Watching English football on the International stage has been hard going for fans in recent times but with promising youngsters now being given opportunities to shine, the future of England has not looked this promising since the so-called “Golden Generation”. A group of players that to this day I simply cannot believe did not achieve so much more!

England Managers

Since the year 2000 stability and England have not generally gone hand in hand, a number of failed managers combined with some questionable call-ups (David Nugent anyone?) has led to very little success on the pitch for the 3 lions as the stats below clearly show…

Kevin Keegan	1999–2000	18	7	7	4	38.9	Euro 2000 – group stage
Peter Taylor (caretaker)	2000[note 3]	1	0	0	1	0.0	—
Sven-Göran Eriksson	2001–2006	67	40	17	10	59.7	2002 World Cup – quarter-final Euro 2004 – quarter-final 2006 World Cup – quarter-final
Steve McClaren	2006–2007	18	9	4	5	50.0	Euro 2008 – failed to qualify
Fabio Capello	2008–2012	42	28	8	6	66.7	2010 World Cup – second round
Stuart Pearce (caretaker)	2012[note 4]	1	0	0	1	0.0	—
Roy Hodgson	2012–2016	56	33	15	8	58.9	Euro 2012 – quarter-final 2014 World Cup – group stage Euro 2016 – second round
Sam Allardyce	2016	1	1	0	0	100.0	—
Gareth Southgate	2016–[note 5]	31	17	8	6	54.8	2018 World Cup – fourth place

Key: P–games played, W–games wo

However with Gareth Southgate the team finally have a set purpose and way of playing, as well as passion, something that had seemed to be missing for many years. Players seem to want to play not only for their Country but for Southgate too, that respect and fondness has even spilled over to the fans. England are once again united behind their football team, two semi-finals have helped, even if one of these was in a glorified friendly competition.

Attack, Attack and Attack some more!

The recent progress of the England team has in one way been down to the emergence of some highly talented youngsters, nearly all blooded by Gareth himself a man who is familiar with most of these players from his previous role within the England set-up.

The only real issue is that most of that talent is in attacking positions, a potentially devastating combination no matter who is selected. The only issue aside from this is that a real lack of true ball playing centre midfielders is still missing. A midfield three of Ross Barkley, Fabian Delph and Declan Rice is hardly likely to worry many top opponents or even the poorer ones!

One tactic to combat this is to bypass playing through the midfield and revert back to a 3-5-3 formation which was the foundation of a successful World Cup campaign. This would allow our talented fullbacks and forward line the freedom to attack down both flanks whilst also offering some more protection within the middle of the pitch.

What is success?

Two semi-finals in two competitions is certainly a massive leap forward from the days of the wally with the brolly….however what can this bunch of players achieve in the next few tournaments? I feel that a real challenge at Euro 2020 is within our reach, a slice or two of luck would be required but stranger things have happened….Greece?? If nothing else this tournament could well be used as a stepping stone towards Qatar 2022, my only hope is that Gareth is in it for the long haul and that all of the players achieve their playing potential as I feel if they do, England could well be celebrating a truly special Christmas countdown on December 18th 2022. It’s coming home (soon).