Gareth Southgate smiled when the question came. He was talking about Manchester City’s treble celebrations and whether there was maybe a line that should not be crossed when there are still international games left to play.
‘Yes there is,’ the England manager said, without indicating explicitly whether that line had actually been crossed or merely straddled. ‘But in our head we weren’t thinking of including the City players for this next game.’
In Malta, ahead of what should be the most straightforward of European Championship qualifiers tonight, Southgate and his coaching staff arrived with a full complement of players.