Wayne Rooney claims that amid the Three Lions’ lackluster group stage performance at Euro 2024, Gareth Southgate “killed” two English players.
As the favorites to win the Euros and bring home the country’s first major men’s football title since 1966, England traveled to Germany.
However, after a lackluster group stage in which England labored to a 1-0 victory over Serbia and lost to Denmark and Slovenia, confidence started to wain.
The Three Lions icon Rooney feels Southgate “killed” Trent Alexander-Arnold and Conor Gallagher by hurling them both into midfield and then “discarding” them, and Southgate has received a lot of flak for his methods.
Alexander-Arnold, who has spent most of his career at right-back for Liverpool, started alongside Declan Rice against Serbia and Denmark to mixed success, before Chelsea’s Gallagher came in for the Slovenia game only to be hauled off at half-time.
Kobbie Mainoo was Southgate’s third option in midfield and Rooney reckons the England boss has now stumbled upon his best set-up in the centre of the pitch, while he also wants Anthony Gordon and Cole Palmer more involved in the last-16 clash against Slovakia.
‘Against Slovenia, Kobbie Mainoo staked a big claim for a starting place, Cole Palmer was very good and Anthony Gordon, though he played only a few minutes, had a couple of excellent touches,’ Rooney told The Times.
Gareth could have found the ideal team at just the right moment in the competition. Against Slovakia, I would start at least two of those three young players; in fact, I had said before to the competition that Mainoo and Gordon would be in my starting lineup for the knockout round.
I wasn’t shocked by anything that occurred during the group stage. I never would have started Trent Alexander-Arnold in midfield and assumed Gareth would try Conor Gallagher if the experiment didn’t succeed.
‘Gareth killed them both a little bit by throwing them away, but in both cases it was the perfect decision, and you saw Mainoo running forward and handling the ball with poise when he came in.
‘Palmer? He is just suited to international football. He can take the ball, he’s calm on it and has the personality you need on that stage. Gordon is more direct than the other two and ensures there is a good blend.
‘With those three on the pitch you saw runners going beyond Harry which, good as Bellingham, Bukayo Saka and Foden are, we had not seen from them.’
The winner of the European Championship, Italy, or Switzerland, will play England in the quarterfinals if they defeat Slovakia, who placed third in Group E.
Rooney went on to assess England’s prospects of winning the European Championship, saying, “I really believe they have a great chance of winning these Euros.”
“They are into a half of the draw where they avoid the biggest teams and we know, and they know, they can play a lot better,” the person said. “They won their group.”