From reaching a European Final last summer to not winning a match in the last six games in a row, is it time for Gareth Southgate to leave or should he be given more time?
On July 10th 2021, England had just lost a European final against Italy on penalties (3-2), but what a campaign it was!
We kicked the tournament off with a 1-0 victory over the team that knocked us out in the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup – Croatia. We then played Scotland which ended goalless, and it was here, questions arose on whether Southgate was tactically ready to carry us through the competition.
Evidently, he proved the doubters wrong by helping England reach the final. I think the 2-0 win over Germany really made the nation believe this was our year and the pride throughout the country rang loud.
Sadly, the final didn’t go our way and although penalties aren’t the best way to decide a game I do think Southgate made a mistake in bringing young players in Sancho and Rashford onto the pitch (who hadn’t played a significant number of minutes in the tournament) just to take a penalty. He should have looked to the more experienced players to take the responsibility.
However, the Euro final was the furthest England progressed in a major competition since 1966 so that in itself was enough to get Southgate the praise he rightly deserved at the time.
Following the Euro final, England flew through the World Cup qualifiers finishing top of the table with 26 points. Southgate hadn’t needed to prove himself tactically in tough games as the opponents were all low-ranked teams; apart from Poland and Hungary whom both held us to draws.
But everything started to unravel in the Nations League.
Despite a more promising performance with a 3-3 draw against Germany in the final group match, England has gone six games without a win and following Italy’s game on Friday was destined for relegation, regardless of the Germany result.
Following a fantastic 2022 summer with the Lionesses bringing it home more pressure has been applied to Southgate to get the men’s team up to the same level and as of yet, he’s failed to live up to the expectations.
How can a team ranked second in the world go on a six-game losing streak? I think it’s simply down to Southgate’s poor team selection and lack of tactical skills.
Focusing on the most recent squad, Southgate says he picked players based on form, but is evidently untrue with the likes of Jadon Sancho, James Maddison and Marcus Rashford missing from the line-up.
Players that deserve a call up
JADON SANCHO – 3 goals in 9 games (all came in recent weeks), he has also started all 6 of United opening games
JAMES MADDISON – 3 goals in 6 games, with 1 assist. Maddison would also bring his free kick scoring talent to the team, having scored 7 in his career so far.
MARCUS RASHFORD – he’s add a much stronger start to this season, following a poor last season campaign, with 3 goals and 2 assists in 6 appearances.
Players who shouldn’t be called up
HARRY MAGUIRE – 6 appearances, with 3 starts. Maguire has been booked in each of his Premier League appearances. Manchester United have conceded 7 goals with Maguire on the pitch, compared to 2 without him. His recent tactics against Germany also cost England two goals, after missing a ball and fouling a player which led to a penalty.
MASON MOUNT – 1 goal or assist in 9 games. Started in 5 PL games, been subbed before 70th minute in 3 and came on as a sub in their most recent against West Ham.
LUKE SHAW – With only 3 games for the red devils, following his second start he ended with a forced substitution due to a knock, but he did return to the bench the following week where he remained for the rest of the games.
Despite Shaw and Mount scoring much-needed goals in the Nations League match against Germany – which gave Southgate a bit of breathing space – their impact on the team has been small and I feel Southgate selects players who are his ‘favourites’ rather than having a real explanation to call them up, as I cannot justify how he has picked players he’s barely seen play.
The only good decision he has made was to call Ivan Toney up who has had a great season with Brentford scoring five goals in seven games – these are the kind of players who deserve the honour of representing England NOT players who sit on the bench week on week out for their clubs.
Is it entirely Southgate’s fault?
This is tricky because with the talent in the team, especially up front, we should not be struggling to score a non-penalty goal, with only two being scored in the Nations League (Harry Kane’s goal against Germany being a penalty).
Southgate could definitely help the goal drought by giving other in-form players a chance to prove themselves, the most recent example would be getting Toney on the pitch after the starting players were unsuccessful in finding the net.
England’s second loss against Italy meant relegation from the Nations League. But, even before the match, many eyebrows were raised when the team sheet was released, Bukayo Saka at LWB? No John Stones? And controversial Harry Maguire starting?
The 21-year-old Saka is a predominant winger with experience as a left-back in the Arsenal academy set up, but the winger hasn’t played in that position at all the past season with either Arsenal or England. It is very confusing why Southgate would make this decision now when there are two left-back players on the bench in Ben Chilwell and Shaw, especially with a World Cup round the corner.
The Nations League set-up only allowed 15 substitutions so five players were guaranteed to miss out, but for Harry Maguire to play over John Stones who has been great for Manchester City is unexplainable.
The game against Italy was very uneventful. We played very defensively and when we created chances they were either wasted or players weren’t in the right places. I can’t even name a memorable chance we had. This proved Southgate does not have the tactical capabilities to play against top teams and the majority of his success has come from ‘easy’ games.
The Italian goal was down to Kyle Walker’s individual error of not closing down, but playing so defensively it was only a matter of time before England’s opponents would score. It was a great finish from Raspadori though.
The one player I was impressed by was Jude Bellingham. He stood out and really tried to be effective.
After the whistle, the players and manager were booed off the pitch, but I feel this is mainly aimed at Southgate.
England have just 54 days until the World Cup in and Southgate has mere weeks before finalising the team he’ll take to Qatar.
Given the time restraints, I feel it would be unfair to bring in a new manager now as it would further set up a discombobulated England up for more failure; but I do believe after the World Cup it’s time for Southgate to step down so we can take the next step as a country.
