Gareth Southgate was unsure if the boos after England’s bore draw with the USA on Friday were for himself and his players, but it is safe to assume that the US supporters were not the ones frustrated.
Booing underwhelming performances is now a staple of the game at a certain level and not necessarily reflective of wider unrest, but in the context of Southgate’s strained relationship with England fans, the moment was another sore point.
The England manager came into the tournament on the back of a miserable Nations League campaign, notable for the Molineux mutiny, when the home crowd jeered and mocked him during the 4-0 defeat to Hungary in June.
If that could be put down to fickle day-trippers, the boos when Southgate went to applaud the regular travelling support after September’s defeat by Italy at the San Siro — which confirmed England’s Nations League relegation — obviously could not.
The swashbuckling victory over Iran changed the mood, with supporters in Qatar singing Southgate’s name, but judging by the reaction at Al Bayt Stadium and on social media on Friday, the 52-year-old is back on notice ahead of tomorrow’s final group game against Wales.
![](https://static.standard.co.uk/2022/11/28/11/newFile-12.jpg)
“I just feel like that’s football: when you’re winning, you’re the best in the world and when you’re losing, you’re the worst,” said Marcus Rashford yesterday. “If we play well in the Wales game, that USA one will be forgotten about.”
Rashford is right to an extent, but Southgate also increasingly feels like a manager for whom results alone are no longer enough.
As far as progressing from Group B is concerned, Friday’s draw was fine, leaving England almost certain to qualify for the last 16 if they avoid a heavy loss in tomorrow’s Battle of Britain.
Southgate, though, has raised expectations to the point that he is now being judged as the manager of a side with ambitions to win the World Cup, and in this context the performance against the USA was not deemed good enough.
In fairness, many England supporters in Qatar have spent princely sums to travel to a country which is widely regarded as less appealing for fan experience than almost any previous World Cup host, and understandably want to see the best version of their team.
Nonetheless, the boo-boys could take a lesson from a man who has captained a World Cup-winning side, Hugo Lloris, who explained after France’s win over Denmark that impressing in the group stage essentially counts for nothing.
Asked which other teams had caught his eye here, the French skipper said: “I don’t know. There’s no truth yet. It’s one competition, the group stage. And then there will be another one [the knockouts].”
This is Southgate’s view, too, and in the dressing room after Friday’s game, he immediately rallied his disappointed players, reminding them that England have won all three group games only once at a major tournament.
For his critics, many of his familiar flaws were in evidence on Friday, from his reluctance to unleash England’s creative talents to a perceived inability to change the course of tight matches.
Overnight, Phil Foden became the latest conduit for these grievances, after Southgate declined to call on the Manchester City playmaker from the bench.
If he does not start against Wales, Foden promises to be the new standard around which supporters who want England to be expansive can rally and, potentially, another stick with which to beat Southgate.
Foden has not been nearly as impressive for his country as wingers Raheem Sterling or Bukayo Saka, but Southgate is reluctant to use the 22-year-old in the middle, because he does not play there for City. International managers, though, have to be more adaptable and creative than club coaches, so here he could be bolder.
Southgate is considering freshening up his attack against Wales, with Foden, Jack Grealish and Rashford all pushing to start, but resting Harry Kane is not on the agenda, despite suggestions that the captain was leggy against the USA.
Kane faced similar accusations during the group stage of Euro 2020, when he failed to score, but the captain delivered with four goals in the knockouts en route to the final.
Supporting your country is an emotional business and cold, hard logic has rarely washed with Southgate’s detractors, who now believe England should both win and win well
The Euros offer other useful parallels for Southgate, with the draw against the USA neatly mirroring the stalemate with Scotland in the second group game last summer. With that in mind, there has been less of a national meltdown in the wake of Friday’s result.
The struggles of other top sides in Qatar, notably Germany and Argentina, offer further reason for England players and fans alike to remain calm and confident, and, at the time of writing, France are the only team already into the last 16.
Supporting your country is an emotional business, though, and cold, hard logic has rarely washed with Southgate’s detractors, who now believe England should both win and win well.
As he prepares for the Wales game, the manager feels more and more like a victim of his own successes, who can only appease the majority of supporters by either winning the World Cup with pragmatic football or by coming close in style.