ENGLAND must “sacrifice quality” and make two major changes for their crunch clash with Slovakia.
The Three Lions have one foot in the Euro 2024 knockouts despite their dire 1-1 draw with Denmark on Thursday.
Harry Kane put England ahead early on but Morten Hjulmand's stunning long-range strike earned the Danes a draw.
However, the underwhelming performance left many concerned as once again Gareth Southgate’s men made a bright start and faded.
Even England skipper Kane admitted afterwards: “When the teams are dropping a few players deeper we are not quite sure how to get the pressure on, and who is the one who is supposed to be going.”
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Those words caused alarm bells for Gary Lineker and Micah Richards.
But former England and Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher believes he knows what the problem has been.
And he called for Southgate to drop Trent Alexander-Arnold from midfield and Phil Foden from the left.
Instead, he wants to see either Conor Gallagher or Kobbie Mainoo next to Declan Rice in the middle of the park.
And he wants to see Newcastle winger Anthony Gordon instead of Foden out wide with Jude Bellingham play further back from his No 10 spot.
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Carragher posted on X: “England have to sacrifice quality in Trent & Foden for energy in Gallagher or Mainoo & pace in Gordon.
“Kane needs pace either side of him & Rice needs more help in midfield. Go 433 & drop Bellingham slightly deeper.”
Southgate has often been criticised for his alleged negative approach.
However, he did stun fans last night with an uncharacteristic triple substitution against Denmark.
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With England toiling at 1-1 in the 69th minute, Southgate hooked his entire front line.
The Three Lions boss took off skipper Harry Kane, as well as Bukayo Saka and Phil Foden, all in one swoop.
He replaced them with Ollie Watkins, Eberechi Eze, Jarrod Bowen.
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But Southgate says that his side have not found a “natural replacement for Kalvin Phillips”.
The 28-year-old played a key role at the last Euros and World Cup but missed out this summer due to a lack of action at Man City and then a poor loan spell at West Ham.
Southgate said: “We don’t have a natural replacement for Kalvin Phillips.
“At the moment we’re not flowing as we would like.
“We understand people will be disappointed with the performances and rightly so - we have to make them a lot better.
“At the moment we're not using the ball well enough and have to accept if you do that you will suffer at times, as we have.
“We know there's another level we have to find.”
