You either leave the England job as an unexpected success or you stay long enough for the mood to sour and see all your progress whittled away. No prizes for guessing what camp Gareth Southgate is in.
It’s not been the start anyone wanted or expected from England at Euro 2024, a tournament the Three Lions were favourites to win ahead of time.
A solid yet boring 1-0 win over Serbia was followed up with a dreadful, dreary draw with Denmark which has completely destroyed the nation’s optimism.
It shouldn’t be all doom and gloom just yet, you’d rather get the stinking performance out of the way before the knock-out stages.
But what if there are more of them to come? Or why are there any at all with a team this good? It’s no surprise, Gareth Southgate is coming under fire.
In many ways, the England manager can never win. Southgate practically did everything fans wanted him to do ahead of the tournament.
He picked players from unfancied clubs based on form rather than reputation and exciting youngsters.
He left underperforming favourites like Manchester City star Jack Grealish, Marcus Rashford and Jordan Henderson at home. Kalvin Phillips was nowhere near the squad.
A lack of an actual left-back in case the injured Luke Shaw couldn’t get fit was the only obvious flaw, with the only other arguments being between which fifth-choice winger should make the trip to Germany.
Southgate has tried to move his side forward by starting the progressive (in theory) midfield everyone wanted to see and hasn’t relied on a host of defensive midfielders.
But it hasn’t worked at all.
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Trent Alexander-Arnold in midfield has backfired
You can see where the idea and appeal of playing Trent Alexander-Arnold comes from.
He is a superb passer of the ball so you want that in your team but, in the lightning-quick Kyle Walker, you have a valuable asset you don’t want to lose at right-back.
So why not stick Alexander-Arnold in midfield? That will work, right?
Not necessarily. Just because Alexander-Arnold moves from right-back into midfield for Liverpool, doesn’t mean he can play the role for 90 minutes.
For a start, it usually means he’s receiving the ball on the half-turn or with his back to goal, in less space and under more pressure. Whereas on the right you usually have space to move into and get the ball when facing forwards.
Additionally, being positioned centrally means Alexander-Arnold’s sublime crossing from the right flank has been absent.
With the side imbalanced from the off with a right-footed defender at left-back and a left-footed left-winger who wants to drift inside, the addition of Alexander-Arnold in the middle has knocked everything off kilter.
Frustratingly, there is one right-back available to Southgate who can do exactly what he wants him to do. His name is Rico Lewis.
Rico Lewis should have been named in the England squad
Lewis should have been in the England squad for the fact he is an extremely versatile defender who can play either right-back or left-back.
He would have been much more useful than Lewis Dunk or Joe Gomez on that alone.
But Lewis is also excellent in midfield positions. At just 18 Pep Guardiola was able to trust him to play the complex inverted full-back role and has even started him directly in the middle on several occasions.
Unsurprisingly for a player labelled as one of the best youngsters Guardiola has ever trained (he worked with Lionel Messi, you know?), Lewis is highly skilled on the ball.
The teenager can control passes in any situation and move it on again despite being under pressure. He can operate in tight spaces and progress the ball up the pitch.
He can do everything in midfield that Alexander-Arnold can not.
Lewis may be inexperienced and have just one England cap but in a tournament in which 16-year-old Yamine Lamal is tearing it up there is no excuse for not playing a youngster if they are good enough.