Do we need to learn humility? (63 replies)

"England went unbeaten through the tournament with two central midfielders who have never played a Uefa club game. They got past Croatia, the Czech Republic, Germany and Denmark, also known as four-time world champs, the World Cup finalists and two previous winners of this tournament (one as Czechoslovakia). It is only unearned English arrogance that suggests these are unworthy opponents for a nation that hasn’t actually ever won this competition.

At the end of which it really does seem that this is the impossible job, that there are some who believe Southgate has simply been lucky, or has done a bad job as England manager.

This conclusion requires a degree of cognitive dissonance. Under Southgate England have reached two semi-finals in two attempts. Pre-Southgate England had reached three semi-finals in 70 years."

Taken from the Guardian.

Reading this just made me consider how high our expectations are regarding a national team that has largely been poor since its inception. But the real highlight was our attitude towards supposed minnows that have a better record than we do.

It's evidenced by a lot of the reaction following the final. Whilst feeling sad, we should as a whole feel immensely proud of the situation and this should be a moment of celebrating the success achieved in reaching a major final.

We didn't feel anger or apathy when we lost to Liverpool in the Carling Cup final because we as blues fans understand the mediocrity of our history. We revelled in the fact that we went toe to toe with a major player.

Would we not as a country and a football team be better served to take some that Brummie humility and lower our expectations and, dare I say it, arrogance?