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There was a moment on Thursday night, as England fought to keep Italy at bay, when Jordan Pickford looked to his left and noticed something was wrong.
Luke Shaw was out of position. A rare sight, granted, but a concerning one. What if Italy exploited it? And then, suddenly, he clocked another figure in white.
‘Next thing I see is Harry Kane at left-back,’ says Pickford. The same Harry Kane who that night became England’s record scorer with his 54th international goal.
There are plenty other superstar strikers who would consider hurtling the length of the pitch to fill in at left-back a fair way down their list of priorities.
Jordan Pickford says his England team-mates are willing to go the extra mile for success
Harry Kane was seen filling in at left-back on the night he became England's record scorer
‘If you want to be winners, you’ve got to suffer,’ says Pickford, speaking ahead of England’s qualifier against Ukraine today. ‘It can’t always be nice easy rides.
‘To see that from the captain, from the centre-forward, doing that just shows what kind of character he is — but also what kind of characters we have in the squad.
‘It’s that team togetherness, that hard-working squad mentality, which we showed on Thursday. We need to continue that to become winners.’
That’s the firm message coming out of the England camp now. The desire for glory and the mentality to deliver it. After all, this is a group of players who have achieved so much for their country yet still fallen short in the biggest moments, on the biggest stages, in the biggest tournaments.
Defeat in a World Cup semi-final in Russia. Penalty shoot-out heartbreak at Euro 2020. A quarter-final exit to France at the World Cup. Gareth Southgate admitted recently that he felt some of his England players did not believe, deep down, that they could beat France. They doubted themselves and, in a game they should have won, they lost.
The feeling lingered on Thursday night that in days of yore England probably would not have hung on when Italy turned up the heat and Shaw saw red. They probably would not have won.
But they did win. They battled and fought and, whilst playing poorly in the second half, they won the match. The first victory over the Azzurri in Italy since 1961. And after the game Harry Maguire said that if England don’t win the Euros next year, it will be a failure.
‘Harry’s right there,’ says Pickford. ‘We’ve sniffed at it. We’ve had the taste and been defeated. We want to be winners. When we look back in 20 years, we want to be known as a winning team in a major tournament for England.’
To do that, they know they must be ruthless. After the Italy game, all the staff celebrated Kane’s record-breaking achievement. Southgate presented him with a framed picture and a signed shirt. Kane delivered a heart-felt speech.
And then they drew a line under it. Thanks very much, well done, now move on.
Kane was all smiles in England's training session at Tottenham's Enfield base on Saturday
Pickford celebrates England's 2-1 win over Italy on Thursday in their opening Euro qualifier
The 2-1 win over Italy in Naples was the first time England have won on Italian soil since 1961
The win over Italy was also Southgate’s 50th as the England manager — only the third to do so after Alf Ramsey and Walter Winterbottom — but even that’s not on his mind.
‘It means
