Steve Holland has revealed fascinating detail of how England’s World Cup plans, including an overhaul of the team, style of play and the formation, were hatched on a road trip around Russia with Gareth Southgate last summer.

The England assistant manager, who enjoyed six remarkably successful years on the Chelsea backroom staff, also said that Southgate shares the same three qualities every successful manager - including Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte - requires.

Southgate held off his “revolution” until England had qualified after picking up the pieces following Sam Allardyce’s dismissal - after just one game in charge - and the Iceland debacle overseen by Roy Hodgson at Euro 2016 which led to him quitting.

But it was at the Confederations Cup that Southgate and Holland, as they travelled around Russia watching matches but also looking at possible World Cup base camps, found the time to work on their detailed plans - with the key decision of switching to a defensive back three made over dinner in Sochi.

“We spent about four weeks on the road, the two of us,” Holland, who first worked with Southgate as his assistant with England Under-21s, said. “We spent a lot of time on a plane but it really gave us the opportunity to speak about what we'd learnt in the year. We came to some conclusions. We watched the matches in the Confeds Cup; Germany, Portugal, Mexico, Chile, some good teams. Tried to envisage how we would play, how our team would look in those kind of fixtures against that kind of opposition, and we made some decisions. One of those was a back three. We felt we would be better with and without the ball with a back three. We had dinner in Sochi and that was more or less where it was named.