sport news England fans are tuning on Gareth Southgate because he is liberal for fanbase ... trends now
Gareth Southgate is England’s most successful manager since Sir Alf Ramsey and yet a rising tide of angry voices is screaming for him to be sacked, ostensibly because he lost a meaningless, end-of-season friendly against Hungary — rebranded as a Nations League match — that he was using to explore options for this winter’s World Cup. Really?
Some of those voices yell that getting to the World Cup semi-finals in Russia four years ago and reaching the final of Euro 2020, losing on penalties to Italy, represents under-achievement. Really?
If this were not so arrogant, presumptive, ignorant and lacking in awareness of the fact there is hardly a myriad of great triumphs the England football team have to their name since 1966, it would be side-splittingly funny.
Gareth Southgate was booed by England fans after the 4-0 Hungary hammering at Molineux
The same voices yell that Southgate is wasting the best crop of players England has had since 1966. I don’t think so. Does nobody remember that Sven Goran Eriksson had a midfield that boasted Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Paul Scholes and David Beckham with Wayne Rooney and Ballon d’Or winner Michael Owen up front?
This is a good England team, bolstered by some brilliant young players, but the idea that it would be weighed down by silverware if only Southgate would take the shackles off is a joke. Southgate is cautious sometimes because he needs to be cautious to protect the ordinariness in the team.
Yes, there is ordinariness. England still do not have a playmaker, which costs the side at the elite level. And if you haven’t noticed, the defence is hardly watertight. It needs protection.
Ask yourself how many of the players at Southgate’s disposal have won the Champions League compared to the riches previous England managers have had.
Of course Southgate is not infallible. Every manager comes with some reservations. Every fan would do something differently.
Some of us think it’s a crime Trent Alexander-Arnold isn’t in Southgate’s starting XI but Southgate has made a judgment that the vulnerability the Liverpool right back brings to the team outweighs his creative input. I don’t agree but Southgate’s results back him up.
Some England supporters turned on the country's most successful manager in decades
There is a misconception that England would be transformed without Southgate
By any measure, Southgate is doing a brilliant job with England, better than Ron Greenwood, Sir Bobby Robson, Terry Venables, Eriksson, Fabio Capello and even Sam Allardyce, although Sam did have that 100 per cent record. That’s before we talk about how he has made playing for England fun again, how he has transformed the atmosphere in the camp. Throw any England manager since Ramsey into the mix and Southgate has done a better job.
And yet that isn’t how it feels now. In truth, that isn’t how it has felt for some time. Let’s be honest: the knives have been out for Southgate since
