Give the boss a break… he’s earned it

ONE negative 90 minutes in Budapest and suddenly Gareth Southgate is a PE teacher masquerading as a national team’s manager. There has been too much negativity thrown his way this week, but then that’s been the case for every England boss. Lose to a nation like Hungary and it’s instant doom and gloom. Look, it was a flat display on Saturday. But Southgate is seemingly using the Nations League as preparation for the World Cup this winter and so is experimenting with his team and testing its versatility. Why not trust he knows what he’s doing? Let’s not lose sight of the big calls that he got right at Euro 2020. Like the decision to match up to Germany’s 3-4-3 formation in the knockouts. Or use Kieran Trippier at left back against Croatia. Or start Bukayo Saka on the right wing against the Czech Republic. Or persist with Harry Kane after a poor group stage. Everything turned to gold. Even the unexpected decision to use Trippier at right wing-back and Luke Shaw at left wing-back worked early on in the final. Trippier crossed for Shaw to score the opener against Italy, remember. Southgate thinks about tactics closely and given his track record, one poor result against Hungary shouldn’t suddenly make him untrustworthy. His chopping and changing in these Nations League games makes it difficult for us to know who is a nailed-on starter in Qatar. I’m sure Southgate has an idea, though, and that’s what matters.