Gareth Southgate, the manager of England, is “conflicted” as he considers staying in the position after the team lost to France in the World Cup quarterfinals.
After Saturday’s 2-1 loss to Les Bleus, Southgate made it plain that he would take his time making a decision about his future. The Football Association has left that decision up to Southgate.
The England manager has been in charge since 2016 and is under contract until December 2024. He guided the team to the 2018 World Cup semifinals and the Euro 2020 final.
“I’ve found large parts of the last 18 months difficult,” Southgate said. “For everything that I’ve loved about the last few weeks, I still have… how things have been for 18 months.
“What’s been said and what’s been written. The night at Wolves. There’s lots of things in my head that’s really conflicted at the moment.
“What I want to make sure, if it’s the right thing to stay, is that I’ve definitely got the energy to do that. I don’t want to be four or five months down the line thinking: ‘I’ve made the wrong call’. It’s too important for everybody to get that wrong.”
Before departing from our Al Wakrah base, we sat down with Gareth Southgate to reflect on the #ThreeLions‘ @FIFAWorldCup adventure, last night’s game and your incredible support this winter. pic.twitter.com/meU9DKy2UF
— England (@England) December 11, 2022
Southgate has transformed England since their disappointing Euro 2016 last-16 exit to Iceland, becoming a genuine title contender with a new wave of exciting talent.
The ex-England defender had no timeframe on when he would make a decision on his future, stating he was eager to overcome the emotion of the defeat before making a call.
Gareth Southgate, the manager of England, is “conflicted” as he considers staying in the position after the team lost to France in the World Cup quarterfinals.
After Saturday’s 2-1 loss to Les Bleus, Southgate made it plain that he would take his time making a decision about his future. The Football Association has left that decision up to Southgate.
The England manager has been in charge since 2016 and is under contract until December 2024. He guided the team to the 2018 World Cup semifinals and the Euro 2020 final.
Southgate added that he was not sure when he was ever going to get over England’s latest World Cup exit, but spoke with a sense of pride about their performance.
“I don’t think I have got over the last one [Euro 2020] but this feels a little bit different because when we reflect on what we’ve done, I’m not sure what more we could have done or given,” he said.
“I think we’ve given a really good performance against a top team. It was a significant psychological step for those players.
“I have been involved in nights where we have played top teams and been on the back foot for the majority of the game and been dominated. We wanted to be bold in the tournament and I think we went toe-to-toe with them.
“We have said we want to be competitive all the way through with England and we are, I believe, in that top table … the last three tournaments, we have restored credibility.
“The rest of the world look at us as a good side, but we are here to win, and we haven’t won.”