Harry Kane backs Gareth Southgate – Is the England boss above criticism?

Harry Kane has backed England manager Gareth Southgate after their humbling 4-0 defeat at home to Hungary on Tuesday night.

England rounded off an unsatisfactory international break on Tuesday night, crashing to their second defeat to Hungary in under two weeks – previously they hadn’t lost to the nation since 1962.

Boos rang around Molineux Stadium after the 4-0 drubbing, with Freiburg’s Roland Sallai scoring a brace before Zsolt Nagy of Hungarian first division side Puskás Akadémia and substitute Dániel Gazdag of MLS outfit Philadelphia Union put the game beyond doubt.

The loss was England’s worst at home in 94 years and carried their bout of poor form to four games without a win – the first time they have done so under Gareth Southgate.

Their below-par showings in the four Nations League matches have been tagged with the asterisk of the effects of an arduous campaign, therefore deflecting criticism from the players. Whether the manager is included in this notion, however, is a more complex debate.

The arguments for and against Gareth Southgate

The standpoints among the majority of England supporters appear to be binary opposites, as a large portion will back Southgate to the hilt while others look beyond recent ‘success’.

Definitions of success differ from nation to nation, but a World Cup semi-final followed by a penalty defeat in the final of a European Championship is defined as such in England’s case.

Putting the achievements into context, you’d have to go back to Euro 96 to see the Three Lions in the semi-final of a major tournament and 1966 for a final – we all know how that went.

Southgate’s achievements go beyond games of football as well. The former Middlesborough and England U21 boss has repaired the relationship between fans and the national team while displaying humility in abhorrent circumstances – the fall-out to his team’s loss to Italy in the Euro 2020 final being one.

There is an argument that now the image of the England team has been patched up, Southgate has served his purpose. Tactically he has come under criticism with a perception that the talent at his disposal is limited in his pragmatic approach.

A consistent factor of England’s four recent fixtures – the other two were draws against Germany and Italy respectively – is their threat remaining exclusive to counter-attacking.

This undoubtedly suits the likes of Harry Kane and Bukayo Saka for example, who thrive in such an approach at club-level but limits those used to more methodical build-up play such as Phil Foden, Jack Grealish and Mason Mount.

The result of the above is certain players flourish while others have little to no effect. Mount for example has come off the back of his most productive season, notching 11 goals and 10 assists in the Premier League. Although, despite starting in three of the last four games, the Chelsea midfielder made little to no impact.

Skipper Harry Kane backs his manager

In response to Tuesday’s humiliating defeat, skipper Harry Kane offered support for his manager.

"“I understand their [the fans’] frustration, we want to win every time we put on an England shirt,” he said. “The crowd have to understand that. We have to keep working to have a successful World Cup.”“We’ve not had a camp like it for a long, long time. It’s time to keep our heads up and have a break now and then come back strong in September.“It’s our first big defeat in a long, long time. The defence has been the structure of our success over the last few years. It’s a night to forget of course. We have to take it on the chin and move forward. We have to prepare for a big World Cup. That’s the most important thing. We have learned a lot from this camp.“Let’s not forget where we’ve come from: our first final in 60 years [at Euro 2020 last summer], semi-final in the World Cup, compared to where we were in the last 50 years.”Via: Sky Sports"

Gareth Southgate should and will be allowed the Qatar World Cup to amend a recent dip in form, but what goes beyond that depends on his ability to substantiate the promise seen in previous tournaments.