Southgate should be sacked as England manager after latest World Cup failure

Before we all choke on the gushing about how lion-hearted heroes were done for by atrocious refereeing and terrible bad luck, a little perspective for sanity's sake.

The reality on this ice-cold morning after the two nights before of classically English celebration of defeat is that Gareth Southgate has failed now to capitalise on this nation's three best opportunities to win a major football tournament since 1966 and all that.

The 2018 World Cup in Russia, last year's Euros and now Qatar offered open doors to glory through gift draws. Each time England have fallen short against the first half-decent team they come up against.

Once can be an accident. Twice a coincidence. Three times and the game should be up for any manager. Especially since this one keeps bleating on about all the super-stars at his disposal.

As the only active hack in this parish who harks back to our solitary winning of the World Cup - and who has endured reporting on so many early exits in the ensuing 56 years - let me tell you that something is not right here.

Even more so given the state of the nation they played in yet another of these fateful quarter-finals. Behind all the blathering about how England were confronted by great world champions, France were not so much half decent as half a team.

Yes, England played well and tried hard in Qatar on Saturday night. We could hardly expect anything less against opposition missing half-a-dozen key men, three world-class players among them. Didier Deschamps was deprived of Karim Benzema, Paul Pogba and N'Gono Kante.

For Benzema and Kante read Harry Kane and Declan Rice. Imagine, for a moment, how Gareth Southgate would have coped without those two. As for the absence of Paul Pogba, there was no England midfield player to compare purely in terms of skill with the French diva but let's suppose Bukayo Saka had been on the sick list. Minus him as well, England might not have gone so far as the last eight.

Dispassionate assessment of the progress they did make suggests, to begin with, that the six-goal blast off owed much to Iran's minds being diverted onto political protest and the threats of being lashed to death when they returned home. Then, as demonstration that luck tends to even itself out over a tournament, the United States hit the bar in just about the only highlight of a goalless draw. As for Wales, sadly they were so awful that it would have been a crime not to beat them.

Come the last 16 Senegal were all over England until they were caught by a first goal breakaway, at which point the Africans totally lost the plot. On such straws are huge reputations built. Well, apparently. And never mind that well before the end of their 'journey' they lost. Nor that they did so without scoring in open play during those last 90 or so pregnant minutes.

There were haunting echoes here of all those disappointments down the decades. Like it or not. Except that on this occasion, for some mystifying reason, the nation's jeers have turned to cheers. Even though with this team there was no guarantee that England would have beaten Morocco in the semi-final nor with this manager.

By no means all the players stand up to forensic examination, partly because some have been 'lionised' beyond reason. Jordan Pickford failed to get a hand to the first French goal, which was fired from somewhere out on the Doha Corniche. All it seems is forgiven for Harry Maguire even though he allowed Oliver Giroud - so often falsely derided in England - to steal in front of him and head the second. Jude Bellingham is being hailed as the new messiah but for all his physical attributes and early maturity where was the divine insight and sublime pass to dissect a shaky French defence?

Jordan Henderson? What really was the point of yet another midfield enforcer alongside Rice and Bellingham? As for the wildly acclaimed Phil Foden, we must hope the best is to come.

As for poor old Harry, after all that social virtue signalling and captain's pastoral care for his team-mates he has been left to carry the can. Really brought to his knees by that missed penalty. Who ever said life should be fair?

Which brings us back to the manager. Saint Gareth is a very nice man and thoroughly decent person. Sometimes too nice. In his sympathy he bowed to media and public pressure to give the last seat on the plane to James Maddison, yet never played him. As he clearly did not rate him, that place in the squad was wasted and the lad himself humiliated. Mistake No 1, before a ball was kicked in the desert.

There were more along the way than the Southgate luvvies care to admit but the big ones came at the weekend. Mostly rooted in his instinct to turn defensive at the moments of highest expectation and pressure. Such was the obsession with Kylian Mbappe that Kyle Walker was confined to base to full-back.

That limited severely England's sorties along their right flank. And although it restricted the French prodigy it left England playing nine versus 10 across the rest of the pitch for most of the match.

Then came the replacements. Saka - England's best player in the tournament, not Bellingham - taken off while he was terrorising that shaky Maginot Line? Raheem Sterling sent on despite long haul return flights to London and several days of training missed? Jack Grealish thrown out there in the 98th minute, for what? Shades of the Euro final.

Paradise lost. Or was it stolen? So blame the referee. He gave England two penalties, one after agreeing with Mr Var. How many did they need? And if Kane was tripped in the first half it was outside the box, by the way. The Brazilian in the middle did not have a great game but not so bad that FIFA have paid heed to English cries of send him home and he might yet be given Sunday's final.

So the cold truth for Southgate - as Eliza Doolittle might have said before she became My Fair Lady - 'it's the subs wots done 'em in.'

So it was for Sir Alf Ramsey. At Mexico 1970 England faltered when he pulled off Bobby Charlton at 2-0 up against Germany to save him for the semi-final. Only to lose in extra-time.

The FA forgave Ramsey, as their only World Cup winner. Their reward? England failed to qualify for Germany 1974 when they failed to beat Poland at Wembley as Ramsey dithered over sending on Kevin Hector until Bobby Moore, the captain he had foolishly dropped that night and was sitting on the bench, told him there were only three minutes to go. Hector had time only to hit the post.

That should be a history lesson for the bigwigs now. Southgate has given England a better run than many another England manager but has failed to get them over the line. And for him all the signs are that this is good as it's going to get.

Nor is it certain that his crop of youngsters will all be peaking at the next World Cup. Remember Dele Alli? He was hailed as the future of English football. Now his future is going up in smoke in Turkey.

Such are the distractions for the rich young footballers of today and Bellingham is already working on the Emma Raducanu scale of advertising and sponsorship.

There is no pleasure to be taken in spelling this out. Gary Neville the old player on television says the media are more kindly now. Critics, Gary, are supposed to be impartial. Gary the manager seems to sense that his time is up, if only for his own good. Let him say so.

It is untrue also that there is no-one good enough to take over. Howe (repeat Howe) about Eddie, for one. But please, luvvies all, spare us Mauricio Pochettino, another serial loser come Le Crunch.