Football managers divide opinions. Many see Pep Guardiola as the best manager in the world. Some say he was just blessed with talented players and abundant funds. As opinion gets more space on social media, this is inevitable. But, there are few managers in football today who are as polarising as England's head coach, Gareth Southgate.
The former centre-back took over the national team during one of the most difficult periods in English football's recent history. After embarrassing eliminations at Brazil 2014 and Euro 2016, the English Football Association (FA) appointed Sam Allardyce as head coach to steady the ship. But, he was caught up in a corruption scandal and resigned after 67 days. Desperate, the FA turned to Southgate, then head coach of the under-21 side. He was given temporary charge of the senior team in September 2016.
Just over six years later, he is taking the team to a third major tournament, after leading it to a first World Cup semifinal in 28 years and a first-ever Euro final. He is, statistically, the second-most successful England manager ever. Therefore, it is not immediately clear what is to not like. But, the criticism from a vocal section of the fan base, primarily for being overly cautious, cannot be ignored.
The success of Southgate's defensive football has been downplayed with the claim that the squad he has is the best in 20 years. Therefore, goes the argument, the runs deep into the 2018 World Cup and Euro 2020 were to be expected and that he should have won those tournaments with the talent available. The argument that this is the best team in two decades can be exposed as inaccurate pretty quickly.
This story is from the November 20, 2022 edition of THE WEEK India.
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This story is from the November 20, 2022 edition of THE WEEK India.
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