Southgate will be keen to ease him back into things, shown by leaving him out against Denmark, but the Liverpool skipper's experience, leadership and composure on the ball will be vital next summer. Southgate and his players had spent the previous night discussing the more earthbound issue of confidence versus arrogance, having felt England often froze faced with the biggest matches. How could anyone take the FA, the England manager, or his team, seriously after that?

That means, if you want to, you can reunite with ALL your friends and family again, rip off your mask in situations where you feel comfortable doing so, stop having to tell the government every damn place you go via QR check-ins, and even line up at a bar instead of having to put your details into a pesky and difficult-to-use app. And that is the transformation Gareth Southgate and his team will have attempted to undertake so that when the squad of 26 walk into the lobby area and their rooms, it won’t feel like a hotel.