Gareth Southgate reacted with disdain on Monday when asked about the prospect of England decelerating here in Skopje.
You can only imagine then what he thought about this. Southgate required the cavalry as England found themselves in rather embarrassing hole.
They delivered, to an extent - Harry Kane was on the pitch 40 seconds before forcing Jani Atanasov into heading past his own goalkeeper to level for England after a first-half to forget.
But this was far from adequate for an England side, who finish their qualification campaign undefeated.
With England’s path to Euro 2024 as group winners already assured, there was very little jeopardy to inspire the players here.