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Gareth Southgate will celebrate his 100th cap for England today against Switzerland. Only Sir Alf Ramsey (113 matches) and Walter Winterbotham (139) have reached the figure of 100 matches on the "Three Lions" bench.
Ramsey was also the manager who led England to their only trophy so far, the 1966 World Cup. Winterbottom has the most wins (78) but was one short of Southgate's current tally in this jubilee. Sir Alf is top with 63 wins from his first 100 games. In terms of overall win percentage, Southgate's 60.6% ranks him fourth among England managers:
Fabio Kapelo leads this list with 66.7% wins from 42 games, while Ramsey is second with 61.1%. In major tournaments, the World Cup-winning manager of the "three lions" has a winning percentage of 66.7% from 12 games - Southgate is second with 56.5% from 23 games. Everyone's eyes are on him. Southgate is expected to make changes to England's line-up against Switzerland, reverting to a three-man defense to finally get a much-maligned squad working this tournament.
England has failed to convince in the four games so far and today in Dusseldorf it faces the most difficult rival so far.
" Firstly, we showed great resilience and great character to go all the way against Slovakia and I think we deserved a draw in 90 minutes. When he scores so quickly in extra time, you are able to be in control of things a bit more," said the England coach, who praised Bellingham's quality in that spectacular 95th-minute equaliser: "He has an extraordinary strength and personality to influence the most important moments. That's unusual to find, especially in a player of his age. So yes, we are very lucky to have such a player in our midst ."
The England coach described the right mindset his team should be in for today's match:
" We have to return to the mental stage we were in before the match with Slovakia. Whatever it takes to win, you have to be ready ." He identified Switzerland's midfield with captain Xhaka as the strongest part of today's rivals:
" Granit Xhaka and Frøyler are very good midfield players. They use the ball well, they are combative, they have leadership, they can go forward and score goals. They are an integral part of how Switzerland plays ."
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