Southgate seeks San Siro solace
The last time an england team went five games without winning was in 2014. Roy hodgson was the manager and three of those poor results, two defeats and a draw, came in the group stage of the World Cup in Brazil, resulting in an early flight home.
Tonight in Milan, Gareth Southgate is in the final throes of preparing for another World Cup, his second as england manager. Form has deserted his team at just the wrong time and were they to lose to Roberto Mancini’s side at the San Siro, england would be relegated from the top tier of the Nations League and, perhaps more importantly, have only Monday’s home fixture with Germany to restore some kind of confidence ahead of the important business in Qatar that starts in late November.
Southgate was booed and heckled as his team lost 4-0 at home to hungary in Wolverhampton in June. Prior to that, england had lost in Budapest and drawn with tonight’s opponents at home and the Germans in Munich. During all of that they scored one goal, a penalty.
It has been a drop-off in form that did not seem likely as england breezed through World Cup qualifying in the months that followed their defeat on penalties to Italy in the final of euro 2020 last year. Reflecting on all this at the team hotel a long goal-kick from the San Siro last night, Southgate did not attempt to step away from his own role in what has happened.
‘We were 22 games without a loss and you kind of think that’s just going to continue sometimes and maybe you are not quite as ruthless in certain decision-making,’ said Southgate (below). ‘I feel I compromised on one or two things. ‘We are very clear on why those things happened and what needs to happen to put things right. ‘I am not saying I was too comfortable. But at times when you are on a big run, you don’t dig as deep into what could be ahead and what could go wrong. ‘The summer was really complicated. Two games behind closed doors and other mitigating factors but internally we reviewed everything and felt there were things we should have done better. ‘Quite often when you win, some of those things are still going on but you don’t review it with the same intensity and the same spotlight. But I think every manager makes mistakes. every manager reflects. That’s part of improving.’ If Southgate needs any evidence, and he doesn’t, of how quickly things can change in football, he needs only to look at tonight’s opponents.
having beaten england at Wembley last July, they lost at home in a World Cup qualifying play-off to North Macedonia eight months later and, as such, will not join england in Qatar.
Italy’s results under Mancini remain modest. Success in the euros was the culmination of a three-year unbeaten run but since that day at Wembley, Italy have won only four of 14 games, something that will be reflected by a poor crowd tonight.
Southgate’s task is to ensure england’s blip will one day be talked about as an anomaly, an unexpected and largely unexplainable hiatus in a period of progress. In the short term, relegation from the Nations League would be damaging and the manager articulated that last night.
So events at two famous stadiums over the course of the next four days are as important as two outof-tournament games have been for quite some time for england. Southgate played in that famous 0-0 in Rome in 1997 that ensured Glenn hoddle’s side qualified for France 1998 and he could do with a little of that spirit and application from his team this evening.
Southgate was also happy to tell people that no england team has won in Italy since 1961. Moments earlier, he had been talking about his team’s habit of breaking new ground. After 61 years, maybe something memorable is overdue.