Gareth Southgate has revealed he has personally struggled during the last 18 months as England manager and has hinted he could walk away from the job.
The Three Lions exited the World Cup following a narrow 2-1 loss to reigning champions France in the quarter-finals on Saturday, though have been praised for their efforts this winter after a poor run of results leading into the tournament.
Southgate, who previously admitted he would ‘reflect and review’ his position as England boss, further admitted he is still haunted by their 4-0 loss to Hungary back in June in particular.
“I’ve found large parts of the last 18 months difficult,” Southgate said.
“For everything that I’ve loved about the last few weeks, I still have how things have been for 18 months – what’s been said and what’s been written, the night at Wolves [against Hungary].
“There are lots of things in my head that are really conflicted at the moment, so what I want to make sure, if it’s the right thing to stay, is that I’ve definitely got the energy to do that.”
He added: “When I’ve been through the past few tournaments, my emotions have been difficult to really think through properly in those following few weeks.
“It took so much energy out of you and you have so much going through your mind.
“I want to make the right decision either way because it has to be the right one to go again, or the right one not to go again – and I don’t think tonight is the time to make a decision like that.
“Neither are the next few days really.”
Source: 90min.com