Jamie Carragher believes Gareth Southgate needs to win the Euro 2024 final against Spain to be considered among England's most successful managers.
Southgate has led England to back-to-back European Championship finals, and they face Spain in Berlin on Sunday, targeting an end to their 58-year wait for an international honour.
In reaching the showpiece at this year's tournament, England have now made more major tournament finals in four attempts under Southgate (two), than they did in their first 23 appearances at the World Cups and Euros combined (one) before his tenure.
But for much of England's time in Germany, Southgate has come under fire for his defensive approach, though only Walter Winterbottom (383) and Alf Ramsey (224) have overseen more England goals than his 212.
England's quarter-final win over Switzerland was his 100th game in charge, becoming the third Three Lions boss to bring up three figures, after Winterbottom (139 games between 1946 and 1962) and World Cup winner Ramsey (133 between 1963 and 1974).
The Three Lions needed penalties to get past Murat Yakin's men, and for just the second time in their 10th shoot-out at a major tournament, England scored every single one of their penalties (5/5), also doing so against Spain at Euro 96 (4/4), a tournament that ended with Southgate missing a semi-final spot-kick versus Germany.
Southgate's side showed further resilience in the last four as Ollie Watkins' goal sealed a comeback win over the Netherlands, becoming the first side in European Championship history to reach the final despite trailing in both the quarter-final and semi-final.
Since his appointment in 2018, England have won 61 matches under him, drawing 24 and losing 16. His 60.4% win ratio puts him fifth among all Three Lions managers, after Sam Allardyce (100%), Fabio Capello (66.7%), Ramsey (61.1%) and Glenn Hoddle (60.7%).
Many have hailed Southgate as England's most successful boss in recent days, but Carragher feels he must lift a trophy to be considered alongside Ramsey.
"No more gallant losers. England must change that tired 58-year-old script and win the European Championship on Sunday night to turn a good tournament into a truly successful one," Carragher wrote in a column for The Telegraph.
"For too long we have been the world’s biggest underachievers at major events. There has been too much credit afforded for penalty shoot-out defeats in semi-finals, or even at the last Euros when the loss could not camouflage that the Italians were there for the taking and ought to have been beaten.
"Further back, Italia 90 is viewed like it was some kind of golden era of English football, when in truth we didn’t play great for most of the tournament and lost to the first decent team we played.
"In the build-up to the Spain match, there are worrying signs that this undercurrent lingers. Not from the players, but from some elements of England’s support who are already content, no matter the outcome.
"The ‘minimum requirement’ was achieved with a semi-final place, with anything more seen as a bonus. This is the language of the plucky underdog. Spain will love it every time they hear an England fan express such a view.
"Here is another example of a lack of winning mentality. The question was asked over the past few days if Gareth Southgate is England’s most successful coach because he has led the country to two finals, including the first on foreign soil.
"Sorry, but he is not. Southgate needs to match Sir Alf Ramsey and win a trophy to be worthy of that description. Beat Spain and this conversation can be started.
"England’s display against the Dutch was a wonderful anomaly, not part of a trend. Everyone can see that and Southgate was rightly lauded for getting the big decisions 100 per cent right. That does not mean every move he made before that should be re-evaluated. Coaches, like their teams, can evolve over time."
Inzaghi expecting Arsenal reaction after Newcastle defeat
Inter boss Simone Inzaghi is expecting a difficult test against "one of the best teams in Europe" when Arsenal visit the San Siro in the Champions League on Wednesday.
Arsenal come into the encounter against the reigning Serie A champions on the back of a defeat to Newcastle United in the Premier League last weekend.
Mikel Arteta's side have now lost two of their last three league games, having tasted defeat just once in their 25 games in the top-flight (W21 D3) in 2024.
But Inzaghi, who helped Inter keep pace at the Serie A summit with a controversial 1-0 win over Venezia, is expecting a reaction from the Gunners.
"We are facing one of the best teams in Europe, very recognisable with a great coach," Inzaghi said.
"We all know how the big teams react after a defeat. Look at us after the derby... You find teams out for redress.
"I saw the match between Arsenal and Newcastle. Playing at Newcastle's home is not easy, but it was an open and fascinating match.
"We will find a team that lost two-and-a-half days ago, they will want to play a great game at San Siro."
Inter lost the Derby della Madonnina 2-1 to Milan in September, but have since gone on to win seven of their eight games in all competitions.
Inzaghi's side are just ahead of Arsenal in the Champions League table, with both teams picking up seven points from their opening three games.
The two sides have only met previously in the 2003-04 Champions League – both games were away wins (Arsenal 0-3 Inter, Inter 1-5 Arsenal).
While history favours the visiting side, Inzaghi has said his side will try to dominate possession against Arsenal in order to remain unbeaten in the competition.
"If you see Arsenal among 100 teams, without knowing the name, you recognise them. They played for the last two English titles, point for point with Manchester City," he said.
"We will have to try to keep the ball as much as possible, we know that we are facing a team that put on a lot of offensive pressure.
"We know that it will be a problem for us when they have the ball but the opposite is also true."
Arsenal have also struggled in recent games in the Champions League in Italy, failing to find the back of the net in their last four away games in the country.
Emmanuel Adebayor was the last Gunners player to score there in a 2-0 win over Milan in March 2008, and Inter will be confident of keeping it that way.
Although only five teams have faced more shots in the Champions League this season than Inter (53), they have kept three clean sheets so far.
Neymar suffers fresh injury blow
Neymar sustained a new injury as he was forced off during Al-Hilal's AFC Champions League Elite win over Esteghlal.
Aleksandar Mitrovic plundered a hat-trick on Monday to seal a 3-0 win.
But Al-Hilal's victory was soured by an injury to Neymar, who had to make way just 29 minutes after he came on as a second-half substitute.
The Brazilian, who has just returned from over a year out of action following a serious knee injury, was forced off with what appeared to be a thigh issue.
Indeed, Monday's appearance was only the 32-year-old's second for Al-Hilal since his comeback.
He has featured just seven times for the Saudi Pro League champions in all competitions since his big-money move from Paris Saint-Germain in 2023.
Rodgers delighted as Celtic rout Aberdeen in semi-final
Celtic booked their place in the Scottish League Cup final after hammering Aberdeen 6-0 at Hampden Park on Saturday.
The 21-time winners of the tournament were inspired by a Daizen Maeda hat-trick in a near-perfect performance against the Scottish Premiership's second-placed side.
Manager Brendan Rodgers was delighted with the result and performance from his side.
"It was a testament to our players and the demands they have. They play every week in big games. We have to manage this group through every game," he told Premier Sports.
"It was up to us to decide the game and the players did that. They were brilliant today. We were more aggressive in the second half.
"Aberdeen have had an excellent season, they will continue to work well I'm sure."
The result was Aberdeen's first defeat in 17 matches in all competitions this season, with a 2-2 draw at Celtic Park last month the only time they had previously failed to win.
Cameron Carter-Vickers got the scoring under way with a header 29 minutes in, before the brilliant Maeda sat down goalkeeper Dimitar Mitov to set up Kyogo Furuhashi for a second three minutes later.
Maeda then got in on the act himself on 40 minutes before the game briefly descended into farce on the stroke of half-time, with Rodgers shown a yellow card for kicking away a ball that had gone out before slipping over.
"To be fair, I was raging because we had given the ball away," he said.
"I have my moments, like every manager. It was just the game, even though we were comfortable at 3-0.
"It was a deserved yellow card. The speed of the ball [was the issue]. I just wanted to keep the tempo of the game."
Celtic and Maeda picked up where they left off in the second half to make it 4-0 in the 50th minute before Nicolas Kuhn hammered in a fifth on the hour.
The rout was complete when Maeda wrapped up his hat-trick as he finished off a flowing attacking move with five minutes to go.
After the match, Rodgers continued to be effusive about his team, who will face either Rangers or Motherwell in the final.
"An outstanding team performance. You come up against a team that has been so, so good. We knew it would be a challenge," he told BBC Scotland.
"We had to bring our A-game and the players did that, in particular during the second half.
"We were ruthless. We worked the ball really well to create the space and made good runs.
"It's a beautiful pitch here at Hampden. It's perfect for the football we want to play."
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