England have come a long way since Gareth Southgate’s first game as England manager, back in a distant dream when Joe Hart was in goal, Gary Cahill was the defensive rock and Theo Walcott was on the wing.
It wasn’t fast, nor linear, but England are now a much better team than the one Roy Hodgson saw fall off a cliff at the 2016 Euros. Of course, following England still ends in crushing disappointment. But now that disappointment comes with feelings of hope, pride, and excitement about next time, instead of a crushing onslaught of existential dread.
That’s progress. England met top nations in knockout matches with a defensive game plan and hoped one of their superstars would do something special. Now they’re going up against the best, players confidently passing the ball to each other, in tight spaces, trying to impose their way. That is also progress.
Yet this could be the endgame: Southgate must win Euro 2024 or his journey will surely be over. Can he use the lessons learned from previous tournaments to finally win one? Ahead of what could be his last hurray, we follow the evolution of Southgate’s England from a lowly qualifier in 2016 through four eras to perhaps their final destination in Germany this summer.
Era I: The beginning
England 2-0 Malta, World Cup Qualifier | Wembley Stadium, October 8, 2016
4-2-3-1: Deer; Walker, Cahill, Stones, Bertrand; Rooney, Henderson, Dele; Walcott, Lingard, Sturridge.
England Under-21 manager Southgate is parachuted in to take charge of the senior team after Sam Allardyce is caught on camera not saying much in retrospect as he drinks a vase of wine.
The team is a mix of players Southgate will come to rely on – Kyle Walker, John Stones, Jordan Henderson – and players he will soon make tough decisions to leave behind, such as Joe Hart and captain Wayne Rooney, who is on the midfield is deployed.
England win the qualifier behind goals from Daniel Sturridge and Dele Alli, and Southgate then leads the team to an unbeaten qualification for the 2018 World Cup, earning a permanent job along the way.
He plays a back four in qualifying, but in the final match, and in all four World Cup warm-up matches, Southgate and his assistant Steve Holland decide to test the back three with wing-backs who will become an integral part of their success. .
England 1-2 Croatia (aet), World Cup semi-final | Luzhniki Stadium, July 11, 2018
3-5-2: Pickford; Walker, Stones, Maguire; Trippier, Dele, Henderson, Lingard, Young; Sterling, Kane.
Southgate will use his wing-back system at the World Cup in Russia, with Walker deployed on the right of a back three alongside Stones and Maguire. Walker’s position will initially be questioned by fans and the media, but the trio will prove to be the foundation of England’s defensive solidity for years to come, opposite Jordan Pickford as the new No.1.
Using Jesse Lingard and Dele Alli as an attacking number 8 gives England plenty of energy in midfield, with Raheem Sterling and Harry Kane up front in a fruitful partnership. Kane wins the Golden Boot as England reach their first World Cup semi-final since Italia ’90, but against Croatia they ran out of puff in extra time and finished the match in the shadow of Luke Modric, Ivan Rakitic and the rest.
The foundations have been laid. But after failing to compete with the Croats, Southgate decides to build a more attacking, front-footed England team for Euro 2020.
Era II: The climax
Spain 2-3 England, Nations League | Sanchez-Pizjuan Stadium, October 15, 2018
4-3-3: Pickford; Trippier, Gomez, Maguire, Chilwell; Animal, Winks, Barkley; Sterling, Kane, Rashford.
After the World Cup, Southgate uses the first Nations League to test a back four in an attempt to give England a new system in their arsenal.
This came into its own in Seville when England beat Spain 3-2, their first win on Spanish soil in more than thirty years, with a midfield that could be euphemistically described as ‘experimental’. Two goals from Raheem Sterling and one from Marcus Rashford give England a 3-0 lead at halftime.
England 2-0 Germany, Euro round of 16 | Wembley Stadium, June 29, 2021
3-4-3: Pickford; Walker, Stones, Maguire; Trippier, Phillips, Rice, Shaw; Saka, Kane, Sterling.
On the other side of the pandemic, Southgate is taking a young, vibrant squad to the European Championship, including Phil Foden, Bukayo Saka, Mason Mount and Jack Grealish and a host of tournament debuts.
England get through the group stages unconvincingly with a back four, before Southgate uses their newfound tactical flexibility and fires the wing-backs at Germany in the last 16. It works beautifully as England record a 2-0 win, perhaps still the biggest win of Southgate’s reign. It is their first knockout success over the Germans in 55 years.
But the same strategy doesn’t quite work in the finale. After an early goal from Luke Shaw, Italy takes control, equalizes and loses the match on penalties. England has been waiting for a major trophy for half a century.
Amid penalties and a drug-fueled mob storming Wembley, and following the subsequent racist abuse of the England players, it is understandably forgotten that Southgate made a huge call to use the back three that beat Germany, rather than the back four who defeated Ukraine. and Denmark in the later rounds. Has his innate pragmatism held England back?
Era III: The Trough
England 0-4 Hungary, Nations League | Wembley Stadium, June 14, 2022
4-3-3: Ramsdale; Walker, Stones, Guehi, James; Gallagher, Phillips, Bellingham; Bowen, Kane, Saka.
Six months after the World Cup, Southgate is playing against an attacking but inexperienced formation in a 4-3-3 system. They are torn apart by Hungary at Wembley and suffer their worst home defeat since the 1920s.
Questions are being asked whether Southgate is the right manager to lead the team to the winter tournament in Qatar. It is the fourth match in a row without a win and he is forced to defend his record.
“The Nations League campaigns have put negativity and pressure on us,” he said, referring to the way the new competition has replaced friendlies. “My job is to protect the players, the results are my responsibility. We’ve had some incredible nights with England over the last four or five years, but this is the other side and that’s the reality of football.”
England 1-2 France, World Cup quarter-final | Al Bayt Stadium, December 10, 2022
4-3-3: Pickford; Walker, Stones, Maguire, Shaw; Henderson, Rice, Bellingham; Saka, Kane, Foden.
Despite mixed results, Southgate is fully invested in a 4-3-3 formation where England lead the way and look to dominate opponents.
Unlike the Euros, he sticks to the plan, even against a giant like France in the quarter-finals, and to an extent it works: England go toe to toe, create some clear chances and dominate in spells. They have been disadvantaged by a possible foul on Saka in the build-up to Aurelien Tchouameni’s opening goal, and by Kane’s late penalty miss as they exited the tournament.
A strange dichotomy fills the aftermath. On the one hand, a quarter-final defeat is England’s worst result at a tournament under Southgate to date; on the other hand, he has successfully developed the team into something truly competitive with the best countries, without having to hold back or be cautious. England are showing progress, but results are king, and another year passes without a trophy.
How England has developed under Southgate
Era IV: The Last Dance?
England 3-1 Italy, European Championship qualifier | Wembley Stadium, October 17, 2023
4-2-3-1: Pickford; Walker, Stones, Maguire, Trippier; Phillips, Rice; Foden, Bellingham, Rashford; Kane.
A milestone: it is the first time since victory over Spain five years earlier that England have defeated a major nation playing with a back four, even if it is a wayward Italian side who failed to qualify for the previous WK. Kane scores twice either side of an excellent Rashford finish as England convincingly seal their place at Euro 2024.
Southgate settles for a 4-2-3-1 at the end of qualifying, an adjustment to the 4-3-3 he used. At the heart of a reshaped midfield is Jude Bellingham in the number 10 role and ahead of the Euros, Southgate makes it clear he sees Bellingham as exactly that, playing Kane in a dangerous duo. To drive home this point, Bellingham will be given the number 10 shirt for the tournament in Germany.
England vs Serbia, European Championship group stage | Arena AufSchalke, June 16, 2024
(Possible) 4-2-3-1: Pickford; Walker, Stones, Guehi, Trippier; Alexander-Arnold, Rice; Saka, Bellingham, Foden; Kane.
In what Southgate admits is likely to be his final tournament if England fail to win it, he will take a high-quality first team into the 2024 Euros, albeit with an inexperienced back-up cast after missing out on Rashford, Henderson, Grealish and others has dropped established names. The manager appears fully invested in his 4-2-3-1 shape and England’s latest reshuffle is planned.
From Dele and Lingard to Foden and Bellingham, England’s evolution from a hard-working, running team to a free-flowing, controlling technical side is complete. After eight years of progress and restored hope, of setbacks and almost moments, they just need something tangible to show for it.