It was damp, dreary and uninspiring here in Lithuania and I don’t mean the weather.

The faithful fans who made the long trip to Vilnius were provided with waterproofs to help shield them from the rain.

But there was nothing the Lithuanian Football Federation could provide to stop them from being exposed to something much more damaging than a spell of damp weather.

That’s because another puerile performance from their beloved national team was the reward for braving the elements.

This was one of those rare international occasions when the result didn’t count.

With qualification for Russia 2018 secured, the basic LFF Stadium became the stage for Gareth Southgate’s stars to express themselves without fear of reprisals.

But once again all we managed to witness was a display that was as primitive as the ground itself.

At times if felt like Southgate had force-fed his players beta blockers before kick off, because for long spells the game appeared to be in slow motion.

To be fair to the England boss he is leaving no stone unturned in his mission to find a formula for success and isn’t afraid to experiment.

He became the first England boss in 11 years to start a competitive fixture with a back three, handed debuts to Harry Maguire and Harry Winks and unleashed a front three of Marcus Rashford, Harry Kane and Dele Alli on the hosts.

Winks did well. He went looking for the ball and tried to impose himself on the game, while Kane did what he does best and scored again.

But it’s a sad indictment of Southgate’s midfield options that he is now picking someone who has started just four Premier League games for Tottenham.

It gets worse though, because Winks was more influential than Jordan Henderson, someone who is guaranteed to be on the plane to Russia and in contention to be skipper.

His range of passing varies between sidewards and backwards, so how can this be a positive?

The Liverpool star shouldn’t even be in the team, let alone lead it after resembling an oil tanker in the centre circle.

Yet the harsh truth is that it doesn’t matter what formations, tactics and systems Southgate uses.

Those in them are nowhere near good enough to make a serious impact at a major tournament.

This was about as exciting as a game of bingo in an old folks home. Lithuania, ranked 120th in the world, had the best chances in the second half all we learned from the shambles was, don’t travel to Vilnius without a coat in October.

Here’s the deal. All Southgate can do is pick the most effective team available and hope for the best, but he will do so safe in the knowledge that our best will not be good enough.

It begs the question, what is the point of the whole exercise and paints a depressing picture of the state of the English game when foreign stars are taken out of it.

But it wasn’t all doom and gloom - because after an hour it stopped raining.

*******************************************************************************GARETH SOUTHGATE’S squad really is a case of what you see is what you get.

In the past we have had players gatecrash squads at the last minute for major tournaments after getting themselves picked out of the blue.

Theo Walcott was a shock inclusion in Sven Goran Eriksson’s squad for the 2006 World Cup, while Marcus Rashford did the same for last summer’s Euros in France.

But there is little chance of someone coming up on the blindside when Southgate picks his men for the World Cup in Russia next summer.

Since taking charge 12 months ago, Southgate has selected 30 different players for the qualification campaign.

In the last round of Premier League matches, just 74 English players started for their respective clubs.

This means Southgate roughly has a 30 per cent pool of talent to pick from - and when the pool of talent is shallow to begin with then it’s safe to assume the writing is on the wall when it comes to future success.

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HARRY WINKS will be under pressure to keep his feet on the ground now he’s about to reach a different level of attention following his England debut.

The 21-year-old appears to have the world at his feet.

The Spurs ace is a talented young footballer with the sort of looks that make him resemble a boy band member.

Sponsors will be falling over themselves to sign him to deals and maximise his earning potential.

But Winks should be OK because another of his other gifts is that he’s level headed and down to earth.

He spoke to the media in Nashville in July during Spurs’s pre-season tour of America and showed a maturity beyond his 21 years.

The lad has a massive future ahead of him, so watch this space.

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ENGLAND have won diddly squat for more than half a century, but for some bizarre reason their appeal with smaller nations around the world continues to be huge.

Take Lithuania for example.

Despite the fact fans were fighting the last time England came to Vilnius in 2015, the president of the Lithuanian Football Federation was almost falling over himself to welcome the Three Lions to town again.

Tomas Danilevicius said: “Being here, as we host the England team, is an honour. England is a country that lives and celebrates football. This game is a lesson for us, an example to follow.”

If Lithuania want to follow the example of England, good luck to them.

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THE FA might as well put Mauricio Pochettino on the payroll.

That’s because 15 of the last 29 players to have made their England debuts were coached by Pochettino.

It’s a remarkable statistic. Who’d have thought it? Our secret weapon is an Argentine.

Who is going to win the crunch showdown between Wales and Ireland? Wales have home advantage in Cardiff and are 13/10 to win the game with 188BET. Punters are backing Ireland though, with 50% of bets on the win for Martin O’Neill’s team at 23/10.

With a World Cup spot potentially at stake could it be a tight affair?The draw, which will be good enough for Wales to go into the Play Offs, is 9/4. Ireland are unbeaten on their travels in this campaign with two of the four games finishing all square so a stalemate could be on the cards.

And who are favourites to win Saturday’s big match between Liverpool and Man Utd? Liverpool’s home advantage gives them the slight edge in the early betting at 8/5 with United at 7/4 and the draw 12/5. But with Jurgen Klopp’s team currently unable to hit a barn door and Mourinho fond of parking the bus against fellow Big Six opposition a low scoring game with less than two goals is 5/2 with 188BET.

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