2018 World Cup.

He has guided an Under-21 side to a major trophy, so knows what is required to think clearly in a high-pressure situation, but can he convey that to a group of players who still carry the mental scars of their summer defeat to Iceland? Somehow, he has to turn this squad into a unit that expects to win.

WHO SHOULD BE HIS NUMBER ONE STRIKER?

To a large extent, the current England side pretty much picks itself. The one area where that is not true, however, is up front, where Southgate has to decide whether Daniel Sturridge, Jamie Vardy or Harry Kane is the right man to lead the line.

His choice will influence the way the rest of his side plays, as the three strikers all bring different strengths and require those behind them to adopt a slightly different approach.

Sturridge appears to be Southgate’s first choice at the moment, having started all three of the qualifiers against Malta, Slovenia and Scotland. The Liverpool striker scored two goals in those games, and looks the most natural goalscorer at England’s disposal, even if some of his build-up play can leave a lot to be desired.

Vardy is a more agile option, and there were times on Tuesday when his movement pulled Spain’s defenders completely out of position. However, he has not been in particularly good form with Leicester this season. Kane was England’s number one striker in France last summer, but has only just returned from injury and needs some additional game time with Spurs to recover his peak form.

TO WHAT EXTENT SHOULD HE LOOK TO PROMOTE YOUTH FROM THE UNDER-21s?

When he was manager of the Under-21s, Southgate spoke passionately about the need to construct a viable pathway from the youth set-up to the senior side. Once he is in a position to push through such a pathway, will he live up to his words?

The early signs are mixed. He started with Jesse Lingard in three of his four matches as interim boss, recalled Marcus Rashford to the senior party, and also called Will Keane and Jordan Pickford into the senior squad, even if neither player actually made it onto the field.

However, he stopped short of selecting the likes of Middlesbrough duo Ben Gibson and Calum Chambers, who had been key players for him in the Under-21s.

Is the current balance between youth and experience right? Or should Southgate be even bolder when it comes to sweeping away some of the players who have contributed to a succession of tournament disappointments?