Gareth Southgate admitted his England side are far from where he wants them after Harry Kane’s late goal secured a spot at next summer’s World Cup.
The Three Lions had their captain to thank after his 93rd-minute goal papered over the cracks of an uninspiring night at Wembley.
Southgate, who took charge almost a year ago after the sacking of Sam Allardyce, says that Thursday night's performance was not the one they wanted, but hopes they can evolve the side.
"Tonight highlighted where we are. I think of course we would have love to have played more fluidly and scored more goals," he told reporters at Wembley.
"We’re having to find a way of winning by being a bit savvier because we’re not flowing with the ball, but we have goalscorers.
"Was it the performance and the night we wanted? No, absolutely not - but I was given the job to keep things steady a year ago and the objective was to qualify for Russia.
"Now we have the opportunity to look how do we evolve the team, we had to keep winning and we had to keep trying to give young players the opportunity to mature, to marry all those things is difficult.
"Is this team exactly where we want it to be? Of course it isn’t - it’s young and it is learning how to win and I've got to say the players give me absolutely everything, I couldn’t ask any more of them individually, they’re going to improve but it is a work in progress."
