As has been pretty much the norm for going on 25 years now – with the odd exception and, yes, I’m looking at you, brolly boy Steve McClaren – England have breezed through major tournament qualification.
Once again, in comfortably negotiating – in unbeaten fashion I may add – a tricky group including defending champions Italy and the always-dangerous Ukraine, it’s been a case of so far, so good.
But how does Gareth Southgate turn years of progression and promise into the end of – and I make no apologies for paraphrasing one of the best football songs ever – 58 years of hurt?
For a man famously serenaded by England fans with a version of an Atomic Kitten hit, it's becoming a matter of doing the business Right Now... before it turns into a case of See Ya and The Last Goodbye.
How far does loyalty stretch?
One of the biggest criticisms of Southgate’s tenure has been his seemingly undying loyalty to certain players who are either not setting the world on fire for their club sides, or not even playing for them.
I personally believe Harry Maguire gets far more stick than he merits. But, on the other side of the coin, never would I argue in a million years he should be one of England’s first-choice centre-halves.
Jordan Henderson's switch to a far less competitive environment in Saudi Arabia has raised questions about his involvement while Kalvin Phillips has twice as many minutes for England this season as he does Premier League minutes for Man City.
There is a counter-argument of course to Southgate's loyalty. Namely, are there some players whose past achievements, whose class-is-permanent-form-is-temporary qualities, mean we shouldn’t really worry about their club status?
The ECB don’t care if Joe Root gets a few ducks for Yorkshire. The GB Davis Cup team wouldn’t drop Andy Murray after a few first-round exits. Rory McIlroy will get into every European Ryder Cup team for years regardless of form.
There's an argument for sure - but do Maguire, Phillips or Henderson really belong in that bracket?
When Southgate took over, he had little hesitation in discarding plenty of England's old guard, bringing in a younger generation - but now the new "old guard" is his old guard and it seems relationships formed over those seven years are harder to sever.
That, of course, is human nature. But Southgate has shown he can be ruthless, just ask Raheem Sterling among others. It is a trait he needs to exercise more regularly to ensure England have game-changers, and not teamsheet fillers, to turn to.
Back four or back three?
It is hard to argue the notion that when England have come up against the very best sides in the world - at major tournaments especially - they have, at times, been found defensively wanting.
Clean sheets against elite nations have been rare and in Southgate's defence, this is not exactly a golden generation of England defenders he has to choose from.
Perhaps that paucity of talent has had much to do with Southgate's frequent switching between three-at-the-back and back-four formations during his tenure.
He seems to prefer the back three, certainly against better sides, but the trouble is, simply speaking, finding three centre-halves good enough to fill those spots.
John Stones' frequent injury hiccups and Harry Maguire's form and selection issues at club level have not helped - but nor has Southgate's reluctance to hand the likes of Marc Guehi, Ezri Konsa, Fikayo Tomori or Lewis Dunk an extended run in the side.
Ironically, of course, England are as blessed at full-back as perhaps they have ever been - well, at right-back anyway.
Which means it could be a back four by default come June - but it would not hurt Southgate to give one of the above four a pair of starts in March's friendlies with Brazil and Belgium.
Who to play at left-back?
Luke Shaw's recent return from injury will be a boost for Southgate but there will be plenty who question the 28-year-old's suitability as a regular starter on the left side of defence in both the short and long term.
With both Shaw and the increasingly injury-prone Ben Chilwell sidelined in recent months, Southgate has been forced to employ a variety of sticking plasters in that position.
Which is fine against North Macedonia and Malta, probably OK in group games against Denmark, Serbia and Slovenia should the situation necessitate it. But after that? Hmmm, not ideal really.
The use of Manchester City teenager Rico Lewis in that problem position against Macedonia was an interesting development - but it's another square-peg-round-hole remedy in the mould of Kieran Trippier, Levi Colwill, Tomori and others.
It's an ongoing conundrum for Southgate, though, and he'll be keeping his fingers crossed that Shaw stays fit and avoids the general malaise in fortunes that pretty much everyone in a Manchester United has been suffering from for a while now.
Na, na, nananaaaa - where to play Jude?
Getting the best out of mercurial talents has not tended to be a strong point of England managers historically.
Glenn Hoddle and Matt Le Tissier are two of the names that spring immediately to mind, maybe Paul Scholes too. Apart from brief flourishes at Italia '90 and Euro '96, did the Three Lions really ever bring the best out of Paul Gascoigne?
Fast forward a decade and, Euro 2004 apart, you could ask the same question about Wayne Rooney.
There is no doubt that, right now, Jude Bellingham is one of the best players in the world. He has ripped it up at Real Madrid, having bossed the Bundesliga at Borussia Dortmund.
For the next decade, there is an argument that this England team should be built around him, rather than trying to fit him in somewhere.
Can he be a box-to-box midfielder? Yes. To be honest, he can probably be whatever he wants to be. But the majority of La Liga's top scorer's best performances - and most of his goals - have come when he has played in the no.10 role, or akin to it.
It is not particularly Southgate-esque to hand such responsibility to a 20-year-old but he did so in England's final home Euro 2024 qualifier against Italy and was rewarded with one of Bellingham's best displays in a Three Lions shirt yet.
The other options - Phil Foden, Bukayo Saka, Jack Grealish, Marcus Rashford - are all better in wider attacking positions and while James Maddison's Spurs form means he deserves to be in the conversation, surely we have to build around Bellingham.
How to get best from Kane
For those really hardcore England – the country over club, or least country-equal-to-club – fans out there, you’ll know that nauseous feeling whenever Harry Kane limps off in a tournament year.
The thing is, though - has England's all-time leading scorer ever really done it at a major tournament? If you play devil's advocate for a moment, you could say his record from the penalty spot masks a pretty underwhelming contribution overall.
Yes, he won the Golden Boot at the 2018 World Cup - but his six-goal haul came against Tunisia, Panama and Colombia, and three of them were penalties. Zero open-play goals in the knockouts and a big missed chance against Croatia in the semi-final.
Having failed to score in the Euro 2020 group stage, he did come good in the knockouts against Germany and Ukraine before netting a penalty rebound in the win over Denmark in the semis and having an incredibly quiet final against Italy.
Then in Qatar last winter, he scored just twice and missed one of two spot-kicks against France as England's hopes ended as early in a major tournament as they have during Southgate's reign.
I'm wary of this turning into a Kane-bashing. That is not my intent - he is an undoubted class act, breaker of records, as reliable as a rock for clubs and country - but the feeling remains undimmed that England are not seeing the best of him in big games.
It is a heavy burden to bear, that of being England's talisman. His goal return at tournaments has dropped from six to four to two - and if the Three Lions are to claim glory in Germany, that downturn must be halted and reversed.
The 30-year-old is enjoying a new lease of life at Bayern Munich and Southgate must take a long hard look at the service he is being given there in an attempt to replicate it - when it really, really matters, at the tournament's business end - next summer.
How to make his squad forget years of hurt
Remember Glenn Hoddle bringing in his faith healer? The less youthful of you readers will. Come on, Eileen. Bonus points if you remember her surname without the aid of a search engine.
Yeah, look, that didn’t end well obviously. But it’s surely inarguable at this juncture that there isn’t a sense of footballing inferiority that has sunk so deep into our national fabric that even our very best kickers of a ball are affected.
This might be the item on Southgate’s to-sort list that’s the hardest of the lot.
There are positive signs, of course. We won our first penalty shoot-out in eons under his guidance, reached our first final since 1966, only our second ever. But the more you look back on that Euro 2020 final against Italy, it’s so sad how we seemed frozen by fear after taking that early lead.
It’s not unfair that some blamed Southgate for that. He’s pragmatic and conservative, not gung-ho and carefree. But his achievements eclipse any other England manager than Sir Alf Ramsey, don’t forget.
Nonetheless, it’s that ingrained inferiority that might be the biggest hurdle to overcome. Did any of us really expect to beat France in last year’s World Cup quarter-final? I didn’t.
History is littered with sides that have eventually overcome such droughts – France and Spain, perennial underachievers for so long, bossed international football for years after ending their own hoodoos - but it’s also littered with plenty that didn’t.
Should England win Euro 2024, there’s a chance that getting that monkey off their back could yield a similarly golden period. Trouble is, that monkey is more King Kong than Donkey Kong Jr...
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