How Premier League elite have left Southgate behind
Despite his England success, the FA has failed to offer coach a new deal and he is not being linked with jobs at the top clubs
With every international break comes at least one question to Gareth Southgate over whether he will sign a new contract to remain as England manager past the World Cup.
But the two questions the Football Association should be asking itself are who it is competing against in an apparent race to get Southgate signed up post-qatar? And will we see a coach who has learnt from his mistakes at next year’s World Cup?
England’s penultimate World Cup qualifier against Albania at Wembley tonight will be Southgate’s 67th match in charge, the joint-most of any England manager since Sir Bobby Robson and equalling Svengoran Eriksson’s tally in 2001-06. Southgate has already won more games as England manager than Eriksson (42) in roughly the same amount of time in charge and has outperformed every Three Lions coach since Sir Alf Ramsey by reaching the final of this summer’s European Championship.
Nobody in their right mind would question the fact that Southgate has earned the right to take England to a third major tournament, which four points against Albania and San Marino would confirm. But whereas Eriksson was courted by Manchester United and Chelsea when national coach, Southgate is unlikely to have the same kind of options if he decides on a return to club football.
Fabio Capello leveraged supposed interest from Inter Milan to sign a new contract ahead of the 2010 World Cup that had disastrous and expensive consequences for the FA, so which clubs would be looking at Southgate in the final year of his deal? Aston Villa announced the appointment of Steven Gerrard yesterday and it is likely they would have chosen the former Liverpool midfielder with a Scottish Premiership winners’ medal to his name over their former player Southgate, who has been a runner-up and a semi-finalist with England. United have previously been credited with an interest in Southgate, but Leicester’s Brendan Rodgers and Paris Stgermain’s Mauricio Pochettino would be above him on any shortlist to replace Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Perhaps the best indicator of how hard it would be for Southgate to land a top job and why the FA could afford to put its foot on the ball is the fact that Antonio Conte, a serial winner, last week returned to management at Tottenham rather than at one of the world’s biggest clubs.
Brighton’s Graham Potter, with Swedish titles and a cup on his CV, would be more likely to land the Leicester post if Rodgers moved to United and Brighton may actually prove to be the level of club from which Southgate could realistically expect to receive offers.
No matter his desire to prove himself at club level, would Southby
gate really prefer to manage those clubs over continuing with one of the finest generations of players England have ever produced?
Perhaps the relative lack of experienced options to potentially replace Southgate is part of the FA’S thought process, but he insisted he does not feel untouchable.
“One thing’s for certain is that I will never be indispensable,” said Southgate, when asked whether Gerrard’s move to Villa and Eddie Howe’s appointment at Newcastle were good for the English game. England captain Harry Kane wants Southgate to carry on. “His record at international level speaks for itself,” said Kane. “Of course I would love him to stay.”
The next point the FA should be considering is whether Southgate is developing at the same rate as his players. The vast majority of Southgate’s squad have now collected winners’ medals with their clubs and are working daily with managers and coaches who have won the biggest prizes and have proven their acumen. There was a worrying sense of Southgate reverting to type against Hungary last month, when he replaced Jack Grealish, England’s most creative player on the night, with Bukayo Saka and later justified the decision by saying: “We wanted to change the shape to pose a different problem, but also to stop the counter-attacks.”
There it was again. The caution that tripped Southgate up in the final of the Euros against Italy and held England back in the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup.
There have, of course, been signs that Southgate is trying to use more of England’s attacking talent since the Euros by playing with a back four and starting with only one holding midfielder against Hungary, which did not work as well as the nation would have hoped.
It will feel like a step backwards if Southgate, rather than trying to find a way of making a three-man midfield with two more attacking players work against Albania, responds to the Hungary draw and the withdrawal of Declan Rice by reverting to a back three.