Gareth Southgate has generally overachieved as England manager according to William Hill’s High Press panel.
Gareth Southgate
In this episode, Alison Bender, John Cross, Matt Law and Paul McCarthy debate whether Gareth Southgate has over or underachieved during his reign as England manager.
Steve McClaren, Glenn Hoddle and Terry Venables are all mentioned by the panel before they focus on Southgate’s tenure. They discussed how Southgate has a very different relationship with the media compared to his predecessors.
The panel went through the highs and lows of Southgate’s time in charge of the Three Lions from the semi-final run at the 2018 World Cup through to quarter-final defeat to France in Qatar.
Southgate’s last chance
Law believes it’s almost ‘last-chance saloon’ for Southgate at Euro 2024, while McCarthy thinks next summer’s tournament will be Southgate’s last whether England win or lose.
McCarthy is impressed by how Southgate has coped with the stresses of managing England.
“Every England manager goes mad, at some stage, at some varying degree, they go mad!
“Gareth has been in the job since 2016 and he hasn’t gone mad! Which is a testament, because every other England manager, on a varying scale, does something ludicrous, ridiculous, says something crazy.
“He is asked more pressing questions by guess like John and Matt than the Prime Minister gets asked!”
Having discussed comparisons with the mood around the England team under previous managers, Bender reminisced about the enjoyment there has been under Southgate.
“Let’s not forget all that ‘Gareth Southgate you’re the one’ and the waistcoasts, I loved that!”
Bender added, “For me, Southgate did bring the joy back, I loved watching England again.”
Despite being generally pro-Southgate, Cross admitted England have underachieved in the biggest games.
England’s last campaign
“It comes down to three games: Croatia, the Euros final and the quarter-final with France. In those three games, I think he underachieved…
The tactics of Gareth Southgate
“What the difference is between a Gareth Southgate, and maybe a more tactically astute manager, is you make the changes to win the game.”
Law, however, believes Southgate runs the England team like a club rather than a national team, and he overachieved in the 2018 World Cup.
“I actually thought he overachieved in Russia. If you look back to what that squad was, there’s quite a lot of players where you think ‘crikey, was he in the England squad?!’”
Towards the end of the discussion, Bender stated that Southgate is the ‘best manager out there right now for this set of players’, citing another strong qualifying campaign. McCarthy even questioned whether Guardiola would be better for England than Southgate.
Does England’s next manager have to be English
The panel concluded that the next England manager has to be English, with Eddie Howe and Emma Hayes mentioned as candidates.
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