England really need a mood reset from this unwelcome international break

This international break is a bit of a pain for many but it’s important for England, who need a bit of a reset after a disappointing 2022.

It’s an international break no-one really wants, has come just as the domestic season is starting to find some sort of rhythm, and may result in injuries club sides cannot afford. But England need these upcoming Nations League games against Italy and Germany. The mood surrounding the national team has seldom been so downbeat since Gareth Southgate first took the job six years ago; it could do with lightening up before the squad flies out to the Middle East in November.

This isn’t a position in which Southgate has found himself too often. It’s reasonable to say that, following the debacle that was Euro 2016 and the brief and hilarious ‘rein’ of Sam Allardyce, expectations were not high for him or the England team at the point of his appointment.

Since then, there can be little question that he has been the most successful England manager since Sir Alf Ramsey, with a semi-final appearance at the 2018 World Cup, a place in the finals of the 2019 Nations League, and getting to the final of Euro 2020. But none of these achievements have resulted in any actual silverware, and after having spent the last five years crawling towards having a men’s team that won anything, the women’s team gazumped them in the summer by becoming the first senior England side to win a major tournament since 1966.

And the confidence that surrounded the men’s team was certainly shaken by their four Nations League matches played at the very tail end of last season. It’s true to say that no-one seemed to particularly want these games to be taking place at the end of a lengthy season which itself had been squeezed by the pandemic, and while draws at home against Italy and away against Germany were creditable enough results, a double beating at the hands of Hungary hinted at a team that was running on empty.

But the 4-0 home defeat at the hands of the Magyars in June raised questions that haven’t been answered yet. England haven’t played since the Hungary game, and three months is plenty enough time for a cloud of relative despondency to have descended over the team’s hopes for the upcoming World Cup. It went about as badly as could have been expected for England: a disjointed and dishevelled performance against motivated opponents.

But with results prior to that and their 1-0 defeat in Budapest at the start of that…