Jamie Redknapp has poured water on England 's achievements under Gareth Southgate claiming the Three Lions often come up short when they play "a decent team" and have benefitted from "byes".
Southgate has opted to remain as the national team's boss until after Euro 2024 having initially taken time to ponder his next move after the World Cup exit to France. The 52-year-old has been in charge since 2016, when he stepped in following Sam Allardyce's sudden departure.
The England boss' report card reads - semi-final, final, quarter-final. He became the first man since Sir Bobby Robson to guide the Three Lions to the last four of a World Cup, where they were beaten in extra-time by Croatia. Italy and Les Blues have also broken national hearts since.
As a result Redknapp maintains, despite what the results say, that England have been handed generous draws and struggle against 'proper' opposition. He told Sky Sports : "In the 2018 World Cup we had a lot of byes. We play one good team in Croatia and they beat us. We play a decent team at this World Cup and they beat us. In the last Euros, we beat two decent sides in Denmark and Germany - yet neither got out of their group in this World Cup."
Southgate's handling of the press and off-field issues has drawn praise with the current England group seen as likeable when compared to past generations. The camaraderie that exists within the squad has also been credited to the current boss.
His World Cup performance in Qatar is his worst in a major tournament. England topped a group that included Iran, Wales and the USA before beating Senegal in the last 16. Olivier Giroud headed France's winner in the last eight with Harry Kane missing a crucial penalty.
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Redknapp though insists that the majority of coaches could've matched Southgate's achievement at the World Cup. "There will be a lot of good managers who would do an equally good job," he added. "Any young, English, Premier League manager worth their salt would have gotten England to the quarter-finals, when you look at the teams we've played."
England matched France, the then defending champions, for much of their quarter-final. Southgate's in-game decisions have been cited as a weakness and Bukayo Saka's withdrawal in the second-half was seen as an error by some.
Redknapp added: "France didn't have Karim Benzema, they didn't have N'Golo Kante. They had Kylian Mbappe who gave them the X factor. We will never get a bigger chance to beat them than when we played them in the quarter-finals, but the big moments went their way.
"We haven't got that killer instinct in our team, we're a nice football team. We have tremendous young players and we have come close, but that's where the frustration is."
