He has a great record in qualifying and it is obviously something we struggled with before. Not sure why because we have always been expected to qualify comfortably so I presume it is down to poor management at the time. In tournaments again he has got us through group stages where we would expect to progress and then we've been beaten by the first real challenge we have faced*. Luckily for him that was very late in tournaments until Qatar. Would he have such positive reviews if we had been knocked out by Croatia and Italy in the first knock-out rounds instead of the semi/final, of course he wouldn't. Personally I just don't think we will win anything with Southgate as manager (despite us having the players to do it) so it depends what you want. Are we happy with always doing well but never winning or would you prefer to win something?
I am a big fan of Southgate as a person and I certainly wouldn't ever say he deserves sacking but I don't think he is the manager to take us to the pinnacle. He consistently meets expectations which is definitely not a sackable offence but I just can't envision him ever exceeding expectations. If/when he leaves England I don't think he will be a success at club level either.
*I know some people are going to argue that teams like Ukraine, Germany and Denmark were good teams but they weren't. None of them were even considered as potential tournament winners and we had the massive advantage of playing at home.
I am a big fan of Southgate as a person and I certainly wouldn't ever say he deserves sacking but I don't think he is the manager to take us to the pinnacle. He consistently meets expectations which is definitely not a sackable offence but I just can't envision him ever exceeding expectations. If/when he leaves England I don't think he will be a success at club level either.
*I know some people are going to argue that teams like Ukraine, Germany and Denmark were good teams but they weren't. None of them were even considered as potential tournament winners and we had the massive advantage of playing at home.