England reporter notebook: North Macedonia test will set the tone for team
England are all-but guaranteed to be in Pot 1 among the top seeds for next month's Euro 2024 draw - but there are still problems for Gareth Southgate to solve.
They have already achieved all that they set out to in the competitive games building up to next summer's tournament ahead of their final group game against North Macedonia on Monday.
So, with this game a genuine dead rubber, the equivalent of an international friendly, what are the priorities for the England manager to assess over the coming 90 minutes?
Southgate says the priority is "performance levels". After a lacklustre 2-0 victory over Malta at Wembley on Friday night, Southgate demands - and England need - an impressive result and performance to bookend the qualifying campaign, and the international calendar year, on a high.
The poor performances and results leading into Qatar when England went four matches without a win and were booed off the pitch at Molineux following a 4-0 home embarrassment against Hungary soured the mood.
It even led to Southgate considering whether he still wanted to be in charge for the winter World Cup. He is determined to avoid anything like that happening again.
For England to be considered a realistic contender for Euro 2024, they need to put a string of big results together, going into the tournament.
Friendlies against Brazil and Belgium, who are both in the world's top four, at home in March will be the perfect barometer of England's pedigree, but a tricky game away to North Macedonia in November, when the squad is lacking a number of key players, will set the tone.
The 7-0 drubbing that was primarily meted out by the feet of Bukayo Saka and Harry Kane in June was something of an anomaly. North Macedonia are no pushovers, as they
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