England go into their final match before the World Cup finals when they take on Germany at Wembley Stadium in the Nations League on Monday.
Gareth Southgate's side have already been relegated to the second tier League B following their 1-0 defeat to Italy in Milan on Friday.
And that result at the San Siro extended England's winless streak extended to five games, their worst since June 2014, and means they have gone 495 minutes without a goal in open play.
England are due to play their first match in Qatar against Iran on November 21 and have lost form and momentum at the worst possible time.
Manager Southgate – who guided the team to the semi-finals of the last World Cup and the final of Euro 2020 – insisted the performance against Italy was “a step in the right direction”.
“It's difficult for me to be too critical of the performance,” he said after the match. “We had more possession, more shots, more shots on target.
“For large parts of the game we played very well. We didn’t deal with the decisive moment defensively. We had moments where we had the chance to be decisive in their final third which our quality wasn't quite right.
“It’s a spell where ultimately results are going to be the thing that everyone reacts to but I thought there were a lot of positives for us as a team tonight.
“Lots of good individual performances. I personally thought the performance is a step in the right direction. I completely understand because of the result that is not going to be the reaction.”
