Former England and Arsenal footballer Paul Merson is the latest to heap praise on the England head coach.
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Gareth Southgate has done an incredible job in transforming England from pretenders to contenders in big tournaments. The Three Lions are now entering major tournaments with renewed belief and confidence of doing well at the biggest stage. A lot of that credit must be given to Southgate for the way he has transformed the mentality of the squad. He has been able to get the best out of each player and has been able to make them compete with the big nations toe-to-toe.
Former England and Arsenal footballer Paul Merson is the latest to heap praise on the England head coach. He is happy with the way England has begun the Euro qualification process and is confident of the national team doing well in next year’s Euro 2024. “It was a great few days for England. They’ve beaten the two toughest teams they will face in the group, and those wins will go a long way to already wrapping up the group and securing qualification for Euro 2024. I don’t get why people keep saying this could be it for Gareth Southgate,” he said in his weekly column for skysports.com.
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“I never expected us to win a tournament in my lifetime. Now, I expect us to win every tournament we go to, so Southgate is doing something right. You really do have to be careful what you wish for. These players like Gareth and you can see they do. There’s a great team spirit in the camp and the players enjoy being there. Be careful, that’s all I’d say. If you start listening to people and get rid of Gareth with a new manager coming in like a Fabio Capello. I didn’t hear too many people waxing lyrical about Capello when he was England manager and taking away tomato sauce from the players.”
Merson also believes that there is a good bond between the players and coach in the national team. “You can see the harmony between the players and the manager in the England camp. I don’t get it when people say this could be Southgate’s last tournament,” he added. “We are turning up to the Euros and we have every chance of winning the tournament. We had every chance of winning the World Cup, every chance of winning the last Euros and every chance of winning the World Cup before that. Before that, we had no chance. We were just also-rans getting knocked out by Iceland. There’s no guarantee with a new manager. The players might not like any potential new manager.”
Paul Merson then shifted his focus to in-form Arsenal winger Bukayo Saka. Predominantly playing on the right wing, Saka has been impressive for both club and country. Even in this international break, he came up with memorable display for England. “Bukayo Saka was outstanding against Ukraine. He gave Vitalii Mykolenko a torrid afternoon at Wembley,” he stated. “Saka is a big moment player, and he produces at crucial times in big football matches.
“He’s not the player that gets a hat-trick against a side bottom of the league or he’s not grabbing the seventh goal in a 7-0 win. At Arsenal, he’s getting the first goal, the equaliser or the winner. He’s getting assists at crucial moments. He’s a big occasion player and there are not a lot of them around. There are players that will do a lot of things in games, but they won’t be in the most important part of the game. Saka does do that, however, on a weekly basis.”
