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. 

Southgate's England Team Managerial Tenure - Part 1

An unusual angle to take, discussing a long term managerial role for a full national side. However, it has been an increasingly divisive tenure as many feel he should have gone before now. To reach a conclusion, the facts need to be looked at. I'll save my conclusion on the situation for Part 2.

Below each year is put in a block of results. The term home in 'Home/Win' isn't for all matches in that column. If the game is part of a tournament, then they are at neutral venues. In such cases, the winning side is listed there anyway as I don't have a 'Neutral' column. 

It started in 2016 with four matches, three being World Cup qualifiers and one friendly match. Two wins and two draws against one top nation, two medium and one lower ranked nation. Too early to read much into that.

For 2017, there were ten England games played. Six World Cup qualifiers and one friendly match. Five wins, three draws and two losses. Germany has been an average side for some time now so a let off for Gareth Southgate. The same for Brazil too perhaps. France was the best team faced here. Three lower nation matches, three medium games and four against higher countries.  

For 2018, there were sixteen England games played. Six World Cup matches, eight friendly ones and two Nations League games. Ten wins, three draws and three losses. This was a good period for Southgate. The standard of the opponents was good too but Panama was clearly outclassed.  

For the England v Colombia game, it was 1-1 aet but England went on to win 4-3 on penalties. 

In 2019, only ten international matches. Eight games were Euro qualifiers, Nations League finals contests. Seven victories, one draw and two losses sounds good. The overall quality of the opposition was not high though so while showed they could score against lesser opponents, it is hard to judge their progress. 

For the England v Switzerland game, it was 0-0 aet but England went on to win 6-5 on penalties. 

Only eight matches in 2020, six of which were for the Nations League and two friendly games. Five victories, one draw and two losses. Against reasonably decent opponents, not bad.

In 2021 no fewer than nineteen games were played. World Cup qualifiers amounted to ten of those, the 2020 Euro Finals (delayed to 2021) added seven and a couple of friendlies were thrown in for good measure. Fifteen wins and four draws was a good haul but there were plenty of lesser teams played with high quality, in form opposition missing. 

For the England v Italy game, it was 1-1 aet but Italy went on to win 3-2 on penalties. 

For 2022, thirteen games, two friendlies, six for the Nations League and five at the World Cup for that year. Just five wins, four draws and four losses. Considering the teams they played, a poor year in Gareth Southgate's managerial tenure. 

2023 had just ten internationals, two friendly ones and the rest Euro 2024 qualifiers. Eight wins with one draw and one loss. Looked good but most games against lower ranked nations. 

2024 has involved four friendly matches played and seven in the Euro 2024 tournament. Four wins, four draws and three losses. Not a good start but finished much stronger. A strong finish to the Euro 24 campaign showed the skill in the squad and the kind run they had helpful too. 

Pat two: Simply click here.