Gareth Southgate’s straightjacket suffocates England again – but a lesson emerges

There was a minute left in Gareth Southgate’s reign, the clock ticking on a dismal tournament that felt like a demoralizing end to the second-best tenure of all time. England manager. Until an airborne Jude Bellingham intervened. Until Bellingham stressed that he possesses that combination of talent, technique and temperament to offer the promise of greatness. There were reasons for Southgate to replace him: yellow carded for a rash tackle on Lukas Haraslin, he was reckless enough to put his hands on the referee. He suffered a bad game.

But there was one example of brilliance; a bicycle kick, an injury-time equalizer, a lifeline, a goal that could reshape England’s history as well as Southgate’s time in charge. “Who else?” Bellingham shouted. The evidence from the previous 94 minutes was that no one was likely to score for England. The closest they came to a shot on goal in the first half was when, after 10 seconds, Dennis Vavro kicked the ball home. Harry Kaneheader and ricocheted 30 yards to Martin Dubravka. For much of the time, they were simultaneously going nowhere, backtracking, and leaving. But Bellingham’s European Championship has already included two glorious goals, albeit with very little in the 347 minutes that separated them.

And Southgate seemed in thrall to his supposed superstars, ignoring the evidence of the game, hoping against hope that they would deliver, trusting in reputations. But some reputations are forged for a reason. Southgate appeared passive for much of the traumatic night in Gelsenkirchen. Yet here he is, in back-to-back quarter-finals, after goals from Bellingham and Kane. He triumphed in his daring game: partly by accident, partly by design.

It’s safe to say that the master plan probably didn’t include Bukayo Saka at right-back and Eberechi Eze at left-back. When England looked for replacements for the injured Luke Shaw, few considered the Crystal Palace winger. However, when England scored the winning goal, Saka and Eze were their full-backs. Southgate, the manager often considered too cautious, ended up going bankrupt: to save his job, to save England Euro 2024.

It was a heated thing. The last sound he may have heard before the final whistle was booing as he took off Phil Foden. Which, at that stage, looked like the best of the top four, the invincibles and, it seemed, the incompatibles. While others called for revolution at half-time, Southgate sent the same team off again. It was widely considered that he made the most pointed criticism of Sven-Goran Eriksson in the dressing room – “We needed Churchill, we got Iain Duncan Smith” – and he risked sounding like the Swede: married to big names, unable to muster up a stimulating team talk in the interval.

The accusation is that England are limited by Southgate’s straitjacket. Certainly his four performances at Euro 2024 were mediocre at best. However, there was some imagination in Southgate’s eventual changes: first came Cole Palmer – making Saka the second left-back of the night – followed by Eze and then Ivan Toney.

If the Brentford striker was involved at such a stage, the impression was that he would be something of a penalty-taking specialist. Instead, he emerged as a target man. After Eze’s miscued volley, he headed it back into the box for Kane to apply the finishing touch. The two artillerymen posed for a photo, arms outstretched. It was an indelible image of the night.

The other was Bellingham, with his feet higher than his head, changing the game, reversing a trend. Southgate’s team lost an advantage in crucial ties: with Croatia and Italy. He was blamed for the changes he didn’t make, for taking too long and letting the tide turn. Here he took out Kane and Bellingham: but not when trailing 1-0, but leading 2-1 after recovering. Ezri Konsa, who will rarely replace Bellingham, became the fourth left-back of the night.

And England defeated Slovakia; just. In Southgate’s time in charge, they thrived by beating lesser teams in knockout stages. They have never been so close to winning one. So much for being in the easy half of the draw. England planned to make everything look terribly difficult. Admittedly, Southgate never described him as such. As the confusion became contagious and the mistakes contagious, they lacked the clarity of thought that characterized Southgate’s most successful teams. England had a paralyzing sense of uncertainty, looking sluggish against Slovakia.

But they insist they have spirit and, belatedly, they proved it. They have Southgate, a manager who was first an asset and then seemed to inhibit them. And they had Bellingham, the man of the moment. This was his version of David Beckham against Greece in 2001, rescuing a miserable display with individual inspiration. And ensuring that however unconvincing and underwhelming England continue to be, they are still in Euro 2024.