Anthony Gordon should be a no-brainer to start for England against Denmark.
However, there is a but…
Gareth Southgate thankfully selected an England squad for these 2024 Euros that was a marked improvement on the past.
Giving a lot of younger in-form players a place, rather than sticking to his tried and trusted strategy of sticking with familiar players, no matter how old or not in form (or not even getting any regular football!) they were.
So now just a case of Gareth Southgate taking that brave step and going a little further.
This was the England team v Serbia that Gareth Southgate picked::
Jordan Pickford, Kyle Walker, John Stones, Marc Guehi, Kieran Trippier, Declan Rice, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Bukayo Saka , Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden, Harry Kane
Trent Alexander-Arnold does a great job for Liverpool as a luxury player posing as a right-back BUT he is woeful in midfield.
What is more, he disrupted the whole balance of the team as Southgate did what Klopp did, in terms of arranging his side to accommodate Alexander-Arnold, BUT with a very different end result.
At Liverpool, Alexander-Arnold is terrible at defending but having excellent other defenders such as Van Dijk and others covering him, allow him to wash his hands of his defensive responsibilities.
There is far far more responsibility when playing in midfield than as a token right-back and you have to contribute massively in positive ways, if your very obvious weaknesses are to be carried by your teammates.
Having the Liverpool player in the midfield almost cost England that win over Serbia, Gareth Southgate has to be brave enough and leave him out today (and the rest of the tournament).
However, playing Trent Alexander-Arnold in midfield is a joke, especially for England, where there are numerous other alternatives.
Accommodating Trent Alexander-Arnold, Gareth Southgate messed up so much of the England team on Sunday. Foden couldn’t get into the game and England had no attacking threat on the left at all. Alexander-Arnold strolled around and did pretty much nothing in an attacking sense, whilst a total liability in terms of defending and discipline against Serbia.
Anthony Gordon is the very obvious correct call on the right hand side and certainly Trent Alexander-Arnold must be dropped.
Gordon is the only player in this England squad who embraces playing on the left, the likes of Saka, Palmer, Bowen and Foden all want to play on the right, or in the middle.
Southgate needs to get Anthony Gordon in on the left, pair Rice and Bellingham in the middle and Saka right, then Foden a bit of a free role in the middle, working with Rice and Bellingham, plus of course Kane up top.
Just one change in personnel but it would be a huge beneficial shift in the tactics and set-up.
With Kieran Trippier filling in at left-back, it would be ideal to have Anthony Gordon in front of him, Gordon will take people on and provide that threat from the left AND he is by far the hardest working wide attacking player in this England squad when it comes to tracking back.
Newcastle United players on international duty:
Saturday 15 June
Switzerland 3 Hungary 1 (Euros Group match)
The Newcastle United defender with a very good personal performance, playing the full 90 minutes as the Swiss deservedly beat Hungary.
Sunday 16 June
England 1 Serbia 0 (Euros Group match)
England got the job done, eventually.
Anthony Gordon an unused substitute but Kieran Trippier playing the full 90 minutes and doing ok at left-back. His job to stretch things in attack up England’s left hand side, with likes of Foden not willing/able to stay out wide and instead continually drifting inside. With the plan clearly for all of England’s main attacking to be through the middle and especially out wide on the right.
That is where the excellent winning goal came from, a great ball from Walker putting Saka in behind and his deflected cross perfectly then flighted for Bellingham’s pinpoint run into the box and the header giving Serbia’s keeper no chance.
At the other end was Trippier’s main task though and with the rest of the defence he did well, especially after the break when England suddenly went all defensive and invited Serbia to go for the equaliser. The Three Lions offering zero threat in the second-half apart from sub Bowen’s cross where the keeper made a great save but in reality Kane should have given him zero chance with the header.
Pickford only had one shot on target to save all game and whilst the commentator and pundits raved about it, in reality it was from outside the box and straight at him, the England keeper tipping the ball over the bar.
The highlight of Trippier’s performance was when Serbia got into the box on the left and an equaliser beckoned for Serbia with Mitrovic waiting for the ball to be squared for a tap-in. However, the Newcastle defender covering his central defenders had got across and was too strong for Mitro who was sent sprawling and claiming for a forlorn penalty.
Monday 17 June
Slovakia 1 Belgium 0 (Euros Group match)
Martin Dubravka and his Slovakia teammates pulling off a massive shock, third ranked in the world Belgium beaten by a team ranked 48th.
Schranz scoring after only seven minutes and the Newcastle keeper and his international teammates more than matching Belgium. What a victory.
Wednesday 19 June
Switzerland 1 Scotland 1 (Euros Group match)
Fabian Schar and Switzerland with a nightmare start after 13 minutes, the Newcastle defender deflecting a McTominay shot past his keeper, a shot which would almost for sure have been saved without Schar’s intervention.
The NUFC defender recovering to have another decent game. Helping Switzerland stand up to a very physical but limited Scotland team, Shaqiri with a brilliant 26th minute long range curled into the top corner effort to equalise. The Swiss should have went on to win but wasted a fair few chances and Scotland got lucky with two goals denied by VAR fine margins.
Thursday 20 June 2024
England v Denmark (Anthony Gordon and Kieran Trippier) Euros Group match 5pm BBC1
Friday 21 June 2024
Slovakia v Ukraine (Martin Dubravka) Euros Group match 2pm BBC1
Sunday 23 June 2024
Switzerland v Germany (Fabian Schar) Euros Group match 8pm BBC TBC
Monday 24 June 2024
Costa Rica v Brazil (Bruno Guimaraes) Copa America Group match
Colombia v Paraguay (Miguel Almiron) Copa America Group match
Tuesday 25 June 2024
England v Slovenia (Anthony Gordon and Kieran Trippier) Euros Group match 8pm ITV1
Wednesday 26 June 2024
Slovakia v Romania (Ma
Martin Dubravka) Euros Group match 5pm BBC TBC
Friday 28 June 2024
Paraguay v Brazil (Bruno Guimaraes and Miguel Almiron) Copa America Group match
Tuesday 2 July 2024
Colombia v Brazil (Bruno Guimaraes) Copa America Group match
(There will of course be more matches for Newcastle United players if their nations get through the group stages of the Copa America and/or the European Championships.)
Sunday 14 July 2024 – European Championships final.
Sunday 14 July 2024 – Copa America final.
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