Gareth Southgate sees signs of growth from England in draw with Germany offering hope for World Cup

Harry Kane's 83rd-minute penalty looked to have earnt the Three Lions an unexpected win after two Harry Maguire mistakes allowed Germany to take a 2-0 lead, only for Kai Havertz to snatch a late equaliser in a 3-3 draw.

But unsurprisingly, Southgate and his captain Kane were both focused on the positives afterwards.

“I think as a group they’ve really come together this week, they’ve grown," he reflected after Friday's defeat in Italy was followed by this 3-3- draw. "This week we’ve learned a huge amount.

“A couple of errors have cost us the goals but they played with terrific spirit and a belief that we haven’t shown in the last few games.

"We started the game a bit tentatively and you could feel it was a night where the crowd were with us but wondering how it was going to play out and I think the team subconsciously felt that."

"We started the second half okay. Really all the goals we conceded were avoidable.

"We got an absolute punch on the nose right at the end but that's the way it's going for us.

"When we scored the roof nearly came off and we all remembered what it is like to score a goal."

England had already been relegated and finished their Nations League campaign without a win.

But they did at least find the net in open play - twice, in fact, through Luke Shaw and substitute Mason Mount - before Kane's penalty.

Unfortunately, though, Havertz's second goal of the game owed much to a late error by goalkeeper Nick Pope, who spilled a long-range shot to present the chance.

England also lost Barnsley-born John Stones to what looked like a first-half hamstring injury.

Kane, though, also saw the plusses.

“I thought we played very well in the second half,” said Kane. “It puts us in a good place going into the World Cup. It was nice to see the penalty go in and it was a shame we couldn’t get the win.

“We’ve all been under pressure with recent results.”

There were plenty of clues as to what Southgate will do when he names his provisional squad on October 19 and even when he picks his team for the opening match against Iran on November 21, with his side looking suspiciously like the closest thing possible to that, allowing for injuries.

Former Barnsley loanee Ivan Toney, the only uncapped player in the squad for matches against Italy and Germany was named on the bench having not made the 23-man squad for the San Siro on Friday, but did not make his debut.

Liverpool right-back Trent Alexander failed to make the bench against Germany having failed to come off it in Italy.

Harry Maguire had a difficult night, understandable given how little football he has played for Manchester United.

But Shaw, also on the Old Trafford fringes, had an excellent game at left wing-back, scoring the goal which kick-started the impressive comeback.