Southgate's England Team Managerial Tenure - Part 2

Before reading this, I suggest Part 1 be read first, which you can do by clicking here.

How can one accurately assess the performance of a coach? From reading forum comments, the majority feel he's been around too long and a change should have been made by now. 

The reasons given that I have seen are: his inability to react when his initial game plan isn't working. Managers of better quality nations have worked out how to neutralise England's play and he is now out of his depth in countering that. A too cautious approach despite a quality roster is another complaint. He picks on reputation rather than form.  

Those in his favour point to better than average results when compared to managers that preceded him. He is credited with creating a positive atmosphere among the players he picks. 

I think all of the above comments either pro or con have some truth to them. I do think the better than average results need to be qualified. Modern qualification groups are more likely to feature lesser nations such as Andorra and San Marino as examples. Previous managers didn't have such games to inflate win rates. 

Another point is seen in the chart. In all competitions they have contested, success has waned. England did make the final in Europe 2024, but the loss (again) means that all tournaments have seen a progressive drop in the final standing or in the last one a repeat of the same. 

In summary, I feel Gareth Southgate started well but has been kept on too long in the job. I feel there is too much haste shown by clubs to remove coaches and not enough in the England setup. 

If he was managing a top club side, he would have been moved on by now. A very good Euro 2024 tournament may have saved his bacon. He did react more quickly with substitutions later in Euro 24. 

I'm no longer certain that replacing him will improve things as the best coaches don't usually coach national sides. On the down side, England went back to looking somewhat tentative against Spain and that is not a route the England national side needs to take. I'd ultimately still go for a change as this side should have been managed better.

PS. He resigned a few days after Euro24 in case you hadn't noticed.