Carragher blasts ‘idiots’ scrutinising Southgate and insists he shouldbe judged on tournaments

Jamie Carragher has blasted the people scrutinising England manager Gareth Southgate and has insisted that he should be judged on his results at tournaments.

Southgate has come under fire recently due to England’s poor performance in the Nations League, which saw the Three Lions relegated from the top level after they finished bottom of their group.

England failed to win a single game in the Nations League campaign as they lost games to Italy, Hungary and Germany.

England boss Gareth Southgate has been heavily criticised in recent weeks for poor results

In terms of tournaments, however, Southgate has yielded much better results, as he has led the team to a World Cup semi-final and a final in the Euros.

Carragher defended the England manager, suggesting that people talking about replacing him are ‘idiots’ and that he is not holding back the team. However the former Liverpool defender did say that if England don’t reach the semi-finals, then Southgate could walk away from the job.

He said on Sky Sports: ‘Scrutinising him is a joke. There were a lot of idiots talking about it. What Southgate has done… an England manager should only be judged on tournaments. I don’t care about friendlies, I don’t care about the Nations League, what he’s done in tournaments is close to match Alf Ramsey.

Jamie Carragher has defended Southgate and labelled those criticising him as ‘idiots’

‘The idea he is holding the squad back is absolute rubbish. This is a very good England squad but it is not as good as we’ve had.

‘In terms of Qatar, I’d be looking at the way the feeling has been and if England don’t get to a semi-final now it’ll be Gareth Southgate and if I was him I’d walk away. It’s boredom.

‘Like when you have a club manager for six years. If I was Gareth Southgate I would leave after Qatar.’

Carragher’s co-pundit Gary Neville, however, believes that Southgate’s time is coming to an end, but was happy to praise the manager for what he has achieved during his time with England.

Gary Neville has heaped praise on Southgate for what he has done as England manager

He said: ‘I’d only say it’s the end of an era if it feels like it naturally. He deserves to go further. It’s unbelievable what he’s achieved.

‘It’s not enough for some people but I think it’s unbelievable and what these players have achieved is remarkable. I’m proud of every single one of them.

‘Beating Germany at Wembley was amazing, I’m not saying he can choose when he goes, but he is smart enough to know when the time is coming because it can be time up when it turns but I wouldn’t say that’s the case at all.’