Gareth Southgate is the right man to take England forward, but he has a lot of work to do to make his side tournament-ready for the World Cup, according to former captain Terry Butcher.

The Three Lions took a great leap towards next summer’s finals in Russia by coming from behind to beat Slovakia 2-1 at Wembley Stadium on Monday night.

MATCH REPORT: England 2-1 Slovakia – Three Lions fight back to stand on cusp of World Cup

They may have recorded another three points to extend their unbeaten run to 37 qualifying games, but it was another performance to make fans groan as they were forced to fight back after a dreadful start which was punished with an early Slovakia goal.

There were signs of life as Eric Dier scored from a smart corner routine and Marcus Rashford netted the winner with a fine strike, but overall a distinct lack of cutting edge was still evident from England’s rather unimaginative play.

And former Three Lions captain Butcher believes England’s lack of killer instinct means they are ‘miles away’ from their rivals ahead of Russia 2018.

Speaking on the Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast, Butcher said: “You can’t question the players’ pride [to play for England] but what you can question is their ability.

“We haven’t got good enough players to be anywhere near that top tier of world football.

“We’re scraping around just underneath that top level. You look at Germany, Spain, Italy and France – we’re miles away from that at the moment.

“What Gareth has to do is build an identity with a team, a way of playing that suits the players we have – that hasn’t happened yet.

“Going forward England are very good, but we haven’t got a classy midfield. We’ve got workhorses who do a good job, but that’s about it. Eric Dier last night…I thought England scored the equaliser with their worst player and the winner with their best player.

“And Dele Alli, he made so many good runs and got into so many good positions, but England haven’t got any players who can kill off teams.

“We haven’t got a De Bruyne or a David Silva. I’m sure that Dele Alli will be saying to himself, ‘well I keep making these runs but no one is finding me, so what’s the point’?

“37 matches unbeaten in competitive qualification is all well and good, but Gareth has got a lot of work to do to try and get this squad knitted into a really good team for the actual finals.

“I don’t agree with this opinion that England have missed a trick with Gareth Southgate. I think they’ve got a very good manager who is willing to try new things.”