Gareth Southgate’s second-half changes helped England improve on a lackluster performance in their draw with Slovenia and, according to Gary Neville, Coby Mainu is guaranteed to start in Sunday’s last-16 tie.
Despite winning Group C, England were bitterly disappointed by a disciplined Slovenia in their final group game in Cologne on Tuesday night and will now face the Netherlands in the first knockout match on Sunday afternoon.
After struggling to create any clear-cut chances in the first half at the RheinEnergieStadion – except for Bukayo Saka’s shot being ruled out for offside – Southgate made a change at the break, bringing on Mainu for the disappointing Conor Gallagher.
The Manchester United midfielder made an impact in the second half to improve England’s shaky performance and Neville is confident he will start for Sunday’s last-16 tie in Gelsenkirchen.
“Every time England made a substitution they got better,” said the former England defender. ITV Sports.
“I’m sure Mainu will start for the next game. Southgate thought Gallagher would be the right choice for the energy factor but we clearly need someone there to play and Adam Wharton has that ability.”
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Judging England’s goalless draw with Slovenia, manager Rob Dorsett said Southgate’s side showed “desperation” in their final Group C match.
Southgate brought on Mainu and Cole Palmer for Saka with 20 minutes remaining, and the Chelsea forwards also garnered attention as they improved England’s attacking power.
“As we made substitutions we became less solid and it was tough to watch in the first half because we looked basic but I thought we made progress in the second half,” Neville added.
With each substitution, our play began to slacken and in the first half, we looked so basic it was painful to watch.
“We didn’t get the results we wanted, but it gave us a glimpse of what we could be.”
Meanwhile, Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold and Newcastle United’s Anthony Gordon also came on in the second half, with Neville urging the England manager not to waste his team’s talent.
“Alexander Arnold, Palmer, [Jude] Bellingham, Saka, Mainu, [Phil] “Foden is a huge talent and we cannot afford to mishandle that talent because we would really regret it and I think Gareth would regret it too,” Neville said.
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Manager Gareth Southgate said fans had a right to their opinion but hearing booing at the end of the game created an “unusual environment” for the team.
“What I’ll say going into Sunday is these guys are out there, staring him down right now. They came on in the second half and made us big time. They’re our most skilled players, they’re the ones that look most comfortable on the ball and they’re the ones that make us look like a team.”
“They looked basic in the first half but that’s an understatement. England are the same stiff side we’ve seen in every tournament for the last 20 years and in the second half they looked a bit more in sync.”
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Anthony Gordon has urged England fans to get behind Gareth Southgate’s side after a disappointing string of draws in Euro 2024 Group C.
“We are the only country in the world that regularly asks: ‘Where can I put this player in the team? Where does Bellingham fit in? How do I get him in the team? How do I get Foden or Palmer in the team?'”
“Every other country seems to be accepting it, but we are struggling to accept it and we have to accept it.”
Roy Keane He agreed with Neville about the impact of Mainu and Palmer as second-half substitutes against Slovenia.
“Mainu looked very good with the ball but it’s Palmer that I’m always excited to see and I think we were all wondering why he didn’t play in the first or second game,” the former Republic of Ireland captain said.
Palmer came on as a replacement for Bukayo Saka in the second half.
“But when he came on, it seemed like every time he had the ball something was going to happen. So, for sure the game went better in the last 15-20 minutes, but we still didn’t score and they couldn’t really test our goalkeeper.”
“But we had one or two positives, a clean sheet, but we need to show a bit more quality in attack.”
