HAVING created history by guiding England to the World Cup semi-finals earlier this summer, Gareth Southgate has avoided writing his name into the record books for a rather more unwanted reason. England have still never lost four matches in a row. For that alone, Southgate can look back at last night’s win over Switzerland with satisfaction.

The England boss will also have been delighted with Marcus Rashford’s attacking performance, with the 20-year-old following up his weekend goal against Spain with an equally well-taken second-half strike at Leicester’s King Power Stadium. Danny Rose’s performance at left wing-back was another positive – the Spurs defender is at least on a par with Luke Shaw, who started at Wembley – and Southgate was finally able to assess some of his squad players in the heat of battle.

Not, however, that he will have been especially impressed by much of what he saw. England might have claimed their first win since the World Cup quarter-final with Sweden, but many of the failings that were apparent in last weekend’s Spanish setback reared their head once again.

The hosts were second best by a distance before Rashford scored, conceding possession on a regular basis and struggling to construct attacking moves that might have troubled their opponents’ defence.

They deserve credit for sticking to their task, although things might have been different had Xherdan Shaqiri not fired a golden early opportunity against the post. England just about held firm amid some early Swiss pressure, but too many of their understudies failed to make a compelling case for a more central role.

Perhaps their lack of Premier League game time was a major factor. In years gone by, it used to be argued that English players were at a disadvantage because of the number of games they were asked to play. Today, Southgate finds himself wrestling with the opposite problem. Over-exertion is not an issue; getting his players on to the pitch is a major concern.

Fabian Delph might be one of the main alternatives to Jordan Henderson and Eric Dier, but he went into last night’s game without having played a single minute for Manchester City this season. Danny Welbeck, effectively England’s third-choice striker following Jamie Vardy’s retirement, has played a grand total of 21 minutes as a substitute for Arsenal. Ruben Loftus-Cheek boasts 33 minutes of involvement with Chelsea, Rashford has made one league start for Manchester United. Jack Butland is a regular for Stoke City, but England’s second-choice goalkeeper now finds himself plying his trade in the Championship.

Southgate has long bemoaned the lack of opportunities for England’s emerging youngsters in the Premier League, but increasingly, his senior stars also find themselves spending an alarming amount of time on the sidelines. That has to be a handicap as Southgate looks to increase his options in the run-up to Euro 2020.

A degree of rustiness was apparent in England’s play all night, and perhaps understandably, it was most prevalent in the early stages. Butland was especially nervous during the opening exchanges, especially when dealing with the ball at his feet. Jordan Pickford’s distribution is one of his biggest strengths, but watching Butland trying to pop off passes from the edge of his own six-yard box brought to mind Petr Cech’s early-season struggles at Arsenal. Some goalkeepers are better at building from the back than others.

Butland falls into the latter category, and having been fortunate to survive a scuffed attempt at a square ball that rolled across his own goalline, England’s stand-in keeper was breathing an even bigger sigh of relief a minute later when his slack pass played James Tarkowski into trouble. Mario Gavranovic robbed the Burnley centre-half of possession, and Shaqiri drilled a low shot against the post when he should really have scored.

In fairness, Butland was not the only England player to struggle. Tarkowski, playing in the middle of the back three, looked equally nervous, and was grateful for the intervention of his goalkeeper when he allowed Gavranovic to twist past him in the penalty area shortly after the half-hour mark.

Delph looked out of his depth, and as was the case at the weekend, England’s inability to hold on the ball at the heart of midfield was a major weakness. Switzerland dominated possession throughout the first half, with Shaqiri dropping deep to cause problems and Granit Xhaka controlling the flow of the game. As a result, Loftus-Cheek was starved of the ball, and Welbeck was an even more peripheral figure as he was easily shackled by a Swiss defence that featured Newcastle United’s Fabian Schar playing on the right of a back three.

Eric Dier headed Trent Alexander-Arnold’s free-kick wide in the early stages, and Yann Sommer saved Rose’s first-time effort shortly before the break after Rashford broke free down the right. In terms of first-half chances, though, that was pretty much that. Thankfully, things improved in the second period.

Rose was England’s best player as he tore up and down the left, and another dangerous break at the start of the second half set up Rashford for a shot that was dragged wide of the post.

It was something of a surprise that Southgate opted against making changes at the interval, but his decision to keep Rashford on the field despite the striker’s involvement in Saturday’s starting line-up was justified as the deadlock was broken nine minutes after the break.

Like so many of England’s successes in Russia, the goal originated from a corner, with the Swiss defence failing to adequately clear their lines as they presented the ball to Kyle Walker on the right flank. He swung over a deep cross, and Rashford was completely unmarked as he slotted home at the back post. It was the Manchester United striker’s fifth international goal, and his second in the space of four days following his neat finish against Spain.

It handed England a lead they did not really deserve, but the hosts would have ceded their advantage within six minutes had it not been for a fantastic piece of defending from substitute John Stones. The Manchester City centre-half had only been on the pitch for three minutes when he threw himself in front of a shot from Shaqiri, but his sliding block prevented what would almost certainly have been a Swiss equaliser.