Soccer

The numbers behind Gareth Southgate’s time with England after latest final loss

Spain were victorious in Berlin.

England have lost two European Championship finals under Gareth Southgate
England have lost two European Championship finals under Gareth Southgate (Nick Potts/PA)

Gareth Southgate and England tasted defeat in a second successive European Championship final as Spain triumphed 2-1 in Berlin.

Here, the PA news agency takes a look at Southgate’s record in charge so far.

Major tournaments

Gareth Southgate has taken England to the verge of major silverware
Gareth Southgate has taken England to the verge of major silverware (Mike Egerton/PA)

Southgate has taken England closer to World Cup or European Championship glory than any manager other than Sir Alf Ramsey, reaching back-to-back European Championship finals and a World Cup semi-final.

They won only three games out of seven at the 2018 World Cup, with the penalty shoot-out success against Colombia recorded as a draw for the official records, but reached the last four and took an early lead before Croatia fought back to win in extra time. Their other defeats both came against Belgium, in a group-stage dead rubber and then the third place play-off.

A draw with Scotland was the only blemish on their Euro 2020 record until the final saw Italy recover from Luke Shaw’s early strike to win on penalties – England scoring 11 goals in seven games and conceding only two.

A 6-2 win over Iran kicked off another promising campaign at Qatar 2022, a stalemate against the United States a brief blip before 3-0 wins over Wales and Senegal – only for France to triumph 2-1 in a dramatic quarter-final as Harry Kane scored one penalty but missed another.

Defeat to France was the only time in four major tournaments that Southgate’s England missed out on a semi-final place
Defeat to France was the only time in four major tournaments that Southgate’s England missed out on a semi-final place (Mike Egerton/PA)

An underwhelming 1-0 win over Serbia and draws with Denmark and Slovenia were enough to top Group C this time around before edging past Slovakia in extra time and Switzerland on penalties – England’s third win in four shoot-outs under Southgate.

Substitute Ollie Watkins grabbed a late semi-final winner against the Netherlands but Cole Palmer’s equaliser was not enough in the final as Mikel Oyarzabal slid in the winner.

In 26 games at the World Cup and Euros Southgate’s side have won 14, drawn seven and lost five for a 53.8 per cent win rate, scoring 44 goals and conceding 20.

Overall record

Gareth Southgate has won almost 60 per cent of games as England manager
Gareth Southgate has won almost 60 per cent of games as England manager

That major tournament record compares creditably to Southgate’s overall figures with England, which reads 61 wins from 102 games (59.8 per cent), with 24 draws and 17 defeats.

His side have scored 213 goals and conceded 72 – their average of 2.1 goals per game drops slightly to 1.7 in major tournaments while their goals against increase marginally from 0.7 to 0.8 per game.

Captain Kane is, unsurprisingly, the most-used player and top scorer of his reign, with Southgate giving him 81 caps which have yielded all but five of his England record 66 goals. Kane has worn the armband for 71 of those games.

Harry Kane, right, has been Southgate’s key man
Harry Kane, right, has been Southgate’s key man (Adam Davy/PA)

Kyle Walker is next with 70 appearances for Southgate, two more than Manchester City team-mate John Stones and goalkeeper Jordan Pickford with Harry Maguire on 63.

Marcus Rashford, Raheem Sterling, Declan Rice, Jordan Henderson and Kieran Trippier are the other players to make a half-century of appearances for Southgate, who has used 99 players in all and given debuts to 66 – from Jesse Lingard in his first game in charge to Adam Wharton just ahead of the Euros.

Kane aside, the other players in double figures for goals under Southgate are Sterling (18), Rashford (16) and Bukayo Saka (12).

Southgate’s biggest win was a 10-0 World Cup qualifying success against minnows San Marino, with his heaviest defeat being 4-0 to Hungary in a 2022 Nations League clash.

England have conceded more than once in only 17 of his 100 games, with 53 clean sheets, and have scored four or more on 20 occasions.