Jamie Redknapp has criticised England’s World Cup campaign and claimed Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard would do ‘as good a job’ as current Three Lions boss Gareth Southgate.
England failed to end their long wait for a World Cup trophy in Qatar after Southgate’s side lost to eventual runners-up France in the quarter-finals.
The Three Lions impressed in the group stage – thrashing Iran 6-2 on their way to topping Group B – and proved too strong for Senegal in the last-16.
But England fell short in a tight quarter-final against 2018 winners France, meaning the team have now failed to win a trophy in three major tournaments under Southgate.
Despite the lack of silverware, Southgate has been generally praised for leading England to a World Cup semi-final and quarter-final and the Euro 2020 final, but Redknapp is less complimentary about the 52-year-old.
Redknapp believes Southgate’s in-game management cost England in Qatar and says ‘any Premier League manager’ – including Everton boss Lampard and former Aston Villa manager Gerrard – could do ‘as good a job’ as Southgate.
He told Sky Sports: ‘He has done a decent job, Gareth Southgate. But we shouldn’t be thinking that there isn’t anyone else out there. There will be a lot of good managers who would do an equally good job.
‘Any young, English, Premier League manager worth their salt would have gotten England to the quarter-finals, when you look at the teams we’ve played.
‘In the 2018 World Cup we had a lot of byes. We play one good team in Croatia and they beat us. We play a decent team at this World Cup and they beat us.
‘In the last Euros, we beat two decent sides in Denmark and Germany – yet neither got out of their group in this World Cup.
‘If you looked at the candidates right now, you’d see Graham Potter at Chelsea, Eddie Howe is doing a great job at Newcastle. Frank Lampard, who has a great history of playing for England, is at Everton. It didn’t work out for Steven Gerrard at Aston Villa, but any of these could have done as good a job as Southgate.
‘Gareth isn’t silly, he knows there’s a Euros we have a great chance of winning and we’re going to get better and better – so why hand over the baton and give someone else that chance? He thought: “I better take this job pretty quickly unless someone else does it and have real success.”
‘Now Gareth has been given this opportunity again – make the most of it. Let’s not be happy finishing in the quarter-finals, we should expect more.’
On the Three Lions’ World Cup campaign, former England star Redknapp added: ‘I don’t subscribe to this feeling that England had a really good World Cup.
‘Getting to the quarter-finals wasn’t a big achievement and I don’t think we should be celebrating it.
‘We could have done a lot more with the squad and the depth that we have. The substitutions we made weren’t quick enough and we took off the wrong players.’
Southgate admitted he was ‘conflicted’ about his future as England manager after the Qatar World Cup exit, but the FA have since confirmed he will remain in the job until at least Euro 2024.
‘We are delighted to confirm that Gareth Southgate is continuing as England manager and will lead our Euro 2024 campaign,’ said FA chief executive Mark Bullingham.
‘Gareth and Steve Holland [assistant manager] have always had our full support, and our planning for the Euros starts now.’
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