England need to raise their intensity in training to counter the lack of testing opposition in Euro 2020 qualifying, says boss Gareth Southgate.
The Three Lions hammered Bulgaria 4-0 at Wembley on Saturday courtesy of a hat-trick from captain Harry Kane.
Under Southgate, England reached the semi-finals of both the 2018 World Cup and the summer’s Nations League.
“We have not had the tight, tense matches that the Nations League provided as of yet,” said Southgate.
“(Matches) that really we learnt so much more from. So therefore, we have got to do that in training and the challenge of training has got to be so high that we learn from those moments and we can see what the players are capable of.”
England top Group A with a 100% winning record after three games, scoring 14 goals and conceding just one.
They will take a step closer to next year’s tournament with victory over Kosovo at Southampton’s St Mary’s on Tuesday (19:45 BST).
Against Bulgaria, Southgate had the luxury of putting Borussia Dortmund’s Jadon Sancho, Leicester’s in-form midfielder James Maddison and Liverpool full-back Trent Alexander-Arnold all on the bench.
England were agonisingly beaten in extra-time of the World Cup by Croatia, while they suffered defeat against the Netherlands in the Nations League.
Southgate said: “Have we progressed? Well, I think we have. We didn’t sit back after the World Cup.
“I know that you said that the Nations League was a disappointment. Once you are in the semi-final, you want to go on and win the thing. But also with unique circumstances, in that seven players arrived 48 hours before the game.
“I think we are competitive with probably eight teams. I think that, on our day, we can beat those teams, but equally the Dutch showed (in the Nations League) that they are capable of beating us on their day and I think it really is a tight grouping of probably eight teams.”
