England are top of their Euro 2024 group after two games but it’s clear that their stars aren’t dovetailing as intended.
Gareth Southgate admitted after Thursday’s draw with Denmark that there is a lot of work to do, with England struggling to find and apply the right tactical formula.
With that in mind, Mail Sport’s experts got their heads together, worked out what to change, and suggested their starting teams for the next game against Slovenia.
Mail Sport’s experts have suggested their starting XIs after England’s tepid start to the Euros
Chris Sutton
Play Cole Palmer at 10, move Jude Bellingham back
Just the one change to the line-up for me, but an important tweak that will hopefully make England look like less of a hotchpotch. Take out Trent Alexander-Arnold. His substitution after 54 minutes against Denmark was proof that Gareth Southgate knows his midfield experiment is not working.
Bring in Cole Palmer at No 10. For the life of me, I do not know what Palmer has done to deserve two games as an unused substitute at Euro 2024, after a season in which he scored and assisted 42 goals in all competitions for Chelsea.
My main excitement with England heading into this tournament was how their attack would combine, but it hasn’t clicked at all.
We need Bukayo Saka and Phil Foden running in behind from their respective wings. We need Harry Kane to stay in this team because you do not drop your star scorer. We need Palmer to liven it all up with his creativity from the centre.
As for Jude Bellingham, I like this quote from the Italy manager Luciano Spalletti: ‘Systems no longer exist in football, it’s all about the spaces left by the opposition.’ He isn’t wrong. We talk about 4-2-3-1, 4-3-3, 4-1-4-1, all these formations.
But you can be fluid, flexible, adaptable, and Bellingham can play in any position with his intelligence. He can still be just as influential even if my XI has him next to Declan Rice.
I’d love to say I have a fix for the left-hand side, but who else can Southgate select except for Kieran Trippier? You cannot use Saka there.
I look at other teams at Euro 2024, like Germany and Spain, and you can see their identity, their plan, their intentions.
Chris Sutton’s XI: Pickford; Walker, Stones, Guehi, Trippier; Bellingham, Rice; Saka Palmer, Foden; Kane
Cole Palmer should play in the number 10 role with Jude Bellingham moving back, argues Chris Sutton
Oliver Holt
Pick Anthony Gordon and tweak the system
Gareth Southgate stuck with the same starting XI for the first two games but even though England are top of their group, it was clear from the performances against Serbia and Denmark that the team needs surgery if it is to have a chance of beating a better side later in the tournament.
I am a huge fan of Trent Alexander-Arnold but because of a lack of time to adapt to a new role and the fact that Harry Kane was particularly static ahead of him, the experiment of playing the Liverpool right-back in midfield has not worked and must be jettisoned.
Even though Jude Bellingham has excelled in an advanced midfield role for Real Madrid and looked regal in the role against Serbia, he is good enough to wield the same influence as a number 8 alongside Declan Rice.
It’s too early to give up on Phil Foden after the season he has had with Manchester City and the improvement he showed against Denmark and he should start on the other side of Rice. That would still allow Southgate to introduce the pace of Anthony Gordon on the left wing to complement Bukayo Saka on the right, stretching the Slovenia defence and giving Kane more space to operate in.
The idea of dropping Kane is madness. Kane always delivers. This process is about getting the best out of him – and Bellingham and Foden – and switching to a system where the space behind the front man is a little less congested should give all of them more freedom to express their talents. Things might look grim at the moment but tournaments are all about the evolution of a side under pressure.
If Southgate acts decisively, as he did by hooking Alexander-Arnold eight minutes into the second half on Thursday evening, it is still possible that England will grow into these Euros.
Oliver Holt’s XI: Pickford; Walker, Stones, Guehi, Trippier; Bellingham, Rice, Foden; Saka, Kane, Gordon
Anthony Gordon should play on the left wing while Bellingham and Phil Foden drop into a midfield three with Declan Rice, Oliver Holt believes
Ian Ladyman
Play Conor Gallagher and rest Phil Foden
This is pretty much the team I would have picked at the start of the tournament. It has the only realistic back four that is available to Gareth Southgate while he waits – possibly in vain – for Luke Shaw to return to fitness. England’s defence isn’t playing particularly well but it’s not the reason they are struggling in this tournament.
The only one of them to really have a bad night against Denmark was John Stones who doesn’t look match sharp after missing much of the back end of the season with Manchester City. Kyle Walker and Marc Guehi and Kieran Trippier actually did okay.
The problem for England is that they don’t have a platform of possession and territory. The talented attacking players we have talked so much about are being dragged so far back down the field that it’s almost impossible for them to impose themselves.
Southgate has admitted that playing Trent Alexander-Arnold alongside Declan Rice has been an experiment and that he only tried it again against Denmark to try to give his players some confidence.
Well it’s time to draw a line under that and play Gallagher – or maybe Manchester United’s Kobbie Mainoo – next to Rice in a bid to try and earn more of the ball against Slovenia.
If England can achieve that, it would help push captain Harry Kane up the field and also prevent Jude Bellingham from dropping so deep in a bid to solve all the world’s problems on his own.
Slovenia are ranked 57 in FIFA’s rankings so England really should be able to find a way through them as long as they find a way to play further up the field. With this in mind, it’s time to rest Phil Foden – if only for one game – and give Chelsea’s Cole Palmer a go.
Ian Ladyman’s XI: Pickford; Walker, Stones, Guehi, Trippier; Gallagher, Rice; Saka, Bellingham, Palmer; Kane
Conor Gallagher should get the nod ahead of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Ian Ladyman writes
He also thinks that Phil Foden should be rested for the final group game against Slovenia
Craig Hope
Drop Bukayo Saka and bring in Cole Palmer
Let’s get this one out of the way – Alexander-Arnold should never have been used in midfield in the first place. I suspect now we won’t see him again at this tournament. He looked mentally shot in the minutes before he was taken off against Denmark. So, he comes out for starters.
My big issue – aside from a team that lacks identity and cohesion – is that too many players are either out of position, unfit or fatigued. So, let’s fix the attacking midfield three by playing Gordon on the left, Foden at No.10 and Palmer on the right.
Harsh on Saka? Maybe. But he does not look 100 per cent and is fading in games. He feels like a bit of a passenger at times. Palmer needs to play, even if he would have to prove his appetite for the running and pressing that is so badly missing at present.
As for Gordon, England need a natural left-winger and one who can press forward and run back. Foden doesn’t want to do that from the left but is too good to drop, so play him at No.10. That would mean Bellingham reverting to No.8 alongside Rice.
At least that extra responsibility would instil some discipline into Bellingham’s game. He won rave reviews against Serbia but all for a performance inside 45 minutes. After that – because he had charged around like a superhero – he was spent. He still looked shattered four days later against Denmark.
And what to do with Kane? I said before the first game that the elephant in the dressing-room was his fitness, and how if he’s not 100 per cent it negatively impacts the team. He does not look right but let’s give him Slovenia to build his condition. He’s too important to drop, but there needs to be a big improvement.
Craig Hope’s XI: Pickford; Walker, Stones, Guehi, Trippier; Rice, Bellingham; Palmer, Foden, Gordon; Kane
Bukayo Saka should be dropped in place of Cole Palmer, with Anthony Gordon playing on the left wing, contends Craig Hope
Mail Sport’s experts all agree that Trent Alexander-Arnold, right, should be dropped
Sami Mokbel
Eberechi Eze is a superstar – play him on the left
Dropping Trent Alexander-Arnold and moving Jude Bellingham into a deeper midfield role would solve at least some of the issues facing Gareth Southgate. And it would unleash Phil Foden at No 10.
There’d be an element of Bellingham taking one for the team if he is moved into central midfield next to Declan Rice. Southgate and Bellingham have decided that an advanced midfield suits him best given that’s the position he has been playing at Real Madrid. But Bellingham at No 8 would unlock Foden and provide England with greater control in central midfield.
I’ve plumped for Eze on the left for his pace, power and weight of pass. But Southgate has options out wide and I wouldn’t be against Jarrod Bowen, Anthony Gordon or Cole Palmer starting out on the left. But Eze excites, he can become a star of this side.
There’s an argument for Kieran Trippier to finish the tournament as first-choice left-back, even if Luke Shaw can prove his fitness in the coming days. He’s been dependable, if not spectacular so far and throwing Shaw in now, given he hasn’t played for five months, is a risk despite the balance he would bring.
What version of Shaw would we be getting? If Trippier keeps his place, then there’s an argument for Gordon down the left given the pair’s Newcastle connection. But Eze’s a superstar. Give him a chance.
Sami Mokbel’s XI: Pickford; Walker, Stones, Guehi, Trippier; Bellingham, Rice; Foden, Saka, Kane, Eze
Ebercehi Eze desrves the chance to shine on the left wing in the opinion of Sami Mokbel