Declan Rice toes the party line for a while, talking about how far this England squad has come, about the promise of its core of young talent, about how they are now back in the elite pack of international teams.
But deep down, he knows that for a nation with such a depth of talent, such a heritage, failing to win a major trophy for 56 years is not good enough.
“Ultimately,” says Rice, “international football is based on what you win and we haven't won for years. I think sometimes the negativity surrounding us will go away once we have won something again, I think there will always be that pressure on us.”
Which is why Rice surely understands that England did not just blow the chance to beat France in the Al Bayt Stadium, they blew a fantastic chance of ending all those decades of hurt.
And for all the talk of how Southgate has developed such a united group of players, the defeat to France will take some getting over.
Rice cannot help reliving the agony, saying: “It's just really hard to process. We dominated the game, other than their two goals. I don't really remember them creating much, we played some great football but it is a game of small margins.
“We were really aggressive, created loads of chances - scored one great penalty, missed another but that's football. We stopped Mbappe - he was quiet - and it was two goals against the run of play and that is down to us on the pitch.
“It's really hard to take. We were confident enough that we really could win this tournament.”
But Rice shares the popular opinion that the exciting knot of young players in the squad will ensure England are competitive at future tournaments.
He says: “If you look at the squad, we are so young but we've got so many top players. In my opinion, the better team lost and that shows how far we have come.
“I think there are so many players here - 19, 20, 21 year of age - who are stepping up on the biggest stage. There is a lot that you don't know what goes through a footballer’s mind on the pitch in a game of that magnitude and we really handled the occasion well.”
Predictably, Rice echoed the public sentiments of his England colleagues and praised Southgate to the hilt and urged him not to walk away from the job. And the West Ham captain insists the manager and the squad - AND the public - can be proud of what they did in Qatar.
He says: “I feel like it's starting to sway that way that we're getting back to a level where people are believing in us and the country is backing us. A few years ago it wasn't like that, so we can be really proud of ourselves. But we need to go again ..."
