Following a dominating display against Croatia in their first match of UEFA European Championship 2021, former English defender Gary Neville has showered the Three Lions’ head coach Gareth Southgate with praise.
England started off their campaign with a match against Croatia on Sunday, 13th June, at the Wembley Stadium in London. Many expected the match to be a closely-contested one, given that like England, Croatia too have got a plethora of quality players in their ranks.
England’s head coach Gareth Southgate has been under scrutiny by the fans and media in recent weeks, given his defense-oriented squad selection. Eyebrows were raised yet again when the lineups came in for yesterday’s match.
There were a few surprising omissions in Southgate’s starting XI. Jack Grealish, who performed exceptionally well in England’s two friendlies before coming into this competition, found himself on the bench.
Ben Chilwell, Luke Shaw and Jadon Sancho were the other notable omissions. However, none of that eventually mattered as England dominated the game right from the first minute. From a tactical perspective, it was evident that Gareth Southgate outplayed his opposite number Zlatko Dalic.
Speaking about Southgate in the post-match show on ITV, Neville said:
We can talk about Phillips or Sterling being our best player, but our biggest asset is our manager. The clamour in past years would have been to go for Grealish. But Southgate hasn’t even brought him off the bench.
He is willing to make the unpopular decisions and the decisions that some of us at times don’t think he should make. But he knows that group better than anyone and he knows how to get a performance and a result better than anyone.
He further went on to add.
Neville explains why Kieran Trippier started at left-back
More than Jack Grealish and Jadon Sancho’s omission, the decision to play Kieran Trippier at left-back startled the England fans. Trippier, who plays for Spanish outfit Atletico Madrid, is a right-footed player who predominantly plays as a right-back.
Not that England were found wanting in the left-back position coming into this competition, as the two players who failed to make the cut in the Croatia match have been enjoying the time of their lives.
Ben Chilwell, who plays for Chelsea, recently won the UEFA Champions League. The other left-back Southgate had at his disposal, Luke Shaw might not have won any medal this season, but he certainly had a phenomenal season for Manchester United.
Explaining Southgate’s decision to play Trippier over both Shaw and Chilwell, Neville stated:
I think the selection today was made for extra maturity in the defence. The clean sheet today was vital because l think the questions all of us have around England is the defence and whether they can keep clean sheets, particularly against the best teams.
Neville also claimed that with the group’s toughest opponent on-paper out of England’s way, Southgate will pick one of the two usual left-backs in the next couple of matches.
I think Chilwell and Shaw would have gone forward more and maybe exposed that left channel more,
he admitted, as quoted by Heart radio network.
England’s next match is against Scotland, which will be played at the Wembley Stadium in London on Friday, 18th June. While Scotland might not have as many big names as Croatia, the game will still be crucial for England, as bragging rights over the neighbours is what they will be looking for.
England’s group stage campaign will end with a game against Czech Republic next Tuesday, 22nd June. They are one of the six teams who will be playing all of their group stage matches on home turf.
