Southgate the right man for
England
From Under 21 coach to national
team coach this is a big step to take for ex-England footballer, Gareth
Southgate. Having said that, he has had
some success from managing the young guns, guiding them to the final of the
2015 Under 21 European Championships.
The Premier League is producing
some fine young talent such as Dele Ali and Harry Kane. The question now is
will these players can form a good partnership with Southgate and can Southgate
himself use his experience of playing and managing in international tournament
football to guide them to achieving success for the country in major tournaments?
Another factor in which both Gareth and the FA need to think about is the future of the current captain Wayne
Rooney. Should he stand down as captain, is his international career about to
end? I believe he still has one has one last World Cup in him even though he
will be 33 years old, and I see no reason why he shouldn’t be in the squad
especially if he’s fit enough to play as he is England’s most experienced
player.
There is no doubt that
Southgate’s mental toughness will be tested, especially at the 2018 World Cup
in Russia, should England qualify. Having said that, I think Southgate is the
ideal replacement for Sam Allardyce as he knows most of the players inside out
as a lot of them had been playing for him in the U21s for example, Harry Kane
who has so far featured both in the Euros and U21 Championships. I hope that
Southgate continues to look for fresh young players and especially the ones who
are hungry and want to represent their country by preforming to the best of
their ability. I would say that Southgate is a confident man who knows what
he’s doing and therefore he’s the right man for the job in my opinion.
Having watched pretty much all
of England’s games under Roy Hodgson, I think that England’s style of play was
too vague in the sense that they didn’t seem to have a clear game plan, especially when it
came to the international tournaments as they weren’t decisive enough with
their passing and needlessly kept losing possession of the ball. What I want to
see from Southgate’s England is some bravery and up the tempo of the way they
pass the ball. I also want to see some more solidity in the midfield in which I felt was lacking during the Euros especially when were humiliated by Iceland.
It all about having a good balance between attacking and defending and if
Gareth can help us with this, I’m sure that we will become a better team and
especially in major tournaments.Only time will tell as to whether
Southgate is the right manager for England, can he handle the pressure of
leading his country, I’m sure he can.