Nottingham Forest legend Stuart Pearce has delivered his verdict on England and Gareth Southgate during an interview with TalkSPORT. The Three Lions were knocked out of the World Cup by France last night as Harry Kane missed a penalty during a 2-1 defeat.
Pearce knows what it takes to play for England. He served his country with distinction during his career and was a firm fan favourite in his role as the nation’s left-back.
For now, England’s shot at glory is over. This defeat hurts as much as the Euro 2020 final defeat to Italy and now they will have to wait until 2024 and the European Championships for a shot at redemption.
Kane scored a penalty just after half-time to level the game at 1-1. But, after Olivier Giroud had fired France back into the lead he fluffed a second chance to restore parity, blazing high over the bar.
Naturally, talk has turned to the future of Southgate. Plenty feel that he should now leave the national team setup after failing to build on the Euro 2020 final that captured the hearts of the nation.
Pearce doesn’t want to see Southgate depart. He’s gone a step further too and suggested that he’d be extremely concerned if the head coach now departed.
He told TalkSPORT: “I dropped Gareth a text this morning to say how proud I am of him.
“I hope Gareth stays and drives this England team forward.
“It would worry me if he did step away, so fingers crossed he stays.”
Forest legend Pearce delivered verdict on Gareth Southgate
It will be interesting to see how the Football Association plays this. On one hand, Southgate has been extremely good with the national team but on the other, they have gone backwards this tournament.
Losing in the quarter-final wasn’t in the script at all. This was supposed to be England’s team and if they’d knocked out the world champions perhaps they’d be considered the favourites for the tournament.
If Southgate does leave, England have a decision to make. There doesn’t seem to be too many outstanding candidates queuing up for the job and perhaps giving Southgate more time is the way to go.
Receive a digest of our best Nottingham Forest content each week direct to your mailbox
