Gareth Southgate Leaves a Greater Legacy as England Manager Than You Think
Take a look at social media anytime the England National Team is playing and you will find basically everyone criticising Gareth Southgate. Some are criticising him for his players’ selection, some for the lineup, and others for his tactics.
Through all that, the only thing the English coach has done is to put his head down and keep working. Qualifying for one major tournament after another (which was not a given for England 20 years ago), getting deep into one tournament after another. The English manager’s legacy will always be the way he turned English football around. He leaves with his head held high and with a legacy that may never be matched.
Turning the English National Team into a serious team
For any neutral football fan, the English national team was always the meme of the tournament. No one seriously considered England a competitor for any tournament. Everybody just waited to see how England would humiliate themselves one tournament after another.
In the Round of 16 at Euro 2016, Iceland eliminated England. In the 2014 World Cup, England got knocked out in the group stage. In Euro 2012, they got knocked out in the quarterfinals of a 16-team tournament. In the 2010 World Cup, they got knocked out in the Round of 16 and they did not even qualify for Euro 2008. These are the results of their last five tournaments before Southgate.
Compare that with the Southgate record, which includes two Euro finals, a World Cup semi-final, and a quarterfinal, and there is basically no denying that Gareth Southgate has made the England national team a relevant and serious team in international football.
The problem was that the expectations of English fans do not match their team history in international football, as James McClean said:
“That’s always been the English hype and media around the team. It’s always over the top. For a country that’s won one World Cup and have never won the Euros, they’re very expectant and very arrogant about their chances. Before a ball is kicked they’re always plotting their route to the final. I just think they need to tone it down a little bit.”
– James McClean on the England National team
Looking at international football in the last 10 years, basically only France and Argentina have been more consistent than England.
Gareth Southgate has taken a nation that never reached a Euros final to two consecutive ones. This is the legacy Southgate leaves.
International Football is Different than Club Football
The main criticism that Gareth Southgate used to get is his style of football. Yet international football is different. In International football, a manager is forced to fit a style around the players available to him.
A manager can not implement a style of football when he sees the players four times per year. The players have muscle memory from their daily training at their clubs. They work in different systems and under different coaches. It is almost impossible to instill a style of play in that short time and the pressure that comes from trying to win tournaments that come basically every 2 years. It is not like club football, where managers have 3 chances every season to win a trophy.
Spain won the 2010 World Cup, basically relying on set pieces and winning 1-0. France did not light the world while winning the 2018 World Cup nor did Italy when they won the 2006 World Cup. In knockout football, results are all that matter, and Southgate did just that time and time again.
In International football, the most important thing is to find a system that gives your team a chance to compete for the tournament. Southgate did not always appease the fans but he always gave England a chance to win major trophies. Making England a serious competitor for trophies is Southgate’s legacy. During the Southgate era, England were considered a force in international football, something that was not there before his tenure, no matter how much their fans wanted to believe otherwise.
The Myth of an Abundance of Talent
One of the main criticisms of Gareth Southgate is that what he is achieving is normal due to the abundance of talent he has but England has always had this abundance of talent.
During the 2004–2010 period, they had perhaps the most balanced and talented squad in the world. A squad that had Ashley Cole, Rio Ferdinand, John Terry, Paul Scholes, Michael Carrick, Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, Wayne Rooney, Michael Owen, David Beckham, and Owen Hargreaves. That squad never even reached a final so an abundance of talent does not always guarantee success, especially in English football history.
It is true that Gareth Southgate had an abundance of talent in attacking positions but football is not only about forwards and attacking players.
The defensive talent at his disposal left a lot to be desired. Harry Maguire was consistently not called good enough by Manchester United fans. John Stones is a good but not an elite defender. These two were his best defenders. His two left backs rotated in the medical treatment room. After Jordan Henderson and Kalvin Phillips, England has basically no six in the squad. He had to use Declan Rice at this position when Arteta showed clearly at Arsenal that his best position is as an eight, not a six.
Southgate has managed to fit a system to hide his team’s defensive deficiencies while relying on his attacking talent to make the difference. This style has made England competitors for major trophies consistently.
After all, England has one major trophy in their history, the same as Denmark. This trophy came when the TV was still in black and white. They reached three major tournament finals in their history, two of them under Gareth Southgate. It is not like England was always competing for trophies and Southgate destroyed that.
The highs of consistently competing for trophies under him should be praised, not criticised. As English football history teaches us, this was never the case.
As the old saying goes, “You don’t know the value of what you have except when you lose it.”. England never had a consistent period where they competed for international trophies as they had with Southgate. This is the legacy Southgate leaves.
Whoever comes next should build on that and not return England to being the meme team of the tournament days.
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