England manager Gareth Southgate reportedly plans to stick with his guns after his side to face the Netherlands in the Euro 2024 semi-finals was revealed, meaning the fit-again Luke Shaw will remain on the bench and with Gary Neville also making an alarming suggestion about the fitness of captain Harry Kane.
The Three Lions take their campaign to end 58 years of hurt to Dortmund’s Westfalenstadion on Wednesday evening, where they face the Netherlands and hoping to book their second successive European Championship final. But unlike three years ago, when largely on home soil an England side impressed on their way to the final, it has not been such a smooth passage this time around, with criticism of Southgate and his reign louder than ever.
Those voices of condemnation, admittedly, have quieted down after England beat Switzerland on penalties to reach a third major tournament semi-final in four attempts under Southgate, though there remains a feeling of some frustration given the Three Lions have still only won one match – their opener against Serbia – in regular 90 minutes time, so far.
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Indeed, England have only scored five goals in their five matches so far, failing to truly spark and make best use of the rich array of attacking talent at their disposal.
One of those frustrations has surrounded England’s left flank, which has looked badly mis-balanced with the right-back Kieran Trippier forced to fill in at left-back and with Phil Foden nowhere near as effective in front of him down the same flank.
There were, however, signs of life last time out against the Swiss in Dusseldorf.
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And with England reverting to a 3-4-2-1 formation in the game, there were some green shoots of recovery and the look of a better balance to their side.
However, they still lacked a natural overlapping left full-back with Trippier once again starting the game, with the Newcastle man, through no fault of his own, choosing more often than not to play the ball back inside.
There were some improvements though when Shaw entered the fray on 78 minutes and calls for him to start on Wednesday night in Dortmund have grown louder in recent days.
However, Southgate will reportedly resist the urge to start the Manchester United defender, who until Saturday had not played any senior football since mid-February, opting to retain faith with his most trusted 11 players that have got England through to the last four.
There will, however, be one change made with Marc Guehi, who was forced to sit out against the Swiss through suspension, set to return to the side in place of his deputy Ezri Konsa, despite the Aston Villa star’s solid display on Saturday.
That will mean Jordan Pickford again starting in goal with a three-man defence of Guehi, John Stones and Kyle Walker in front of him.
Trippier and Bukayo Saka will start as the wing-backs with Declan Rice and Kobbie Mainoo in the central midfield roles. Phil Foden and Jude Bellingham will again start as floating No 10s, with Harry Kane leading the line.
The likes of penalty shoot-out heroes, Ivan Toney, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Cole Palmer will once again have to make do with places on the bench.
Gary Neville makes huge Harry Kane call
Kane will be hoping to put in a better display, however, after his performance on Saturday once again came in for strong criticism from fans and pundits alike.
Kane is England’s all-time leading goalscorer and captain so the prospects of him being dropped from the side seem remote at best.
However, despite scoring two goals – the opener in England’s 1-1 draw with Denmark and the crucial extra-time winner against Slovakia in the last-16, Kane has looked really sluggish so far.
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And with suggestions made that he went into the tournament nursing a back injury, both the player himself and Southgate have come out to insist there is no question marks over his fitness.
That said, ITV pundit Gary Neville is far from convinced and has stated he ‘would not be surprised’ if Kane was receiving injections to manage his body through the tournament.
“We can talk about Harry Kane but it’s a waste of time,” Neville said on The Overlap newsletter. “We know full well it’s just words.
“Gareth is never going to leave him out. I’m not sure I would either. It would take a very brave coach to do so.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if after the tournament, we discover that he’s been playing with injections. He’s not moving fluently. He’s not the usual Harry Kane.
“We’ve seen it before in tournaments, where the captain, the leader, the biggest personality, the player you look to, isn’t at the top of his form.
“Wayne Rooney was like that in 2016, David Beckham in 2006. There’s a tension and dilemma between playing the guy who is clearly the number one player but the performance levels aren’t quite there.
“Maybe Gareth has got to a place where he’s happy to substitute Harry now and bring someone on to change it up. But Harry is going to start against the Netherlands. England won’t go onto the pitch without him.”