Cometh the hour, cometh the manager

Gareth Southgate says England should have beaten Croatia. He's right, but we didn't. So what's his point? At the World Cup we had a relatively easy route through and the teams we beat were only those we'd be expected to beat. But cometh the hour, we failed again, against a Croatia team we should have beaten – throwing away a lead into the bargain. In last night's match, according to reports we were lacklustre in the first half but rallied in the second. All very well, but as usual, under the questionable pressure of the Nations League, England's strikers fluffed their chances. This is the story of England - promising build-up ending in collapse when a result really counts and last night, once again, even the likeable Southgate couldn't prevent the inevitable. The one saving grace is that at least we're not paying millions to a mediocre foreign manager - just millions to a mediocre English one.