England's Golden Generation vs. the Current Crop - comparing the squads

Manager: Sven-Goran Eriksson, Steve McClaren, Fabio Capello vs. Gareth Southgate

Gareth Southgate has surpassed Sven-Goran Eriksson and Fabio Capello after just one tournament

Many England fans would blame the FA’s choice of manager for the failures of the Golden Generation. Initially pegged as almost a messiah figure thanks to his overseeing of England’s miraculous qualification for the 2002 World Cup, Sven-Goran Eriksson later came under fire for several issues, notably his tactical rigidity when it came to sticking to a 4-4-2 formation, and his apparent protection of bigger ‘star’ players like David Beckham and Steven Gerrard, even when they were out of form.

The less said about Steve McClaren’s disastrous reign, meanwhile, the better. England failed to qualify for Euro 2008 under the former Middlesbrough man despite the likes of Wayne Rooney, John Terry and Frank Lampard arguably peaking for that tournament. His bizarre squad selection and awful tactical choices mark him out as perhaps the worst England boss ever.

Fabio Capello on the other hand oversaw a phenomenal qualifying campaign for the 2010 World Cup, but England’s performance at the tournament was dire, and the Italian’s man-management skills came into question, as did his own tactical rigidity, as like Eriksson, he largely refused to move away from a 4-4-2 system.

Gareth Southgate’s only tournament to date saw England’s best result since 1990; the Three Lions were unfancied but made it to the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup, bringing the nation together in the process and even lifting the infamous curse around penalty shoot-outs with a stirring victory over Colombia.

Since that tournament, Southgate has already proven himself to be an underrated tactician, moving from a 3-5-2 formation to a 4-3-3 to get the best out of his formidable front line, and his dropping of the likes of Rooney, Joe Hart and now Kyle Walker and Jesse Lingard shows that he’s willing to be ruthless with star names if the need arises.

Southgate may be slightly unproven at the very top level and he hasn’t had the success at club level that Eriksson and Capello did, but in terms of England managers, this comparison is no contest.

Advantage: The Current Crop

In conclusion....

It’s probably fair to say that England’s Golden Generation were stronger in defence and in midfield, while the current crop of talent has a better goalkeeper and can call upon a more dangerous set of attackers. Overall though, the Golden Generation’s squad depth remains superior, for now at least.

It must be said, however, that the key area for both sides lies with their manager. In Eriksson, McClaren and Capello, the Golden Generation were cursed with three bosses who were unwilling to change things up when they needed to and simply couldn’t get the best out of a set of genuinely world class players.

Southgate meanwhile may not have as much talent to call upon, but despite his lack of experience he’s already shown that he can get the best out of the players at his disposal and is willing to modify his approach in his quest for success. One can only wonder, then, what England’s Golden Generation could’ve been capable of had they had a manager like Southgate in charge of them.