Sam Allardyce has called out Gareth Southgate’s “bad statement” in the wake of England’s horror-show against Denmark.
The Three Lions turned in arguably their worst tournament performance under Southgate, whose side need to beat Slovenia on Tuesday to ensure they win the group and avoid a probable last-16 clash with Euro 2024 hosts Germany. The England boss’s experiment of deploying Trent Alexander-Arnold in midfield has backfired and is likely to be ditched going forward.
After his players were booed off against Denmark, Southgate bizarrely lamented the absence of Kalvin Phillips, formerly a mainstay of his midfield but whose club form has nosed-dived in recent times. After falling out of favourite under Pep Guardiola at Manchester City, Phillips endured a disastrous loan spell at West Ham last season, ending any chance of him earning a spot in the squad.
“We have been trying to find a solution in midfield for seven or eight years,” said Southgate. “If we hadn’t had Declan Rice for the last few years, I don’t know where we’d have been.
“Unfortunately, Kalvin [Phillips] wasn’t possible for us for this tournament and Hendo [Jordan Henderson] the same, so we’re trying to find something different.”
Singh Gill to make history as Premier League's first Sikh-Punjabi official
Bringing up Phillips has been slammed by Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer, and it didn’t sit well with Southgate’s short-lived predecessor either.
“That’s a bad statement,” said Allardyce, while shaking his head on the No Tippy Tappy Football podcast. Joining the former Bolton and West Ham boss on the podcast was Kevin Nolan, who argued Southgate’s words had been taken out of context.
YOUR TURN! What do you think about Southgate bringing up Kalvin Phillips? Tell us in the comments section
Gareth Southgate isn't happy with his midfield options at the Euros (Getty Images)“I think what he was trying say, it’s come out wrong and everyone’s took it [the wrong way],” said the former Newcastle midfielder. Allardyce added: “You know what they’re like though, when you drop one wrong word, you’re knackered.”
Nolan explained further: “What he meant was that Declan and Kalvin had such a good understanding. Kalvin’s been unfortunate, he just couldn’t get going [at West Ham]."
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
