Jamie Carragher believes that Gareth Southgate could have been braver with subs after they were knocked out of the World Cup by France. Despite all the discussion about England’s depth in the roster, Southgate didn’t make his first substitute until the 79th minute, right after Olivier Giroud had given France the lead.
“When you consider the other competitors still in the race, I believe it was a great opportunity lost,” Jamie Carragher said about Gareth Southgate. “Favorites for the competition would have been whoever had won the game. If England had defeated France, I don’t think I would have ever thought they were favorites for a World Cup or that they should win it. With the teams still in the competition and the way England played in the game, it does feel like a massive chance lost.”
“When you lose a game, I believe there are things you can reflect on and consider what you might have done differently. In hindsight, it may be simple to say things like that,” he added. “Before the game, I thought that England would need to be courageous when making replacements from the bench. He could have shown more courage from the sidelines in the time between the two goals, in my opinion. In the past, during the matches against Croatia [in the 2018 World Cup semifinal] and Italy [in the Euro 2020 final], Gareth Southgate has received criticism for doing it. Both of those teams were superior to us, but I don’t believe France was, and I felt that winning the game would have been more important than stopping the opponent.”
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