ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE

Gareth Southgate makes a scapegoat out of Jarrod Bowen in Hungary drubbing

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England are winless in their Nations League campaign as Hungary piled more misery on them with a 4-0 hammering. However, fans became more enraged with Gareth Southgate, even some claiming that the manager threw West Ham star Jarrod Bowen under the bus for the defeat. Bowen earned his first-ever England call-up for the four Nations League fixtures this month. The winger started here against Hungry, only to be subbed off at the half-time. Southgate brought on Raheem Sterling in Bowen’s place which has left the Hammers fans fuming over the manager’s unwillingness to trust their winger.

Gareth Southgate‘s honeymoon period as The Three Lions’ manager came to an end against Hungary in the Nations League. Southgate ran out of ideas to save his tumbling side from a crushing defeat to Hungary. Moreover, England achieved another unfortunate feat as it became their worst defeat at home since 1928. As a result, the impatient England fans once again turned hostile and booed their manager. Further on, Southgate had no new tactical ideas for the umpteenth time.

Bowen sub exposes Southgate and his knack for making hasty calls

This England squad is brimming with talent, however, Southgate is yet to win a silverware with it. Many have raised doubts over Southgate’s appointment as manager in the first place. Southgate had no prior experience as such with any club when he landed the England job. Though he has taken the Three Lions to a World Cup semi-final in 2018 and a EURO final in 2021, the team has failed both times. Moreover, on both occasions, England got humbled by an opponent who shouldn’t have stood a chance against them.

West Ham fans may have an answer so as to why Southgate has not steered the team to glory. First and foremost, the Hammers fans feel Southgate arrived too late at the decision of giving Bowen a call-up. The West Ham player was in a splendid form last season, racking up 12 goals and 10 assists in the Premier League. However, his debut with the England team didn’t yield much. Bowen started and played full 90 minutes only in the away defeat to Hungary. Further on, he managed only 10 and 25 minutes coming off the bench against Germany and Italy respectively.

This clearly shows Southgate’s ‘play-safe’ approach as he tends to go with his favorite options only. Southgate had himself admitted that the team is “very, very reliant on Harry (Kane) and Raheem (Sterling) for goals“. The game against Hungary at home saw Southgate drop Sterling for Bowen, much to the joy of West Ham fans. However, as soon as England finished the first-half trailing 1-0, Southgate wasted no time in bringing Sterling on for Bowen.

The situation only worsened for England as they conceded three more goals in the second half. Chants of ‘You don’t know what you’re doing’ echoed which were clearly aimed at Southgate. No one would agree more with this than the West Ham fans. Nonetheless, Bowen who now returns to West Ham for the pre-season should be proud of the minutes he played for his country.

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