ENGLAND’S shocking defending against Kosovo left Gareth Southgate “miserable for a month”.

But victory against the Czech Republic on Friday will put the smile back on his face as it would book a place at Euro 2020.

The Three Lions boss revealed he was in a shocking mood despite beating Kosovo 5-3 at St Mary’s in their last qualifier.

He said: “We have high expectations of ourselves and we don’t expect to be doing laps of honour for qualifying.

“But equally, it’s a step on the road and it’s something that you should enjoy. So, we’ve got to do it first.

“You’ve always got to enjoy any wins."

One of the difficulties of the job is we were talking about post-Kosovo and we weren’t very happy. So, you win 5-3 and I’m miserable for a month.

“The players get another league game two days later. But, that’s the standard we’ve set.”

England are set to have three group games at Wembley next June while the semi-finals and final will be held at the national stadium.

Southgate added: “The fact that we’ve got three matches at Wembley in the group stage is hugely exciting, so to qualify for any major tournament is a big deal, and just because to this point we’ve made that look comfortable, we should never take it for granted.”

One issue for England has been the defence and Southgate has some big decisions to make.

Kieran Trippier could beat Trent Alexander-Arnold to the right-back spot – while Southgate is set to keep Harry Maguire and Michael Keane as central defensive partners.

Southgate could use both Danny Rose and Ben Chilwell in Friday's clash and the trip to Bulgaria on Monday.

Southgate added: “There’s obvious errors that we’ve made in some of our games.

"It’s clear at the moment that some of our defenders who’ve picked up more caps over the last couple of years either aren’t with us or haven’t been playing regularly for their clubs.

“So, it’s a different situation to solve, but we’ve got to just work with the players on the training ground in the period of time we have to make sure that’s an area of focus for us.”

Chelsea midfielder Mason Mount is set to be handed a full debut after playing twice last month.

Southgate added: “He’s a quality player, an intelligent footballer, presses well, has a real eye for goal, good quality. So, nothing I’ve seen surprises me at all. We’ve had him marked as a player from the first time I saw him at St George’s Park.

“Chelsea would be the same on that, I think, but of course he’s now been able to have the opportunity to play in the Premier League and display that against top teams. I think you saw his penalty in the Super Cup that was a nice cameo of what he’s about, really.”

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