Plenty of hot takes but when the heat decreases, people realize that Southgate is a competent enough coach. Not top tier but not as bad as people think. His real weakness is that he thinks safety first, similar to Deschamps.
And you might not like it but this gives results in major tourneys. Spain won the WC scoring an average of 1 goal per match. Portugal won their Euro by drawing everything but the final. France won the WC by relying on counters because we had MBappé. Sometimes being pragmatic is a good solution.
He messed up the final, that's true but I would put that fail on the pressure and inexperience rather than incompetency and now he can still improve. Man already had a WC semi and a Euro final to his name. If he can learn how to let go and go for broke then England will be a problem for years to come.
I will always be rooting against them obviously but that doesnt prevent me from seeing the quality of the squad.
Fair points. I've always been envious of the talent France is able to produce so consistently. Y'all have 2 World Cups and 2 European Championships for a reason. How both countries see football is different. France's sophistication of the game was always made fun of and seen as "soft" by Brits who see 'real football' as hard-tackling, toughing through injuries and being able to run at full force the whole 90 minutes. Thankfully, through the consistent failure of the national team, English people are realizing how primative those 'values' were and it's not wonder the other European footballing countries laughed at England for years.
England only recently (and I'm saying this based on success our U21, U18 teams had in youth internationals) has been able to move past that archaic mindset and actually produce near the same level of talent at the youth level, but it often goes to waste come the transition into the English league which English clubs tend to prioritize profits (higher positions in the league) over football development and identity (i.e making sure English managers are hired, English players get playing time etc.)
I feel that's the biggest difference between us and France, Italy, Germany, Spain etc. The clubs in their leagues outside the top 2 biggest ones can't compete financially with English clubs (English league tv deals always negotiated in the billions of I'm not mistaken) and typically have their best players bought out every years by the top English clubs, so they're always developing players and preparing 5 so years ahead. Also their football associations historically have worked with clubs in regards to youth development whereas England has only recently really started copying their model.
Sterling has a terrible penalty record.
Raheem Sterling - Penalty goals
He scored 2/5 penalties in his entire career. You wouldnt want him to take one, let's be real. Sterling is good at getting pens not taking them.
I say this because Raheem is the more senior player and was in rhythm over Jadon who barely got a good run about.
