As part of a drastic change to his England lineup for their match against Switzerland, Gareth Southgate is thinking of starting both Jude Bellingham and Phil Foden as number one.
After a string of lackluster performances, the Three Lions have hobbled into the quarterfinals of Euro 2024; their last-16 match against Slovakia saw Bellingham and Harry Kane come to the fort.
Southgate is considering moving to a back three, a formation that England hasn’t employed in a meaningful game since losing to Italy in the Euro 2020 final.
A change like this would provide the attack more choices. According to Sky Sports, Foden and Bellingham may start in center slots behind Harry Kane.
This week in training, it’s one possibility that has been tried out. One of Southgate’s main problems has been how to accommodate and get the maximum performance out of Foden and Bellingham.
Foden has started England’s four games at the European Championship playing off the left of an attacking three beside Bellingham with Bukayo Saka on the right.
There have been calls from former England stars for Bellingham to drop into a deeper midfield role alongside Declan Rice but Southgate has so far resisted that option with Trent Alexander-Arnold, Conor Gallagher and Kobbie Mainoo all having a turn in partnering the Arsenal star in the middle of the park.
While Southgate could yet decide to continue with the same back four formation he has used throughout the competition so far, Marc Guehi’s absence is thought to be a driving factor in the tactical rethink.
Predicted England XI vs Switzerland
Could Southgate switch to three at the back?
The Crystal Palace star will serve a one-match suspension against Switzerland with Ezri Konsa in the running to take his place in the side. The Aston Villa star would be expected to slot in beside John Stones, with Kyle Walker moving inside to form a back three.
Stones was pictured in training on Wednesday wearing heavy strapping on his leg but the Manchester City star has dismissed any concerns over his fitness.
‘All good. Looks worse with the strapping than what I have done,’ Stones told a press conference on Thursday.
Stones was giving little away as to what systems the England squad have been working on in training but is confident the players are striving to get the best out of each other.
‘How we work on different pressing, systems, shapes and build-up – as I said before we’re improving as a team and how we’re playing our football,’ he said.
‘We’ve worked really hard to do that and get the best out of all our players. We have one more session before the game so hopefully we can continue to fine tune.’