I've watched England for a long time. We've only looked good in 2 tournaments. Under Sir Bobby Robson when the hand of god ****ed us over and under Venables when football was coming home but it didn't. It was still enjoyable though. Every other tournament from 1980 onwards has been dour and drab. Several times we've gone in thinking we have the players this time to challenge and we've failed miserably and the manager has gone as a result. For many years we didn't have the players in the 80s and 90s particularly, certainly not the depth that we have this time. Kane, Foden, Bellingham have been this season 3 of the best players in the world, throw in Saka, Palmer, Rice, Stones and yes, even Walker and you've got the core of an amazing team. Since the premiership was established, England have failed to make proper use of their resources.
However this time, we have probably the best squad of players I've ever known, yet we're dragging our knuckles along the floor with no ambition or purpose other than let's scrape a win and 2 draws against mediocre opposition. We made Eriksen look world class ffs. Southgate is a defensive, negative, boring coach who has picked the wrong squad of players to have a balanced team and is digging his heels in rather than deciding to change his mind. We should have coasted into the round with lots of goals, great confidence and a rosy feeling that this year is ours. We're the exact opposite and that's fully on the manager.
His limitations have been seen before in previous tournaments and yet we persevered with him, that's on the FA's head.