Southgate, on the other hand, was backed by another ex-Liverpool player. Jamie Carragher defended the coach against the mockery of the fans, writing on Twitter: “Shut up you clowns. This manager has led the country to its two best finishes since 1966.”
England have not won any of the four Nations League games this June. The dismal record: two defeats against Hungary (0-1 in the first leg), only draws against Germany (1-1) and European champions Italy (0-0). The European Championship finalist is on the roll, in Group 3 he is threatened with relegation as the bottom of the table. The 4-0 loss to Hungary was the heaviest home defeat since the 5-1 loss to Scotland’s Wembley Wizards in 1928.
Team captain Harry Kane, who scored the penalty against Germany, tried to remain calm. “It’s not the time to panic,” he said. Yes, “it was a night to forget”, but there’s no point in dwelling on it: “We have to look ahead. We’re preparing for a big World Cup and that’s the most important thing.” And hasn’t Southgate proved that he can compete in the 2018 World Cup semi-finals and last year’s European Championship finals?
Southgate kept rotating
For the time being, the results in the Nations League give no cause for optimism. Southgate made lively changes before and during the four games, but had to admit that he was wrong with many personnel decisions. “The results are my responsibility,” he said. But his biggest problem is that, apart from Kane and Raheem Sterling, no one seems able to project goal threat, let alone score.
Southgate didn’t have a lucky hand against Hungary. The leaders of Group A took the lead through Roland Sallai from SC Freiburg (16th/70th), who scored twice, but the team manager’s attempt to make up for this deficit failed miserably. Southgate said he wanted to play for a win in the second half, he switched to have more offensive power, “but unfortunately it also made us more open”.
Two games remain until the World Cup to turn the mood. However, the tabloid “Sun” calculated that England is in the worst earnings crisis since 2014 under Roy Hodgson. “And we shouldn’t forget,” the newspaper wrote: At the World Cup in Brazil, “we were out before everyone had taken their malaria pills.”