PAUL SCHOLES has shocked fans after stating he was 'encouraged' by England's performance during their goalless drew with Slovenia.
England progressed to the last-16 of Euro 2024 as Group C winners and Scholes believes the Three Lions are heading in the right direction.
England have been roundly criticised for their performance as they laboured to a 0-0 draw with Slovenia, hardly threatening to score.
But the Manchester United legend is one pundit who has offered some positives.
Scholes, 49, was pleased that Southgate introduced different stars who had not previously played at Euro 2024.
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He wrote on his Instagram story: "It might surprise a few.
"I'm very encouraged by that performance, at some point during that game the right players were on the pitch at the same time.
"Think this team is ready to click. Goodnight!"
While Scholes doesn't specify who the 'right players' are, the Three Lions did improve during the second half.
The gradual introductions of Kobbie Mainoo, Cole Palmer, and Anthony Gordon brought some much needed energy.
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Mainoo impressed after being offered his first minutes of Euro 2024 after replacing Conor Gallagher at half-time.
And it was the first time Palmer left the bench in Germany as he replaced Bukayo Saka with 20 minutes remaining.
The Chelsea star - who won Young Premier League Player of Year - completed 100 percent of his passes and had a shot on target.
Scholes is not the only former England international to draw positives from the performance - Gary Lineker did as well.
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Lineker said: "I think there were signs in that performance that I quite liked.
"In the second half, I thought you could see that if this team continue to play a high press, chances will come."
But Gary Neville admitted he was saddened by what he was witnessing.
Neville said: "There's no real in-built patterns that they do off the cuff.
"At international football that sometimes can happen through familiarity but you need to work on that.
"We look really basic. Honestly, we look really basic."
But Neville also found some solace from the second-half display.
He added: "Every time Gareth made a substitution, we got better. Even moving Trent to right-back and Kyle Walker to left-back."
While captain Harry Kane said: "We came top in the group and control our own destiny. Tonight was a tough game, I thought we played a lot better than the first two games.
