Southgate has plenty to ponder (Picture: Franco Arland/Getty Images)
Gareth Southgate finds himself under mounting pressure as England prepare for their final group match of Euro 2024 against Slovenia on Tuesday.
The Three Lions limped to a dismal draw against Denmark in Frankfurt on Thursday evening in a performance devoid of any intensity, with their inability to retain possession a huge concern even at this early stage of the competition.
The draw saw England miss the chance to seal qualification for the knockout stages as group winners. A win 1-0 over Serbia in their opening game means they are still in pole position to achieve that, but Tuesday’s clash with Slovenia no longer looks as routine as it might have done a week ago.
Southgate named the same starting XI for those games against Serbia and Denmark and is now facing growing calls to made drastic changes to his side.
England vs Slovenia team news and injuries
The good news for Southgate is that he is an almost fully-fit squad to choose from. His only injury concern is a fairly major one however with Luke Shaw still not ready. Kieran Trippier has started at left-back so far in Germany with Joe Gomez, frequently deployed int hat role for Liverpool last season, an unused substitute off thus far.
Amid the many problems on show against Denmark, England’s lack of width down the left was a concern with Shaw’s presence down that flank instrumental for club and country over the years when he is fit.
Shaw has not played any football since February (Picture: FA via Getty Images)
The Manchester United left-back has not played any football since February due to a hamstring injury however and was once again absent from first-team training on Friday.
Shaw is thought to have been integral to Southgate’s original plans and the manager had hoped to be able to use him off the bench against Slovenia.
However, his continued absence from training casts doubt on that.
Elsewhere, Southgate faces calls to drop Jude Bellingham into a deeper midfield role alongside Declan Rice, allowing Phil Foden to take up his preferred central role in attack. The England boss has suggested he will make changes to the side, making the rather alarming admission they are not at the physical level to carry out his demands.
‘It’s because we are not pressing well enough, with enough intensity,’ said Southgate when asked why England’s performances have dipped. ‘We have limitations in how we can do that with the physical condition. We can’t press as high up the pitch as we might have done in the qualifiers for example.
England wilted against Denmark (Picture: Getty Images)
‘And we are not keeping the ball well enough. It is as simple as that. We have to keep the ball better and build with more control. Then we will be defending less and we’ll have more confidence.
‘We’ll have a look at everything. We felt the right thing to do was to give confidence to the players we picked in the …read more
Source:: Metro
