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In the first post in a new series of top columnists from the world of sport, Glenn Moore examines whether the criticism of England manager Gareth Southgate is justified – or accurate.
England are playing tomorrow night, which means Gareth Southgate will be trending on social media. People whose coaching experience extends no further than Football Manager, or their kids’ under-10s, will be telling the world he needs to go, that England’s talented players are suffocated by his defensive approach, and he’s nothing more than an FA patsy.
Moore argues that Southgate has had less talent at his disposal than many of his predecessors
Photo: Creative Commons
This even applies if England beat Hungary, because it will prove how badly he got it wrong in Budapest last week, and besides, we should be ‘beating teams like Hungary’ every week.
OK, so they held France and Germany in last summer’s Euros, and Germany again on Saturday, but never mind that, or the fact it was England’s first defeat in 23 matches, 18 of which were won. Because we all remember that golden era when England did ‘beat teams like Hungary’ every week, and everyone else.
It was surely under Fabio Capello? He is the only manager (bar one-match Sam Allardyce) with a higher win record than Southgate. But then there was the 2010 World Cup, when England drew with Algeria and USA before being thrashed 4-1 by Germany, so maybe not.
Perhaps Glenn Hoddle, despite a last 16 World Cup exit having lost to Romania in the group? No, that reign was going sour long before the comments about karma and disabled people were made.
Definitely not Roy Hodgson, Steve McClaren, Kevin Keegan and Graham Taylor, or Don Revie. Probably not Ron Greenwood either.
This leaves Bobby Robson and Sven Goran Eriksson, who both spent the bulk of their reign being heavily criticised, and Terry Venables, who oversaw Euro 96 but only won 11 of 23 matches.
“England will go to Qatar as contenders, no more. But that’s as much as they’ve ever been in 50 years and to believe otherwise is to ignore the evidence in favour of English exceptionalism.”
The reality is since that Sir Alf Ramsey’s tenure began winding down a half-century ago England have never been as good as a significant part of the fanbase believes they should be. Since 1966 England have won six knock-out matches in the World Cup and three in the Euros, plus one of each on penalties. Five of those 11 wins, five, have been achieved under Southgate in just two tournaments.
‘Yeah, but he was lucky with the draw, he’s never beaten anyone good’, comes the rejoinder. Among those wins were Sweden (who England had beaten once in eight competitive matches), Denmark (England had beaten once in six games across 40 years) and Ukraine (England had beaten twice in five meetings).
Of the other two Colombia are no mugs and, of course, there was Germany (who England beaten twice in 10 competitive matches since 1966).
Having reached the Euros final and the World Cup semi-final in his only tournaments (plus a Nations League semi-final) Southgate is the most successful manager since Ramsey. England have only reached the last four of a major tournament six times – Southgate is responsible for two of them.
‘But he has better players’, is another caveat.
Hardly. Eriksson’s golden generation was better, arguably so were Hoddle’s and Robson’s. There’s no one in this squad as good as either Paul Gascoigne or Wayne Rooney. For most of their England careers Peter Shilton and David Seaman were better keepers than Pickford. Rio Ferdinand and Sol Campbell were a sounder central defensive combination than anything Southgate has. Has Southgate a combination such as Lineker and Beardsley or Shearer and Sheringham? Has he a Paul Scholes, Bryan Robson or John Barnes? No.
Twelve of the 26 players in this squad have never played in the Champions League, the modern game’s elite competition, including key personnel such as Pickford, Declan Rice, Kalvin Phillips and Bukayo Saka. Even when shoehorning in two or three right-backs Southgate struggles to fill half an XI with players who were starting choices for the three English Champions League quarter-finalists.
This relative lack of quality and experience is why Southgate tends to err on the defensive. Play too open and the best teams will pick apart an England side prone, as ever, to losing possession in bad areas.
It is also easier to coach defensive play than attacking, a problem exacerbated by the need to manage tired players after a long season.
Look around. In the opening three rounds none of the 16 teams in Nations League A – who include all Europe’s World Cup contenders – won every match. Spain and Belgium won one. France and Germany none.
Southgate can be slow to adapt tactically, and it is true the team seem to be treading water and are over-reliant on Harry Kane, but the idea that someone (Graham Pottter being the current favourite) could come in and transform the team by November is fanciful. More useful would be the return to fitness of Ben Chilwell and to form of the Manchester United players.
England will go to Qatar as contenders, no more. But that’s as much as they’ve ever been in 50 years and to believe otherwise is to ignore the evidence in favour of English exceptionalism – and we’re learning the hard way where that leads.
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