Gareth Southgate has had two games in charge for England and, though no one could have seriously expected him to remove all the team’s imperfections in that time, it still cannot be satisfactory that it is so difficult to see even the first flickers of improvement.

They were poor again here in Ljubljana and fortunate, in the extreme, that Southgate did not have to reflect on England’s first defeat in a qualifying fixture for seven years. For that, they were indebted to Joe Hart in a match when he reminded us that, on form, he still has games when he can legitimately claim to be one of the best in the business. England were alarmingly susceptible in defence. They rarely passed the ball with any authority and there was absolutely no sense of a group of players desperately trying to impress a new manager. Southgate admitted his team had been lucky and it is not easy finding any compelling evidence to advance the case for him getting the job full-time.

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Perhaps that is a harsh conclusion when he has just been parachuted into the role at short notice but, Hart aside, it was difficult to identify a single England player who can reflect on a satisfying evening’s work. The performance was a reminder that removing Wayne Rooney from the starting lineup will not automatically fix this team and, once again, there were a few boos at the final whistle from England’s fans.

That will continue to be the soundtrack for as long as England continue to put in these kinds of dishevelled displays. Jesse Lingard and Theo Walcott did little to disprove the theory they were fortunate to be in the team.

Daniel Sturridge threatened only sporadically and England’s three shots on target is their lowest in a competitive fixture since playing Costa Rica in the last World Cup. Southgate talked about inheriting “a mess” and the performance left the impression little had changed. His opening line in the post-match press conference summed it up. “We can play better, for sure,” he said.

At least Rooney can still consider himself a favourite of England’s followers. Three days after the Wembley crowd subjected him to minor boos, the first appreciative cry of “Rooney” reverberated round Slovenia’s flat-pack stadium within the opening 90 seconds.

More notably, there was voluble support for Sam Allardyce, including a loud rendition in the opening few minutes of “Justice for Allardyce” and various other chants making it clear what they thought of the Daily Telegraph investigation that brought him down. If the hardcore fans want Southgate to take charge permanently, this was not an occasion when it became evident. His name was not sung once.

Southgate was probably entitled to feel aggrieved about an early attack when Sturridge was knocked over by a Slovenia defender in the penalty area but it would have been misplaced to focus on that moment too much bearing in mind the number of occasions when Hart spared his team.

England’s deficiencies first became evident when Eric Dier underhit a backpass in the 10th minute and Hart had to rush from his goalline to block Roman Bezjak’s shot before a second Slovenia attacker, Jasmin Kurtic, curled a follow-up effort against the post.

That, however, was far from the only time England found themselves in trouble because of their own carelessness. Gary Cahill, in particular, had a difficult game and could have been sent off for a studs-up challenge on Josep Ilicic late on, leading to a confrontation between Lingard and Aljaz Srtuna. Lingard was defending Marcus Rashford but Southgate was unimpressed and said his player needed to learn some more self-control.

Gareth Southgate admits England were a ‘mess’ but hails point in Slovenia Read more

Ilicic created numerous problems for England’s defence but Hart kept him out every time, including one occasion when Jordan Henderson, wearing the captain’s armband with little grace, gave the ball straight to his opponent.

Southgate seemed startled by how vulnerable his team were at the back, talking of it being “very much a work in progress”and noting Slovenia’s “opportunities tended to be set pieces or self-inflicted”.

Twice at the start of the second half, Slovenia had corners from the right and on both occasions Hart denied them with outstanding goalkeeping. The second save, in particular, from Kurtic’s header was the kind of moment to reignite the debate about why Hart is spending the season on loan at Torino.

He should never have been exposed so often and Southgate explained that when he brought on Rooney as a 73rd-minute replacement for Sturridge the decision was based on “the need for some experience in there to calm things down”.

Slovenia were undoubtedly encouraged by their 1-0 win against Slovakia on Saturday but it would still have been reasonable to expect England to play with more control and, though Southgate pointed out it was a difficult playing surface, he did also recognise it was no excuse for the number of times passes were misplaced.