Gareth Southgate will board the England flight to Russia on Tuesday with the increasingly firm conviction that his players have recovered from one of the lowest points in the team’s history.

Southgate and his squad are due to fly to their base in Repino, on the Gulf of Finland, and the manager believes there is finally a new connection between his team and the English football public.

That process has not been easy after the ignominy of losing against Iceland in the European Championship two years ago – a defeat that ended Roy Hodgson’s reign – and Southgate has also witnessed the fans’ disenchantment during his own reign, most notably in the form of mutinous chants and a mass walkout during the World Cup qualifier in Malta in September.

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Southgate, whose team take on Tunisia in their first World Cup game in Volgograd on Monday, believes that has now been consigned to the past on the back of England’s encouraging recent performances, including the victories against Costa Rica and Nigeria in their past two warm-up matches.

“I’ve talked before about there being a disconnect between the supporters and the team,” Southgate said. “There are different ways to bridge that and the most important is the way you play, your performances and your results. We know everything else comes on the back of that.

“We are seeing now that this is a team that is enjoying each other’s company, getting on well, very proud to represent their nation, that have some talent, a real desire and determination to play for England and are determined to play in a style that people are enjoying watching. We ask people to pay a lot of money to watch football. In the end, we want to entertain where we possibly can.”

Southgate added: “I think there was a shift in November when we brought in some of the younger players. There was a clear shift in the identity of the team, we went to a back three and people have been warmed by that, not only the young players in this squad, but the young players in the system and the success with the junior teams. The Under-17s’ World Cup win, in particular, came at a moment where the profile of our young players was really high.

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“We are just trying to improve every day we work together. We know we are not the finished article – in fact, we’re a long way from it – but I think people see signs of progress and enjoy watching us and the manner in which we try to play.”

England have won only six matches in the knockout stages of major international tournaments since their World Cup triumph in 1966, the last victory of that kind being 12 years ago against Ecuador. As such, Southgate has been reluctant to be drawn into talking about England’s chances of winning the competition.

“I keep being asked the question and I keep finding different ways to answer it. Our focus as a team has to be on the bits we can control: constantly trying to improve, playing in a style that we’ve used in the last year or so, and that people have warmed to.

“If we do all of those things, play with a smile on our faces and enjoy our football, I think we will get results. Ultimately, we know we’ll be judged on results but we have to focus on the processes. We hope we can send people to work the following day having enjoyed those matches. I know what those tournament experiences can be like and we desperately want to bring that.

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“We’re all looking forward to getting on with the tournament now because there’s been such a long preparation. We’ve had weeks together with a really good training camp. I’m really pleased with the performances in the two games and we just want to get out to the tournament now, get to Russia and experience all the feelings of being in a World Cup.”