There has been a sense among many viewers that England have reached the quarter-finals of EURO 2024 in spite of Gareth Southgate, rather than thanks to the efforts of their head coach.
Southgate has led England to a World Cup semi-final and a European Championship final, and his side came into this tournament heavily favoured to finally go all the way.
England have stuttered thus far, however, and can count themselves fortunate to have reached the last eight. They were seconds away from elimination in the last 16 before a moment of magic from Jude Bellingham spared their blushes and those of head coach Southgate.
🏴 1-1 🇸🇰
What a goal from Jude Bellingham! England have been awful for 94 minutes, only for the Real Madrid man to score a bicycle kick to send this game to extra-time #EURO2024
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📱Live updates https://t.co/nj5pyznqfX pic.twitter.com/OiTWN7y3Iy— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) June 30, 2024
Throughout the tournament, Southgate has faced questions from both the media in England and overseas due to his team selection and tactical setup.
The 53-year-old has appeared totally unsure who to play alongside Declan Rice at the base of midfield, while he has failed to get the best out of the litany of attacking talent at his disposal.
With reports suggesting he is considering a regressive switch back to the defensive five he has historically favoured for the quarter-finals, it does not appear as though England will be much better to watch offensively on Saturday evening.
Despite all of the question marks hanging over the England manager, Rio Ferdinand jumped to Gareth Southgate's defence on BBC on Friday evening. His rather strange deflection of the issues hanging over Southgate did not wash over fellow pundit Jermaine Jenas.
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Rio Ferdinand's defence of Gareth Southgate questioned on BBC
Rio Ferdinand was part of the BBC's punditry panel for the blockbuster clash of Portugal and France on Friday evening.
As we have come to expect from the Beeb, it did not take long for England talk to take over, with host Gary Lineker asking Ferdinand for his thoughts on Gareth Southgate.
Ferdinand went on a strange tangent which amplified many of the issues surrounding this England team - before effectively telling viewers to forget about those concerns and have faith in their manager.
He deserves more credit than he's been given in this tournament.
Yes, the team hasn't performed well and we're all picking apart the structure of the team, individuals, when substitutions are made, what substitutions are made.
But, if you look at it, they've qualified top of the group and now they've won the first knockout game.
His substitutions have impacted games and the last game as well. Even though everyone's shouting, 'It should have been earlier!' - they still did what they were meant to do.
No-one really gives him credit for that, they look at what all the negatives are. Yes, I want to see a better performing England team, but they're getting the job done. They can win this tournament playing ugly.
Ferdinand may well be proven right in saying that England could win this whole tournament playing in an unfashionable manner. However, his refusal to accept valid criticism of the manager was certainly bizarre to hear.
Fellow pundit Jermaine Jenas pulled the ex-Manchester United man up on his remarks.
I get what you're saying, Rio, in terms of Gareth.
But I still feel like what we're seeing is clearly not good enough. Being top of the group is great but he was one overhead kick away from capitulation and absolute disaster.
I don'tt think leaving it to those moments consists of 'doing well.' There's a lot more to do, we've got the players to deliver.
It's hard to argue with Jenas' take on the England boss.
The English team which takes to the field against Switzerland on Saturday night is likely to be setup very differently to those we have seen in the tournament thus far. Southgate will hope that the radical change will give his team the spark that has been sorely missing in previous games.
England face Switzerland at 5pm Irish time on Saturday evening in Dusseldorf.
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