IAN LADYMAN:England head to Qatar with a little more purpose after their 3-3 draw with Germany

At the end there was a polite round of applause. After such a surprisingly unpredictable and exciting half of football, that felt a little strange. But by then all other options had been exhausted.

With 20 minutes of regular play to go, England were en route to one of their most brutal receptions in recent memory. Two goals down and drown in front of a full house.

Twelve minutes later, those who had left early – and there were no doubt some – turned around, drawn back by the improbable ferocity and excitement of England’s comeback. Wembley lived.

And then, just as Gareth Southgate was freed from the embrace of his assistant Steve Holland, a German equalizer came, handed over by a mistake by goalkeeper Nick Pope.

So full time we got the applause that comes when a crowd doesn’t really know what to think.

On the one hand, their team had given Germany three goals in one half. That’s never a good sign. And where Harry Maguire goes from here – other than straight back to the Manchester United reserve bench – is hard to fathom.

On the other hand, England had found something vaguely familiar and recognizable too late. The Nations League table still looks awful. Southgate’s team has finished upside down in six attempts without a win. It’s been a pretty bad summer.

But as they recovered from the shock of two German goals that seemed to decide the match, England played attacking, sharp football that may have sparked a long-buried muscle memory of what it feels like to force oneself into a match.

Confidence is a strange thing. Lose it and you might as well slip your feet into concrete shoes.

But when it returns, it can be liberating. And for England here, all it took to get the genie out of the bottle was a close-range shot from Luke Shaw that dribbled across the German line after a significant flexion of goalkeeper Marc Andre ter Stegen’s ankle.

Had that not come in with 19 minutes to go, Southgate would no doubt be preparing for seven weeks in hiding in his back bedroom. The turmoil that has escalated all summer would have felt absolutely overwhelming.

He can now look at his players and remind them that they can still play. In the coming weeks, before we all go to the desert, that could at least mean something.

England’s loss of form lately is puzzling. Much has been said about Southgate’s formations and its supposedly cautious view. There is still something to discuss.

But this game is ultimately about more than tactics and coaching.

It’s about football players, the people who play it. And on the front and back of this summer, many of England’s players looked unrecognizable. They have played with no urgency, no tempo and no rhythm.

On Monday night with Germany in possession, it was sometimes difficult to choose an English shirt worn by someone who was actually running. There was a meekness about England, almost an acceptance of inferiority.

This just cannot accompany them to Qatar. It needs to be cleaned up and if what happened here in the last quarter of the game helps, then one day we should all be thankful.

Southgate still has far too many problems before the final. How he finds the faith and confidence to pick Maguire against Iran on Nov. 21 is hard to figure out.

Maguire was more than competent in Friday’s defeat to Italy, but his contribution here was catastrophic.

Southgate certainly only held him on to save him from what would have greeted his replacement.

Elsewhere, there were other players for whom the England jersey is currently looking heavy. Phil Foden is one, while Declan Rice – disappointing so far for West Ham this season – is another.

But as England bounced back from the adrenaline rush they’d gotten from Shaw’s goal, they played football that might have woken up something.

Suddenly, players passed the ball. There were numerical overloads and overlaps. England’s full backs became a weapon again, as they should be in this three-to-the-back system.

Pope’s mistake at death was a bad one, but that matters less. Everton’s Jordan Pickford starts in goal for England in Qatar.

When Harry Kane’s penalty went in, Southgate had spontaneously jumped into the embrace of his assistant Holland.

The 52-year-old is generally a man who bears pressure well, but here was a release.

Between now and the World Cup, he will be asking himself a lot of questions. He will wonder where his team has gone.

But here at least there was a cameo. Something to cling to. If this were his last game at Wembley as England manager, at least he could leave with his head up and his shoulders back.