THE HUNGAR SHAMES
England 0 Hungary 4: Fans turn on Southgate as dreadful Three Lions humiliated in worst home defeat since 1928
JUST five days ago, Gareth Southgate claimed he would never outstay his welcome as England boss.
Well if you took a straw poll of a 28,000 crowd at Molineux after this historic humiliation, Southgate would be packing his bags and agreeing a pay-off this morning.
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That will not, and should not, happen, given that such talk seemed utterly impossible just 11 days ago.
Southgate is England’s most successful boss since Sir Alf Ramsey, having reached a World Cup semi-final and a Euros final. He has huge credit in the bank with his employers and his players.
But just two games out from the World Cup in Qatar, this is England’s worst run of form since Roy Hodgson’s disastrous Brazilian campaign of 2014.
Remember the one where they were knocked out in five days, before they had even finished taking their course of malaria tablets.
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Yep, it’s getting as bad as that.
England were roundly booed long before the end of a shambolic performance. Poor old Harry Maguire was even booed ON when he arrived as a late substitute following the sending-off of John Stones, with the Three Lions already three-down.
It was England’s worst home defeat in almost a century - since a 5-1 pasting by Scotland’s ‘Wembley wizards in 1928’.
And it was their heaviest defeat anywhere since 1964 - and that was against Pele’s Brazil in the Maracana.
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This was a Hungarian team which included Callum Styles, a midfielder who has just been relegated to League One with Barnsley.
For the fourth time in 11 days, Southgate’s side were outplayed, as Hungary completed a thoroughly-deserved Nations League double.
England have not scored a single goal from open play in those four games and are on their longest winless streak for eight years.
No wonder Southgate was met with cries of ‘You don’t know what you’re doing’ as the Wolverhampton crowd revolted.
This performance was truly dreadful - easily the worst of Southgate’s six-year reign.
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They are staring down the barrel at relegation to the second tier of the Nations League - where they could face minnows such as Montenegro, Albania and Scotland.
But more importantly, England are in serious danger of heading into Qatar in November in a form slump, or perhaps even a full-blown crisis.
Two fixtures in September against Italy in Milan and Germany at Wembley have taken on a renewed importance for Southgate.
The England boss has been sounding exasperated by criticism of his side, but the only way to halt a spiral of negativity is to play well and win football matches.
England have done neither this month. And last night, they were embarrassingly bad.
You could put this miserable international break down to tired bodies and minds but that would be generous, given that England’s opponents were also in need of a rest.
England have been devoid of inspiration - several fringe players have blown their chances and several experienced players have failed to lift the team either.
The upbeat spirit which Southgate has created since 2018 is evaporating rapidly.
Hungary finished fourth in England’s World Cup qualifying group, behind Albania, but they have been completely superior to Southgate’s side in their two recent meetings and Roland Sallai’s double propelled them to an impressive win.
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The glorious weather, and the date, had suggested Trent Bridge of Royal Ascot but here we were - another football match, another contest between England and Hungary - the fourth of a season which can now finally be put to bed.
Of course, you should have been in beer gardens watching a World Cup match yesterday, but for the Fifa corruption which is giving us a winter tournament instead.
It was hoped that Southgate, a keen cricket fan, might have been watching the Test match and been inspired by England’s new head coach Brendan McCullum and his desire to chuck caution to the wind.
Some hope.
During these four games, England managed to score only a soft penalty to scrape a draw in Germany.
The Hungarian anthem was greeted with chants of ‘you racist b*****ds, you know what you are’ - an accusation which could often have been aimed at England supporters, especially on away trips.
Jarrod Bowen squandered an early chance but the visitors were ahead after 16 minutes, a free-kick from Bury-born Styles was met with a miscued header from Stones, Harry Kane took an air-shot and Sallai slipped free of Phillips to ram past Aaron Ramsdale.
England did not respond well, frequently misplacing passes and looking second-best across the pitch.
James headed off the line when another Hungarian free-kick caused mayhem in the England defence.
They were almost gifted an equaliser when Bukayo Saka’s cross was met by a flying header from Willi Orban which forced Denes Dibusz into his only decent save.
England were weary, witless and ragged.
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Bowen was hauled off at half-time - and you have to fear that his international career could be over in 11 days - with Raheem Sterling sent on.
Southgate switched to a back three, but England got even worse - playing a succession of aimless high balls.
And 20 minutes from time, Phillips, trying to chest the ball down, was caught out by sub Martin Adam who raced forward and squared for Sallai to shoot straight through Ramsdale.
It was a shocking goal to concede, summing up a shocking performance.
Kane crashed a header against the bar - but then Nagy thumped home a third after Loic Nego headed against Stones.
Things got even worse when Stones was dismissed for a second yellow card, a flailing arm at Daniel Gazdag.
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Then Gazdag ran clear and lifted his shot over Ramsdale as the mood turned truly ugly.
It will be a long way back from here.
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