Gareth Southgate says he’s “conflicted” about whether to continue as England manager following his side’s World Cup 2022 exit.
The Three Lions were dumped out of the World Cup by France on Saturday at the quarter-final stage, losing 2-1 to the defending champions despite an impressive performance.
Southgate’s future is now uncertain as the 52-year-old, who has led England since 2016, considers whether to see out the rest of his contract, which expires in two years’ time.
"I don't want to be four, five months down the line thinking I've made the wrong call," Southgate told the BBC.
"It's too important for everybody to get that wrong."
Southgate has racked up the most major tournament wins of any England manager, leading his country to fourth place at the 2018 World Cup and to the final of Euro 2020.
However, he came in for criticism this year, particularly when England hit a poor run of form in the summer.
The Three Lions went six games without a win ahead of the World Cup and suffered a galling 4-0 defeat to Hungary in Wolverhampton on their way to being relegated from League A in the Nations League.
"I've found large parts of the last 18 months difficult,” Southgate said.
"For everything that I've loved about the last few weeks, I still have how things have been for 18 months - what's been said and what's been written, the night at Wolves.
"There are lots of things in my head that are really conflicted at the moment, so what I want to make sure, if it's the right thing to stay, is that I've definitely got the energy to do that."
England’s next game is away to Italy in their opening Euro 2024 qualifier in March.
