The Debate: Is England manager Gareth Southgate underappreciated?

In a momentous week that will define his legacy as England manager, all eyes are on Gareth Southgate as he bids to end 58 years of hurt by leading his country to European Championship glory.

With a wealth of talent at his disposal, the much-maligned Three Lions boss has received significant criticism for England’s underwhelming performances at Euro 2024 and yet, here we are, bracing ourselves for a third semi-final in the last four major tournaments.

No matter how close they have looked to capsizing in Germany, Southgate’s charges have conjured just enough magic to put themselves within touching distance of European Championship glory.

Having overseen arguably England’s most successful period, we ask the question, is Gareth Southgate underappreciated?

Two of our Senior Content Producers discuss...

Liam Williams

If England win the Euros, it will be in spite of Gareth Southgate and not because of him...

Gareth Southgate has picked up a remarkable number of critics over the years despite being England’s most successful manager since Sir Alf Ramsey.

People criticised his setup after going ahead against Croatia and Italy, which isn’t wholly unfair, but these tournaments are decided on fine margins and had England won a shoot-out against Italy, Southgate would have had a statue commissioned outside Wembley by now.

People have also criticised Southgate for being too negative, which felt harsh as it’s imperative to be defensively sound at international tournaments. They’re won and lost in moments and it’s crucial not to allow your opponents too many of those moments.

But what we’ve seen this summer has simply been inexcusable. England have twice been close to what would have been the biggest failure at a major tournament after Euro 2016 in 20 or even 30 years.

The first half of the first game of the tournament against Serbia was excellent. The second half was a big step backwards (quite literally), inviting so much pressure, but England got away with it. The same happened against Denmark and when the equaliser did come, you expected to see more adventure but England continued to sit off, settling for a draw.

Similarly against Slovenia, who only needed a draw and were never going to pose much attacking threat, there was a total absence of creativity in the team, which then goes back to what is arguably Southgate’s biggest weakness.

The team selections – Trent Alexander-Arnold in midfield instead of at right-back, Conor Gallagher being the second choice midfielder, the bizarre and continued omission of England’s only left-winger in Anthony Gordon – continue to perplex and even when they don’t work, Southgate’s stubbornness prevents him making the changes that are staring him in the face.

Alexander-Arnold was withdrawn against Denmark having spent 55 minutes looking for runners to pass to. Only after his withdrawal came the introduction of such a runner in Ollie Watkins, now with no one able to find him. Watkins managed five touches of the ball and hasn’t been seen since.

Gallagher was withdrawn 45 minutes too late against Slovenia, but a second change wasn’t made until the 71st minute with England chasing the game.

The question then was how England would fare against a decent side, but we only got as far as Slovakia before the Three Lions were really under the cosh.

England were behind – deservedly so – after 25 minutes but the first substitution wasn’t made until the 66th minute and the second change wasn’t until the 84th minute. England were unbelievably lucky that Jude Bellingham scored an overhead kick in the dying seconds to send the game to extra-time, scraping through from there.

It was a similar tale against Switzerland where a late, long-range Bukayo Saka goal forced the game to extra-time.

Southgate’s increasingly few defenders point to England’s record in knockouts before and since his arrival, but England were getting knocked out by the likes of the 2002 Brazil team, the 2004 and 2006 Portugal team (on penalties) and the 2010 Germany team; losing to almost anyone he hasn’t led the team to victory over would be a huge failure.

The knockout wins have come over: Colombia (penalties), Sweden, Germany (at Wembley), Ukraine, Denmark, Senegal, Slovakia and Switzerland. Yes, England have reached the latter stages of tournaments under Southgate, but Germany would have been the only remotely acceptable defeat of the bunch.

It’s true you can only beat what’s in front of you, but when against good opposition – Croatia, Italy, France – England have been found wanting.

England have enough individual talent to win any game of football, and they may well win this tournament.

But if they do, it will be in spite of Southgate, not because of him.

Mark Mothershaw

Never mind being underappreciated, success at Euro 2024 would establish Gareth Southgate as England's greatest manager of all-time!

The very fact that we are even asking the question as to whether Gareth Southgate is underappreciated suggests that there can only be one answer to it... a resounding yes!

We are talking about a manager who has led the Three Lions to a first ever European Championship final, a World Cup semi-final and another World Cup quarter-final.

There's also the very realistic chance that he takes his class of 2024 to a second successive Euros final later this week too, having reached yet another semi-final out in Germany.

Now, I may have missed something here, but let me just remind you of the fact that up until Southgate's appointment in 2016, England had only reached the last four of a major international tournament on three occasions.

Yet, here we stand, on the brink of a second successive European Championship final, and looking forward to a third major semi-final under his stewardship in just six years - that's not just happened by chance, or 'in spite of Southgate'.

Not in our wildest dreams could we have envisaged days like this when we were watching our 'Golden Generation' get it so painfully wrong during the 2000s, or when we were all crestfallen after watching our nation left humbled and embarrassed by Iceland at Euro 2016.

People are questioning whether Southgate has mismanaged the current crop of players this summer, but will we really care about the fact that we needed a moment of sheer individual brilliance from Jude Bellingham to keep our nation's hopes alive against Slovakia, or will we really pay too much attention to the fact our manager opted not to utilise Anthony Gordon or Trent Alexander-Arnold as much as others might have done if we are celebrating England's crowning glory come Sunday evening?

Absolutely not!

Look, it's easy to scrutinise managers - we, in England, do it more than any other nation, I would argue. It's a position that carries almighty pressure - some of the biggest names in Planet Football have buckled in this role. But, whether you like it or not, Southgate hasn't been one of those.

We will have all seen the memes across social media, making light of Southgate's apparent inability to think outside of the box, but remember, it was 'Mr Bland' who opted to play Bukayo Saka at right wing-back against Switzerland - a match in which the Arsenal man was by far our best player in, and one in which he rescued for us with that late leveller.

Who else would have even contemplated that?

Southgate has his flaws, and I am sure that he would be the first to admit to that. Is he the most exciting and forward-thinking manager in England's history, absolutely not, but will he depart his role as England's most successful manager of all-time? Well, there's a very distinct possibility that he will.

Of course, he needs a tournament win to realistically align himself with, or even surpass, the great Sir Alf Ramsey, but even he, the mastermind of that monumental 1966 triumph, had his detractors too.

Don't forget that Ramsey, the most revered English manager of all-time, came a cropper in the first knockout round of the 1970 World Cup in Mexico just four years on from that famous Wembley triumph, and then failed to even qualify for the West Germany showpiece four years later, in 1974.

Irrespective of what happens over the course of the next few days, Southgate will likely depart his role having been our nation's most consistently successful international manager, and quite possibly - based on results and tournament performances alone - our greatest!

Yes, even if we do land the holy grail this weekend, there will be those that discredit his achievements by highlighting the 'wealth of talent' at his disposal, and so called 'easy runs' to the final/s; but in major international tournament football, is there really such a thing? And, haven't we always been blessed with good footballers heading into major tournaments?

Southgate has created a unique footballing environment; one which has enabled some of the finest players of our generation to flourish in; whilst also knitting that talent together with good, honest, hard-working individuals - players like Eric Dier, Jordon Henderson and Harry Maguire.

This, for me, is the crescendo of eight years hard graft; and for all of the constant negativity and belittling of Southgate, wouldn't it be sweet for him to bow out from the most sustained period of success in the history of our national team, with the silverware (and statue) that he, his players and our proud, football-adorning nation deserves.

bet365 News Team

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