Didi Hamann casts doubt on Conor Gallagher’s chances of featuring again at Euro 2024 after the midfielder was taken off at half-time in England’s goalless draw with Slovenia.
With Gareth Southgate’s right-back-in-midfield gamble backfiring, the England manager replaced Trent Alexander-Arnold with the Chelsea man in the Three Lion’s final group stage game.
However, England produced a nightmarish first-half display. They were unable to trouble the Slovenians, who were happy to sit deep, and exact control in the game. Southgate was forced to make changes at interval by swapping Gallagher for youngster Kobbie Mainoo.
Unlike Gallagher, Mainoo had an immediate impact on the pitch. The English midfield looked more dynamic after the interval, but it was still not enough to breach the resilient Slovenian backline.
What Did Hamann Say About Gallagher
“If you stick to these big players and they clearly don’t perform, I think there’s a case to drop them. I think there’s a case to drop Foden, Bellingham, and Kane,” Hamman told RTW.
“As a manager, if you want to get the respect of the whole squad, you have got to go after the big boys. If you go after the small boys, people won’t respect you.
“I think he’s at a stage now where the public have lost faith in him, the pundits have lost faith in him and England, and the team have lost faith in him as well.
“Some of the substitutions you can’t follow, you don’t know what he’s thinking.
“I think the biggest problem is; they’ve got Foden and Bellingham in the same team. It clearly doesn’t work, but he hasn’t got the bottle to drop either of them.
“I think he’s got to take one of them out, or move Bellingham a bit further back, but he doesn’t want to do this because for some reason he thinks Bellingham has to play in a position behind Kane.
“If he drops one of the two, that gives him a chance to bring Palmer in, bring Gordon in, bring Eze in, whoever. You’ve got so many players. Jarrod Bowen came on last week and set up the chance for Kane and he doesn’t do it.
“Gallagher isn’t or wasn’t a problem. He’s not the problem of that England team.
“It’s probably too late now. If you go after the lesser players, it doesn’t look good on the manager, and that’s what he’s done in the tournament.
“He’s taken Alexander-Arnold, he’s an easy target. Gallagher comes off at half-time. We probably don’t see Gallagher again for the rest of the tournament.”
Shearer Calls For Changes
Following England’s frustrating 0-0 draw with Slovenia, Premier League icon Alan Shearer has demanded a shake-up of Southgate’s starting XI for the crunch last-16 tie against Slovakia. The legendary striker called for three changes, in particular.
He said on BBC One: “He [Southgate] brought Mainoo on at half-time, I thought the other subs were left far too late.
“But all three had an effect on the game which is what they needed. I thought Mainoo was really good, he came into midfield and offered something totally different in midfield, winning the ball back, creating the option to receive the ball.
“This guy [Palmer] came in on the right hand side and looked really, really good. He had a big impact, his movement and confidence with the ball was brilliant.
“[Their combinations] we haven’t seen too much of that at all in the first two games, we certainty didn’t see it until Palmer came on.
“You can see that passing forward with someone receiving it in a forward position. Then Gordon came on with three minutes. The three linked up really well.
“We saw more on that left hand side in those three or four minutes when Gordon came on than we’ve seen in the two or three games we’ve had.
“Absolutely no doubt about it, Gareth has to make changes, particularly on either side and definitely one in the middle of the park.”
