Ah, that time again. The round of the World Cup after England have exited. Normally this is the period of the tournament I enjoy the most, as I'm able to enjoy the football without hoping the best teams fail to make our path easier. This time I'm not as excited. Maybe in part, it is an element of hipocrisy - it would be easier now to boycott the climax of the tainted tournament. Indeed this idea did momentarily fleet into my mind, before I realised the raw shit-housery masterclass potential of tonight's Argentina vs Croatia clash. But the bigger reason I'm less excited about this part of the tournament, this time, is because we've gone and blown it. In previous touraments, our national psyche and national press have over-hyped us to a point of frenzy. We usually toil away for a bit, manage to haul ourselves nervously into the knock-out stages, grow wild with enthusiasm before bowing out. That cycle always presents me relief that we can just crack on and watch the really good teams bring it home. But this time it is different. England have a deep pool of talent, coached (for the rest of the year) by excellent managers, surrounded competitively by the world's greatest talents. This time we missed out...big style.
And so this brings me to Southgate. A manager of convenience and compliance, brought in to steady the fraudulent ship that was the previous managership. He came across as humble, focussed, serious and dressed very smartly. But for four years he stifled us with nauseating defensive tactics. To his credit, he got the very best out of a terrible formula and we will never know what a more expansive mentality might have brought. This tournament, with some lessons maybe learned, or more likely due to a self-awareness that to ignore the rich seam of attacking talent for a third major tournament in a row would lead to inevitable vegetable-based tabloid headlines, Southgate finally released the shackles. And clearly it was much, much better.
Yet even still, we fell short. Now I'm torn about whether we definitely should have done better. Without sounding cliche, we lost a football match against a good team. Its a thing that happens week in, week out on football pitches. It is no travesty, no massive inquest is needed, nobody needs to be vilified. But, with that said, we do need to re-group and consider what is next.
Basically there's two choices:
Option 1: continue as is. Let Southgate take his days and weeks to [in his own words] reflect, remove all emotion from his thinking and determine if he has the appropriate energy for the wonderful job of leading England into Euro '24. Let's break this down a bit. Southgate is a meek and cautious man. He has clearly identified that he doesn't necessarily have the drive and energy for the job. He has a track record of leaving our most prodigious talents either on the bench or back at home. Last time it was Grealish, hopelessly under-used at a time he was at his absolute peak. This time Grealish could consider himself in the Grealish role - his 2 minutes to make an impact led, I think, to him having zero touches -his only action was a despondent, lip wobbling exhale at the final whistle. Maddison can also fit into that category. He's had the past 2 month absolutely on fire, lashing in shots and revitalising a previously troubled Leicester. Rather than see any action, he instead got to witness a distracted and out-of-form Sterling come on, mince about and offer nothing whatsoever. Very frustrating. The argument of course is that we have so much talent that nobody will be happy, whomever gets chosen. True - but select the ones that are absolutely on fire, and have your trusted 'other' talent fight their way back in.
Option 2: [you can see which way I'm leaning already; not well disguised]. Get a proper manager in. Nobody meek. Nobody who feels "humbled and lucky" to be offered the job. A winner. Someone who feels worthy. Someone who feels capable. Someone who's not afraid to deselect someone he selected before and played ok but is in shit form for their club. Someone not meek. A hard bastard, who instills some hard bastard mentality in his squad. Sure, a tight, friendly squad atmosphere is lovely - but we want a laser focus. a "we're here to win" attitude (not just the words). We want, like the Croatians to eek every last ounce of potential from our squad, or like Argentina to have an assuredness that means a knock-back is just that and the prelude to something great.
So Gareth, its option 2 for you please - there'll rarely be a better time to exit with grace. I think he knows this and we can usher in a new era...the era of Jose!
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