UK: 18+ USA: 21+ | Begambleaware.org | T&Cs apply | Play Responsibly
The Three Lions were losing semi-finalists in Russia while France became champions. The journey of one of these sides will conclude on December 10 and England fans want their head coach to continue irrespective of the result.
England has only beaten France once in nine international meetings. Under Gareth Southgate, they have gone from underperformers to overachievers and are optimistic about their chances.
Such a show of support is understandable given England’s strong showings in knockout competitions. In addition to their semi-final appearance in 2018, the Three Lions also made it to the final of Euro 2020.
In Qatar, they trounced Senegal 3-0 in the Round of 16, their third clean sheet in succession. France has been their bogey team and a quarter-final exit is plausible for the tournament favourites.
Roberto Martinez and Luis Enrique have left their positions and analysts like Jamie Carragher have implored his former teammate to follow suit. These sentiments are not shared by the current England roster, who want the manager to continue.
Luke Shaw reflected on the future of their manager and believes he should continue in his stead. The wingback pointed at the success achieved under his tutelage to make his point.
The Three Lions’ defence has impressed despite question marks about their abilities. Meanwhile, the attack has gone from strength to strength, boasting the highest goalscoring tally in FIFA World Cup 2022.
Ahead of the crunch knockout fixture, Shaw opined they still have room to grow under Southgate and can reach greater heights.
“Of course, we want to keep working with him,” the 27-year-old commented. “The type of success he has brought has not been seen for many years. I understand we haven’t won [anything], and we’re disappointed with that, but we’re going in the right direction and things are really looking up.
“Of course, there’s going to be speculation if we don’t win on Saturday, but we don’t want to speak like that and be negative. We’re confident and we’ll wait and see until after the game.”
Nations League in the rearview mirror
Southgate has a contract with the FA until 2024 and it had been touted that he would like to get out of his contract earlier. Prior to the World Cup, expectations from England were minimal given their Nations League campaign. They failed to win one of their six group stage fixtures, struggling against all and sundry.
They have shown their true colours at the grandest stage, a far cry from the times they were booed by their own fans. This has rubbished Thomas Tuchel and Mauricio Pochettino’s links with the England job and added credence to the FA’s steadfast comments in Southgate’s support.
“Definitely leading into this tournament, the way things have gone, he hasn’t got the credit he deserves,” Shaw added. “If you look at our past tournament experiences, the past two tournaments have obviously been the best in years, for a very long time.
“A few bad performances were not solely down to him, they were down to us as players, and got him some unfair criticism. They shouldn’t have been solely blamed on him. This tournament, we’re top scorers, we still have another gear to go up to, to get better and better. The signs are good and there should be no doubt about him at all.”
A memorable #ThreeLions strike against Saturday's opponents.
👏 @dele_official pic.twitter.com/vxd7xTAOTh
— England (@England) December 7, 2022
Subscribe to Punditfeed on Google News for all the latest updates from the world of sports!