Gareth Southgate once freed England’s players – now he risks suffocating them

When Gareth Southgate talks about being “very careful” not to go back to the old England “environment”, there are specific moments he is thinking of. One memory that stands out was when Southgate himself was picked to play midfield rather than centre-half for the infamous 1-0 defeat to Germany in 2000, which was the last match at the old Wembley. He and Kevin Keegan — the manager about to resign due to how unenjoyable the job was — had been savaged for it before the game. It got worse afterwards.

Just a few months before that, Southgate’s usual centre-half partner Tony Adams had a specific message for newcomer Steven Gerrard. Adams went right up to the midfielder’s face and screamed “Are you f****** ready for this?!”

Southgate is essentially asking his players the same question now, if in a much quieter and more pastoral way. It is still notable just how much he and his players are now talking about all the “noise” around England. They even had a meeting about it.

One of many questions that now surrounds the team is whether such discussion inoculates the players from such effects, or actually starts to infect the camp. Southgate is one of a generation still sore at the scars left from that era, which is why he’s so conscious of whether it is his very presence that brings more on the players now.

It is striking when you go through the autobiographies of managers and players from the 2000s and just how much they fixate on the media and noise around England. Keegan’s chapter on his brief 18 months in the job is almost entirely about his relationship with journalists.

While it must be acknowledged that a media outlet discussing the media effect on the team is rather meta and self-referencing, the reality is that it has always been part of the story of England tournaments. When Southgate was asked on Wednesday what made the environment “unique”, he responded: “I think you know the answer to that.”

Southgate is so conscious of it because he can remember a time when the most decorated and experienced stars would play safe passes out of concern for their rating in the newspapers. Players used to talk about it on the bus. “That’s a five now.”

Even those at the biggest clubs found the scrutiny at tournaments a level beyond anything they experienced. “Expectations are high when you play for Manchester United,” Rio Ferdinand wrote. “But with England it’s intense for small periods of time: heavier and much more concentrated.”

Gerrard speaks of a “suffocating atmosphere” and how “playing for England often felt like you were trying to get comfortable inside an uncomfortable situation”. Nerves would evolve into outright fear. So many players say they didn’t enjoy going to tournaments, something they deeply regret since these are supposed to be career highlights. They also felt envious of foreign teammates who were excited about going.

This was something Southgate most wanted to address on taking the job, having seen the full weight of it — pointedly enough — in the 0-0 draw against Slovakia at Euro 2016 and then the last-16 defeat to Iceland. He has emphatically succeeded… so far.

Now, just as he finds himself on the other side of that, much of this is driven by the binary discussion that inevitably surrounds one of the biggest football countries. A good core of the football-watching population expect them to win in some style, with failure lambasted.

Many players long felt there was rarely an in-between, other than maybe 1996, 1998 or 2004, and felt that weight. “We can’t just simply lose a game.”

Some similarly felt the extent of expectation was unfair, but this obviously isn’t the case now. England are seen by rivals like Spain and Italy as having the best squad at Euro 2024, especially in attack. Southgate himself eventually said the difference in environment was due to “expectation”. It has led to something else that has come around the other side.

Although players used to think that media whipped up the fans, a significant section of the fanbase are now far more severe in their views than the media. Supporters have even been telling journalists in Germany to be more critical of Southgate. Cesc Fabregas was right in saying the criticism in foreign media is much harsher. We’re long past the days when managers would be mocked up as vegetables. Social media wouldn’t allow it.

The other side of that, too, is that social media whips up its own storms with its own memes. England players have even experienced the most worrying side of this with racial abuse after tournaments. It doesn’t need to go that far, however, to already be far too intense. This was something impossible in the old days. Social media brings this singular focus, as well as frenzies.

That ecosystem has now been complicated by the multiplication of different platforms, with podcasts suddenly becoming a major influence on this campaign a mere 18 years after they first developed. We know that because of how so many players, from Declan Rice to Jarred Bowen, have mentioned them. When Euro 2024 is looked back upon, the record will show that some of the campaign was dominated by a debate over a famous former striker describing a performance as “s***”. It is somehow worth stating that it would be preposterous for any journalist to go “Gareth/Harry, you were s**t today, thoughts?”

Southgate didn’t directly address that criticism, but has constantly mentioned this noise.

That is partly because he feels personally responsible. “Our world is different at the moment and I feel that is probably because of me.”

He has long been aware of how divisive he is among the support. That is why he feels an even greater duty to protect the players. Southgate has tried all manner of moves, from meetings about scrutiny to showing them pictures of Denmark and Italy celebrating.

We know this because Southgate has told us. While his intentions are sound, it is impossible not to ask whether there becomes an element of self-fulfilment here. The more you talk about the noise, the more you become aware of it.The England squad to a man have insisted that the atmosphere within the camp is good, and training is light. They have then followed such talk with actual play that looks so weighted down. The players’ own words, right up to Jude Bellingham, show they are thinking about it.

In reflecting on this wider issue, Neville made an insightful point. “The best managers - Terry, Sven in his early years, Capello in patches - have banished these fears for periods, but it doesn’t take much to go wrong before the dread comes flooding back.”

Is similar now happening with Southgate? This entire problem was what he was most intent on getting rid of before he came in, and now he is talking about it all the time, while implicating himself. It is another way things have come full circle, so Sunday’s match against Slovakia is much more than a match against Slovakia. Just like in 2016, it was a notionally forgiving fixture, but where an underperforming team knows anything other than convincing victory will be utterly castigated. In that context, a game like this suddenly becomes fraught with risk and pressure.

It maybe explains some of Southgate’s own tactical decisions, and why he himself has been so careful.