What Next for England and Gareth Southgate?

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DATE_FORMAT_LC5 1697

Gareth Southgate claimed the unwanted statistic of becoming the first manager to lose 2 European Championship finals. The 2-1 loss to Spain in Berlin came on the back of a penalty shootout defeat at the hands of Italy in London three years ago.

The defeat to Spain in the final of Euro 2024 felt a little different to the one at Wembley Stadium, leading to questions about the future of the England manager.

There can be no argument the better team won the EURO 2024 and Spain wee much superior to England in the final. England enjoyed a couple of good moments, including the equaliser from Cole Palmer but that is all they were, moments.

There was no rhythm to England’s play and Spain dictated the tempo throughout the match.

It was another nearly tournament for England under the guidance of Southgate following the World Cup semi-final defeat by Croatia in 2018 and the quarter-final defeat to France at the 2022 World Cup.

Southgate has been manager of the England team since 2016 and his contract is due to expire in December. There will now be serious questions asked about his future.

Southgate has managed 102 England matches and won 62 of those games, leaving him with a win record of 60.78%. There have been only 17 defeats in those 102 England matches, which, on the face of it, is excellent.

However, some of those defeats were extremely costly, including European Championship finals. Nonetheless, England are the only team in Europe to have reached the quarter-finals of the last four major tournaments.

Southgate holds the record for the most number of matches at an international tournament as England manager, sitting on 26, compared to the next best, which is Sir Bobby Robson who managed England 15 times at major competitions.

Only Fabio Capello with 66.7% and Sir Alf Ramsey with 61.1%, have a superior winning record as England manager. Only 5 managers have taken charge of a country more often than Southgate at major international tournaments and they are Jogi Low (38), Didier Deschamps (34), Helmut Schon (29), Fernando Santos (28), and Guus Hiddink (27).

Despite the impressive statistics, there remains a nagging feeling that Southgate did not get the best from the current group of England players. England scored only 2 goals in a Euro 2024 group containing Denmark, Slovenia, and Serbia.

They required extra-time to be Slovakia and needed penalties to beat Switzerland in the knockout rounds. Southgate persisted in selecting players who were either carrying an injury or needed a rest, something he admitted himself in an interview after the defeat to Spain in the final.

England sat back and allowed Spain to play their football in the final, offering little going forward themselves for much of the game.

It was a disappointing performance and it would not be a surprise to see England thank Southgate for everything he has done and begin the search for a new manager to take them into the 2026 World Cup.

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